By Cain Adams
Trinity Logistics/Longboard Logistics
Meridian, ID
The seasonal drop in freight pricing is right on the money. Freight rates finally came down a bit across the country, and every state saw some relief. Your phones are blowing up with brokers looking for freight.
We were touching $5 per mile in the Midwest for short hauls under 1200 miles. Washington came down about 20 percent to the East Coast and cut almost in half going back to California.
Chinese New Year from Feb. 1-15 has helped the ports. Now, we just have blocked borders to Canada. What a rush to see pricing come down for everyone.
This type of drop-in freight also means demand for onions is down. If you are reading this you already know that and are watching TikTok looking for a side hustle. We think demand has dropped maybe by 20-30 percent. When demand falls, we see more rejections on produce loads. Why? Because the receivers are not moving product as fast and can be pickier.
Last fall, during harvest, we thought we would see more rejections than what we have actually seen. The onions have been holding strong. Good job farmers! It’s been a Godsend for us. You have no idea how hard it is to tell a driver the load is rejected due to quality and has to deadhead 100–500 miles to get unloaded. It’s a loss for everyone involved. We would rather see a receiver work through the load and work with the sheds. Win.
Canada has been having some fun. Will it happen in the States? My thoughts are this: If rates were still way high, we would see more trucks actually head out to D.C. Now that we have some relief on rates, the trucks may have to look at their own bank accounts and the new trucks they are running. How much is that payment again?
Can a trucker actually take a week off to honk horns? I am not so sure we will have the steam seen in Canada. I give those guys in Canada a thumbs up, though. I am vaccinated. Yep. But not by force. For me, it’s a freedom of choice. You do you. I will do me. Respect for another, of course, but not by force. You get a lot more with honey than vinegar.
Mexico was pushed off a bit, due to weather, but we are starting to see more coming in this week. Some guys like to hold off for a while, allowing the squishy new onions to get some firmness to them. With demand down, U.S. sheds should be able to get more loads out in February and March.
Many of the smaller farms are loading and rolling. Wheeling and dealing. They know the high prices on bags of onions can go south fast.
We also need to look at how many Mexico onions will stay in Mexico. Is their economy doing well? Is tourism up or down? Can they sell their onions at a premium to U.S. customers instead of shipping local? Is it easy or hard to get back and forth across the border?
These are questions we look at before working the McAllen loads. A few weeks ago, we were seeing really high rates coming out of there. It has calmed down to more reasonable levels. Flats are being used for southern state loads. It’s still too cold to go north.
Spring is here. People are golfing in 40-degree weather, and nurseries are starting to show up in garden centers. Rates will start to climb once spring freight drops on the docks. Enjoy your downtime. Complain about how many freight brokers called this week. It’s about to get crazy again. Every wave is different in this business. Keep your eyes farther ahead guys. Cheers!
