“It doesn’t help the commodity situation. There’s no net positive and it’s a mess.”
So says Steven Leal with S&J Distributing in Edinburg, TX of the recent events at key Mexico-Texas border crossings which are delaying shipping produce over the border.
Earlier in the week, Mexican truckers formed a blockade on the Mexican side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge to protest Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s decision on cargo inspections. Gov. Abbott’s decision allowed state police to conduct increasingly detailed inspections on shipments into the state to, said the Governor, “ensure that Texans are not endangered by unsafe vehicles and their unsafe drivers.”
Together, these two events have slowed down movement of goods and early reports noted the disruptions could last as long as 30 days which increases the concerns for what is being seen on the bridge: trucks full of product potentially degrading in quality, trucks also running out of fuel and people bringing food and water to those waiting on the bridge.
Grower/shipper implications
But what does this mean for growers and shippers?
Andres Ocampo with HLB Specialties in Fort Lauderdale, FL says it had trucks stuck at the border four to five days. “They didn’t make the crossing on Friday. Those trucks only made it to our warehouse Wednesday evening. It’s a big impact on our supplies,” he says.
Instead, Ocampo had to postpone or cancel orders that were to be delivered over the weekend or on Monday. “All those orders were lost. We moved around what we could. But if you don’t get there on time, it doesn't mean the next order is going to be double. It doesn’t work like that so we lost a few trucks worth of sales.”
He says mid-week, movement through the border was still slow, albeit not blocked as it had been the few days before. And while alternative, smaller bridges were considered to move shipments, they weren’t designed to accept the influx of trucks that would likely move through that route.
However, Ocampo says the quality of the produce doesn’t seem to be impacted. “We lost those orders and the product was a few days delayed. But nothing that should worry us too much because we were able to resupply fuel to the cooling units,” Ocampo says.
Truck availability
Bruno Luis sees the slowdown too. “Supplies of avocados and some other vegetables crossing Texas have been hampered by the border delays, affecting some service levels,” says Luis, purchasing manager for Pompano Beach, FL-based Southern Specialties. “We are seeing limited availability of LTL trucks to reach portions of the country as the border delays are affecting truck inventories, as well.”
Leal notes that while it’s a mess, it could have been worse. “We’re heading into Easter and it is Holy Week in Mexico when they ease off sending product,” says Leal. “It’s still bad and we’ll see some backlogs. But it could have been horrific.”
Nando Gonzalez, a partner at River City Produce Company Inc. in San Antonio, TX agrees that shipments are freeing up a bit. “We had to make some adjustments,” he said. “But the warehouse still had some product and I think we’ll see more of an effect of this when they cross. If they’ve run out of diesel for example, we’ll see about product quality.”
He points out too that this may not be a problem necessarily for shipments that are Texas-bound specifically. “I’d venture to say the other parts of the country towards Canada will have more of a shortage because that’s another three days they’re not going to get their product,” Gonzalez says. “It’s an inconvenience for Texas. But I’d much rather be here waiting to get product than in let’s say North Dakota or Washington. I think that’s where we’ll see some hiccups.”
Shifting perspectives
However, he does add that views have changed post-pandemic on product quality. “Once they see the items, they’ll decide if they can send it along or send it back. But the pandemic has made people more open minded to taking stuff that they wouldn't have taken four years ago,” Gonzalez says. “I’ve just said to people to be open minded for the next few weeks.”
And in the short term, pricing may be stronger on items such as limes, a key Mexican commodity. Leal says for example that currently limes are 110/150s, mid $80s-$100; 175, mid $80s–mid $90s; 200, mid $70s–low $90s; 230, mid $60s–high $70s; 250, low $50s–mid $60s.
And what lies ahead remains to be determined. “How long is this going to go on for here in Pharr? Is it going to ease up? It needs to because especially in Pharr, if it continues at its current pace, it’s going to be a log jam,” says Leal.
“The best case scenario is seeing slow movement through the month. Worst case scenario we may see new blockades of truckers waiting many more hours than normal crossing into the U.S.,” says Ocampo. “We’re ready for a difficult four weeks ahead and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Photo: Dreamstime
For more information:
S&J Distributing
www.snjdistributing.com
HLB Specialties
www.hlbspecialties.com
Southern Specialties
www.southernspecialties.com
River City Produce Inc.
www.rivercityproduce.com