Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly Datasets

The links below contain the data used to create the tables and figures found in the USDA's Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly. These data series are aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Specialty Crops Fruit and Vegetable Truck Rate Report and Movement Report. Below you will find the title of each table, a brief description of the file, and the source. These documents are in .xlsx format. If you have any questions about any of the files, please contact us at Jesse.Gastelle@usda.gov.

Data Tables

  • Quarterly Shipment Volumes by Origin and Commodity (xls) - Quarterly totals of refrigerated truck load volumes (tonnage) from U.S. origin shipping areas and cross-border movements from Mexico and Canada for individual fruit and vegetable varieties. Entries marked zero tons were registered commodity movements, but the sum of all shipment volumes totaled less than 1 ton. Source: Specialty Crops/Market News/AMS/USDA
  • Quarterly Truck Rates by Origin and Distance (xls) - Regional quarterly average refrigerated truck rates ($/mile) by mileage category: a) local movements–500 miles and less, b) short distance movements–between 501 and 1,500 miles, c) medium distance movements–between 1,501 and 2,500 miles, and d) long distance movements–greater than 2,500 miles. Regions represent origination points for movements. Source: Specialty Crops/Market News/AMS/USDA
  • Quarterly Truck Rates for U.S. Average by Distance (xls) - U.S. quarterly average refrigerated truck rates ($/mile) by mileage category: a) local movements–500 miles and less, b) short distance movements–between 501 and 1,500 miles, c) medium distance movements–between 1,501 and 2,500 miles, and d) long distance movements–greater than 2,500 miles. The U.S. average is weighted by shipment volume using the regional rates. Source: Specialty Crops/Market News/AMS/USDA
  • Weekly Truck Availability by Origin and Commodity (xls) - Weekly spot market availability for refrigerated truck movements at origin shipping areas for individual commodities. Availability is represented numerically as 1 = “Surplus”, 2 = “Slight Surplus”, 3 = “Adequate”, 4 = “Slight Shortage”, 5 = “Shortage”.  Source: Specialty Crops/Market News/AMS/USDA

Note on Shipment Volume Data Collection:

Truck shipments for all commodities and origins are not available. Those obtainable are reported, but should not be interpreted as representing complete movements of a commodity. Truck shipments from all States are collected at shipping points and include both interstate and intrastate movements. They are obtained from various sources, including Federal marketing orders, administrative committees, Federal State Inspection Services, and shippers. Mexican border crossings through Arizona and Texas data are obtained from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border and Protection (CBP) through USDA, AMS, Market News.

Note on Rate Data Collection and Aggregation:

This information is compiled from the weekly Fruit and Vegetable Truck Rate Report. Rates quoted represent open (spot) market rates that shippers or receivers pay depending on basis of sale, per load, including truck brokers’ fees for shipments in truck load volume to a single destination. Extra charges for delivery to terminal markets, multi-pickup and multi-drop shipments are not included unless otherwise stated. Rates are based on the most usual loads in 48-53 foot trailers from the origin shipping area to the destination receiving city. In areas where rates are based on package rates, per load rates were derived by multiplying the package rate by the number of packages in the most usual load in a 48-53 foot trailer. Slightly cheaper rates will be reported during Quarters 2 and 3 as about 50 percent of onion shipments from California are hauled on open flatbed trailers. During Quarter 3, less than 20 percent of onions hauled from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon are on open flatbeds. Regional Rates: Rate data for 10 destination markets are used to calculate average origin regional rates. National Rates: The national rates reflect the average of the regional rates, separated by mileage category and weighted by shipment volume between origin and destination.