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April 26, 2016
                          Allen Lund Company Newsletter
                            Written by your perishable experts 

In This Issue
In the Springtime
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In the Springtime

Spring has sprung in the nation's capital.  The trees are budding, bright colored bulbs have pushed through the soil, lawns are ready to be cut, and we're only a couple weeks away from consistently warm weather.  The excitement of spring is finally here, but for those of us in the transportation business, it also means the beginning of the East Coast growing season and the chaos that it brings to the supply chain.  The mix of the current truck market on the East Coast should make for an interesting season ahead of us.
 
Although Florida ships produce year round, the peak season is about to begin.  Starting in late April, and continuing through May and June, we will see sharp spikes in volumes for Florida grown peppers, potatoes, squash, corn, blueberries, beans, tomatoes and of course, melons as well as many other crops.  Each year, it seems that every truck on the East Coast wants to head south to get in on the action and take place in the escalating transportation rates.  Carriers have already started asking what rates to expect coming out of Florida and how high those rates might go.  As we all know, there are two components to that equation: supply and demand.  On the supply side: how many trucks have headed south to haul these items, and the demand side: how much product is picked and needs to ship.  In years past, the demand has been stronger than supply which has favored the carriers.  Last year though, we started to see the pendulum start to swing back the other direction.  This year it's anyone's guess on how the supply and demand balance plays out, and we won't really know the truth until we're in the thick of it, but trends seem to be pointing toward a more balanced scale than in previous years.

As June comes to an end, the produce starts its migration north into, GA, SC, and NC.  This year, the Georgia peach crops are expected to be the largest they've seen in over a decade, and shipments should remain steady through the end of August.  As the produce continues north the trucks will follow, and the inherent supply versus demand games will follow all the way up the East Coast and come to an end in October in the MD, DE, and NJ regions. It's nice to see the local and fresh produce on the stores shelves but it's also a reminder that the games are about to begin.



Kayleigh Spence
Transportation Broker, Winchester

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Kayleigh Spence has been a transportation broker with Allen Lund since January of 2012.

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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