As many of us who dabble in the produce business have seen, the market of fruit out of Mexico running through the Texas border is absolutely astounding. Due to all the large farms producing product year round, the need for increased warehousing and transportation has moved to the forefront. According to Bret Erickson, CEO of the Texas International Produce Association, 65% of all fruits and vegetables consumed in or passing through Texas are coming by way of Mexican growers and farms. As such, McAllen, and to a lesser extent Laredo, have become vital outposts to the importation and distribution of this product. Such a boom is starting to cause a very noticeable negative effect upon the supply chain of this product as it crosses the border. The warehouses are finding it difficult to come up with a truly efficient solution of keeping up with demand, especially now that there is such a high demand for fruit.
As with most components involved in the transportation industry, the failings of one causes a strain on all parties involved. Example: when our customer says that fruit will be ready to be delivered to their buyer in NJ on Monday morning and we tell our carrier partners to have the driver there Friday to deliver Monday morning, all must go right in order to get product to the buyer in time to utilize the dwindling shelf life of the produce. Here is where things start to breakdown. It is currently averaging our drivers 8 to 10 hours to get loaded due to fruit not having crossed the border or getting held up in customs. So instead of our driver being fresh in hours and leaving out Friday, it's 01:00 AM on Saturday and he has lost a day to run, making the fruit late to the buyer, increasing the risk of decay to the product, and causing a possible backhaul to be lost.
Obviously, this is not good for anyone involved. The broker's credibility is brought into question with not only the customer, but the carrier as well. The buyer is obviously not happy with our customer at this point either, after being promised their fruit on time for the weekly ads. So what do we do? The delay appears to be on the border crossing. The majority of trucks are entering through an entry near McAllen/Pharr and waiting for inspections to be done. What appears to be the most sensible and complete fix, would be to hire more well-trained border inspectors to keep the trucks moving and open up more entries into Texas. The obvious problem in that would be increased border security and really just bodies to fill all these roles. If this is not accomplished, then we can look forward to more long sleepless nights and tired days.
Paul Lopez
Transportation Broker, Dallas
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Paul Lopez is a transportation broker in the Dallas office. He joined the Allen Lund Company in the fall of 2014, bringing with him over a decade of transportation experience.
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About Allen Lund Company: Specializing as a national third-party transportation broker with nationwide offices, the Allen Lund Company works with shippers and carriers across the nation to transport dry, refrigerated (specializing in produce), and flatbed freight; additionally, the Allen Lund Company has an international division, which is licensed by the FMC as an OTI-NVOCC #019872NF, and a logistics and software division, ALC Logistics.
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