All thawed out
Thanksgiving is Thursday and we have a special Monday holiday themed edition of Running on Ice. Because such a large number of Americans will consume a bird this week, it will take precision to feed a nation that is essentially all eating the same meal at one time.
Butterball is the undisputed champion of Thanksgiving, thanks to its frozen-to-oven turkey breast, full-sized birds and even a Turkey Talk hotline that helps callers through cooking trials and tribulations. It is the king of Thanksgiving.
Dan Bohlman, Butterball’s director of logistics said, “The biggest challenge that we see is the outbound shipments are condensed in such a short period of time. So that does present a lot of challenges, both on transportation and warehousing capacity.”
According to Bohlman, Butterball will transport roughly 15 million turkeys nationwide this Thanksgiving. While these turkeys are delivered throughout the country, higher volumes are delivered to the East Coast, California, Arizona, and the Midwest.
A frozen bird can spend a little more time in a warehouse, as the freezing temperatures prevent any sort of degradation of quality. However, the sheer volume of frozen birds that need to move, as well as the fresh birds, are what really intensifies the supply chain challenges.
Temperature checks
The Port of Oakland is really stepping up in the agriculture game. As of October 2024 the Port of Oakland exported 235,899 TEUs of agricultural commodities, a causal $8.5 billion. The port has recently made some significant investments into the agriculture and refrigerated facilities over the past few years. This includes the on-site cold storage facilities that handles about 90% of the region’s agricultural products.
The top five commodities for this port are: edible fruits and nuts, frozen proteins, dairy products, oils and seeds and wine, spirits, and beverages. At least three of those commodities need temperature controlled services.
“Agricultural exports are especially important commodities for our port’s business. In any given year, agricultural products comprise between 37% and 45% of total exports from Oakland,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes.
Food and drug
As if one bird isn’t enough for Thanksgiving, consumers can enjoy a chicken nugget appetizer for the Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving. Tyson foods has carried on their new tradition, if you will, of making fun-shaped nuggets for various sports teams and events. Previously they had come out with Razorback nuggets as an homage to their company headquarters based in Arkansas, down the street from the University of Arkansas.
The Dallas Cowboys football team might not be having the best of seasons at the moment, but some good news is that for every bag of nuggets sold a $1 donation will be made to the Salvation Army.
Cowboys Owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones said, “Everyone knows that good food and football go hand in hand, so we hope the Tyson Dallas Cowboys Nuggets find a place on game-day menus across the region. Being able to now offer our fans another way to fuel their fandom, while also benefiting The Salvation Army, is a winning play for all of us.”
Here’s hoping they’ll make a winter themed nugget next.
Cold chain lanes
This week’s market under a microscope is the Twin Cities, which are Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Minnesota is home to the highest turkey production in the U.S. with 38.5 million birds produced annually. With a majority of the demand leading up to Thanksgiving the reefer volumes can see a spike heading into the holiday with turkeys as the star.
Reefer outbound tender volumes have slowed down after hitting a strong peak in the middle of November, likely the result of shipping fresh or frozen birds across the U.S. Reefer volumes have dropped 18.27% week over week. On the flipside, reefer outbound tender rejections have dropped 251 basis points w/w to come in at 11.51%% rejections. This should create some slight capacity constraints heading into the holiday weekend. Shippers should expect to see less contract carrier compliance and higher spot rates.
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Shelf life
Overhead Door introduces hygienic air curtain for cooler doors to maintain temperatures Lineage research shows positive economics of supply chain infrastructure
How to reduce transit risks in food, beverage and agriculture
New microscope to streamline produce inspections at Wilmington’s port
Agile Cold Storage opens in Claymont
Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.
See you on the internet.
Mary
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