"The truck shortage is a lot more acute these days than past years. A lot of truck companies went out of business when fuel prices spiked and the economy went south, so now it's getting difficult to find a truck to ship produce, when a few years ago it wouldn't have been a problem," said Rock Woodlief, potato and onion transportation manager for LMTS.
Higher fuel prices have had drastic impacts on the availability of trucks, but they aren't the only problem. The economy has forced many more companies out of business, creating a shortage that must be shared by many produce companies. Woodlief doesn't expect it to get better, either.
"As the year goes on, there will be more shipments of produce, potatoes in general, and we're having a shortage of trucks where we never had a shortage before, so we see it as a sure sign that it'll get worse as the year goes on," Woodlief said.
LMTS is working to ensure they have enough contracts to move produce, and one method is through networking with their current carriers to find new carriers, but they are also working to satisfy the needs of their current carriers to help them remain interested in carrying LMTS's cargo. Even in a bad market, customer service goes a long way to ensuring the company's needs are met.
The truck shortage has actually had many benefits for the rail industry, as they have been able to pick up at least part of the slack left by the trucks.
"People are looking for alternative methods of transportation, and they look to rail in a higher-diesel market," said Paul Esposito, sr. vice president for Railex, a Riverhead, N.Y.-based rail company that moves cargo across the United States. They move 6,000 car loads of agricultural products annually, 25 percent of which is potatoes, in a controlled operation, allowing them to control distribution through the entire move.
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