From Field to Market: Tips for a Smooth Produce Shipping Season

Spring signals the start of a busy season for Mexico’s growers, as fresh favorites like tomatoes and strawberries begin their cross-border journey. As a leading supplier of fresh produce to the United States, and a growing supplier to Canada, transporting produce long distances and across borders is a major part of Mexico’s growing economy. 

This complex and time-sensitive journey requires precision, adaptability, and proactive planning. Any disruption, whether it be market fluctuations, logistical delays, or equipment failures, can have a significant impact on product quality and profitability. 

Success in this field requires a thoughtful blend of strategies to tackle key challenges. Ensuring adequate reefer capacity, maintaining consistent temperature control, managing border logistics, and preparing for unforeseen disruptions are all critical steps in delivering fresh, high-quality produce. By leveraging effective strategies, strong partnerships, and reliable support, you can create a cross-border produce shipping solution that speeds up deliveries and ensures your products reach consumers at peak freshness.

Success Through Preparation

In the dynamic world of fresh produce transportation, flexibility is essential.  While seasonal peaks can be predicted, unforeseen variables such as market fluctuations, delays at farms or distributors, and logistical hiccups can disrupt even the best-laid plans.  Strong relationships and proactive communication with a diverse network of experienced carriers helps boost supply chain performance and stability.

Securing sufficient reefer capacity remains a persistent challenge for growers and shippers across Mexico. While it may not be entirely avoidable, proactive planning is the most effective way to minimize its impact. 

Partnering with a reliable provider that offers a broad carrier network and strategically located cold storage facilities ensures the flexibility needed to adapt to delays and maintain product freshness. In addition, choosing a carrier experienced in handling produce, especially the specific requirements of your product, is key. Asking the right questions during pickup and verifying that the freight is properly loaded sets the stage for a successful journey. This includes confirming equipment specifications, temperature requirements, the need for chutes, drain-hole plugs, and the acceptable radius for wash-out tickets.

Proper packaging is crucial to protect produce and maintain quality during transit. Use vented packaging that allows for continuous airflow to regulate temperature effectively, and materials like liners or foam inserts to prevent bruising. Avoid overpacking, as it can hinder airflow and result in inconsistent temperatures.  In addition, choose carriers with air-ride reefer trailers and equipment under 10 years old for more reliable temperature control and monitoring.

Temperature Control and Monitoring

Maintaining a consistent temperature throughout the transportation process is critical for preserving the quality of fresh produce. Inspection and monitoring at key stages plays a vital role in mitigating the risk of spoilage.

At the pickup stage, it is essential to ensure that all equipment is clean, odor-free, and pre-cooled. Trailers must maintain the correct temperature during loading at the farm or supplier to protect the freshness of the produce.

Using well-maintained reefers is crucial to ensure proper temperature is maintained during loading and throughout the journey to protect the freshness of the produce.

If your carrier is cross-docking and transloading, utilize temperature-controlled facilities where produce can be inspected, pulped, and reloaded with care. Be sure to ask your transportation provider or cross-docking facility to supply a log of temperature readings to ensure accountability and reduce spoilage risks.

Navigating Border Challenges

Mexico cross-border freight often changes hands multiple times during its journey. Seamless coordination between origin, the carrier picking up, drayage carrier, your customs broker, and final-mile carrier is key to preserving the integrity of produce in transport. 

Crossing the border with freight doesn’t need to be a challenge. When the necessary paperwork is completed accurately and thoroughly, the process is typically smooth. Most delays arise from avoidable issues, such as failing to set up a customs broker in advance, improperly establishing the broker, or discrepancies between documents. Addressing these factors ahead of time significantly reduces the risk of disruptions. 

While customs inspections, whether random or targeted, are beyond anyone’s control, partnering with a reliable customs broker and ensuring proper documentation can streamline the process and keep your shipments on track. (For help finding a customs broker, please see resources provided in this Comprehensive Guide to Shipping Cross-Border Freight.)

Contingency Planning

For perishable produce, contingency planning is essential to minimize the impact of any potential disruption. To strengthen your supply chain, consider these strategies:

1. Establish a clear communications plan and identify key contacts for quick issue resolution and approvals.

2. Verify the carrier’s contingency measures, such as access to backup refrigeration units or generators.

3. Work with the carrier to plan alternate routes to avoid delays caused by traffic or inclement weather.

4. Monitor weather forecasts and news for potential disruptions. If inclement weather or other factors could delay transit, consider postponing the shipment. A delayed but fresh delivery is better than one that arrives late and spoiled.

A Trusted Logistics Partner

There’s considerable complexity involved in cross-border produce transportation, but a trusted, experienced logistics partner can significantly simplify the process and enhance outcomes. The right partner will have knowledge of the produce industry and specialized experience in farm pickups, drayage coordination, and temperature monitoring best practices.  

In addition, choose a partner with a flexible network, access to power-only equipment, and cold storage cross-docking and warehousing facilities near the border to maintain product integrity at all stages of the journey.

Conclusion

Given the growing consumer demand for high-quality, economically priced produce, the success of this intricate supply chain is vital to both economic growth and customer satisfaction. 

By investing in specialized expertise, fostering collaboration among partners, and utilizing temperature monitoring technology, shippers can strengthen their supply chains and enhance efficiency.