“I’m guessing (the decrease) is because of the strong export market, and the slight change in retailers retaining their own transportation companies,” says Murphy. “We’re still holding our own, but there’s been a slight decline in the amount of loads we haul each week.”
Lonnie Welch, president of H & S Freight Agents, Inc., also in Yakima, is pretty optimistic about 2017 and believes this year’s apple shipments will increase over last year’s numbers.
According to some estimates, Welch thinks supply will exceed last season’s crop. Sixty percent of his company’s business is tied to hauling apples, he says.
Another prediction for a larger apple crop this year comes from Marcus Hartmann, vice president of operations and sales at Pacificpro, Inc. in Bellevue, WA. Washington’s apple crop this season will peak on apples about two sizes smaller (88/100 count) compared to the 2016 crop, Hartmann says. He also anticipates more club varieties and a much larger organic crop on multiple varieties this year.
“We anticipate seeing additional growth,” predicts Hartmann, who says apples represent the vast majority of the company’s monthly shipments out of Washington. Success, he says, can be achieved through “flexibility and the ability to reduce the number of picks for long-haul trucks to maximize their drive time.”
Image: Boiko Y/Shutterstock.com
