Season

A construction season, not a crop. Weather closes it and weather reopens it.

Commodity playbook

Who ships aggregates

Head offices of four large producers. Each operates hundreds of quarries and pits, and the quarry dispatcher is the person who actually hires trucks.

Ask for the dispatcher at the quarry, not the corporate office. Aggregate hauling is arranged site by site and often day by day, against a jobsite schedule that changes with the weather. Many producers run their own trucks for the base load and bring in outside capacity for peaks, which is precisely the gap worth filling.

Where it hauls

Everywhere there is rock, which is nearly everywhere. Aggregate is so heavy relative to its value that hauling it far destroys the economics, so quarries and pits sit close to the metros they serve and the typical haul is measured in tens of miles. That means the freight is dense, local and repetitive rather than long and lane-shaped. The largest producers run hundreds of sites each. The companies to know:

How to open

"Do you need end dump capacity when the season opens? I'd rather be on your list in February than turn up in June."

To the quarry dispatchers, February into March

The question that shows you know the business is about the jobsite: "How much notice do you get when a pour moves?" Aggregate demand swings with a schedule nobody controls, and flexible capacity is what they are actually buying.

Qualifying questions

• End dump, belly dump or live floor? The receiving site decides. Belly dumps windrow material along a road; end dumps need overhead clearance and firm ground to raise safely. Confirm what the site takes before you send anything.
• What is the material and the target weight? Crushed stone, washed sand, base rock and rip rap all load differently and weigh differently. Aggregate loads run to legal weight every time, so the scale ticket is the whole transaction.
• Is the site firm enough to dump? Raising a loaded end dump on soft or uneven ground rolls trucks. It is the single biggest safety issue in this freight. Ask about ground conditions and whether a spotter is provided.
• What are the quarry and jobsite hours? Both ends run tight hours and the jobsite may close when the crew leaves. Get the scale house hours and the site cutoff, because a load that arrives late has nowhere to go.
• How much notice do you get when a pour moves? Jobsite schedules move with weather and inspections. This question tells you how much flexibility they need from a carrier, which is the actual product you are selling here.

When to call

February and March, before the construction season opens. From March to November the pits run hard and capacity is spoken for. Winter is genuinely slow in the north and that is when arrangements get made. In the Sun Belt the season is longer and the conversation is less seasonal.

Sources

• National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association: approximately 2.8 billion tons of aggregates produced annually in the United States, with 1.5 billion tons of crushed stone valued at more than $24 billion and 920 million tons of construction sand and gravel valued at $11 billion in 2023. NSSGA represents 90% of crushed stone and 70% of sand and gravel produced annually, across an industry employing more than 100,000 people. (nssga.org)
• The February to March call window and the typical haul distance. Reasoned from the construction season and the weight-to-value economics rather than a published figure.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: why the haul is short, who actually dispatches, and the season that opens in March.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/aggregates/

Season

Picked in eight weeks, sold over twelve months. Storage is what turns a harvest into a year.

Commodity playbook

Who ships apples

The two Washington districts. New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania have their own packers and much shorter lanes.

Ask for the traffic or transportation manager, and for the sales desk if the packer is small enough that one person does both. Washington packers are large, sophisticated and used to freight: many run scheduled programs to retail distribution centres and treat carrier performance as a scorecard. That cuts both ways. It is harder to get in and much harder to get thrown out.

Where it hauls

Two districts carry it. The Wenatchee Valley in Chelan and Douglas counties, with Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan and Quincy. The Yakima Valley to the south, with Yakima, Selah, Wapato, Grandview and Prosser. Both sit east of the Cascades and both ship east and south on long reefer lanes, because the population that eats the apples is three time zones away. New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania run real crops of their own, mostly for closer markets. The Washington packers to know:

How to open

"How are your storage rooms setting up this year? I'd like to be on the list before the winter pull starts."

To the packers, August into September

The crop being down about 7% is worth knowing before you dial: fewer boxes means tighter allocation and a packer that is more careful about who it commits to, not less busy.

Qualifying questions

• What temperature, and is it a controlled-atmosphere load? Apples run cold, around 32 to 34 degrees depending on variety. Controlled atmosphere is a storage method, not a transport one, but fruit coming straight out of a CA room is sensitive to handling. Confirm the setpoint and whether they want continuous monitoring.
• How many boxes, and what does it scale? A standard load runs somewhere near a thousand 40-pound boxes. That is heavy enough to matter and the pallet configuration changes it. Get box count and target gross before you quote.
• Is this going to a distribution centre on a scheduled programme? Most Washington volume moves to retail distribution centres on appointments, with on-time performance scored. Ask what the appointment window is and what happens to a late truck, because that is the whole relationship.
• Bruising and load securement, who is responsible? Apples bruise and the claim shows up at the receiver days later. Confirm how the pallets are secured, whether airbags or load bars are expected, and who inspects at pickup.
• Are you shipping fresh-picked or out of storage? Early season is fresh-picked and frantic. From about December it is storage fruit on steady programmes. The two need different equipment availability and they price differently, so ask which one they are calling about.

When to call

Now, through harvest. Rooms are being filled between late August and November, and the programmes that draw them down run from January to the following summer. A carrier that proves itself on the harvest rush is the one that gets the steady winter freight, which is the better business of the two.

Sources

• Washington State Tree Fruit Association crop estimate and storage reporting for the 2026-27 season: an early estimate of 120 to 125 million fresh boxes, down about 7% on the prior year, against 132 million boxes harvested in 2025. (wstfa.org)
• USDA Agricultural Marketing Service national apple reporting for movement, storage holdings and shipping point information. (ams.usda.gov)
• The load count divides the box estimate by a thousand 40-pound boxes to a reefer load. The box figure is green; the thousand-box load is a working assumption, not a published load count.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. Written as the 2026-27 crop estimate landed about 7% below last season.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/apples/

Season

Two pulls a year, both driven by housing rather than weather.

Commodity playbook

Who ships appliances

Assembly plants, not head offices, because the plant is where the trailer loads.

Ask for the plant's outbound transportation manager. Finished-goods outbound to distribution centres is the truckload freight worth having. Delivery to homes is a separate last-mile business with its own carriers and does not overlap. Retail and builder distribution centres are the receivers, and they run tight appointment discipline.

Where it hauls

A tight industrial belt. Ohio is the densest, with washer and dryer production at Clyde and Marion and further plants at Ottawa and Greenville. Kentucky carries Appliance Park at Louisville. Tennessee has added meaningful capacity, with plants at Clarksville and Springfield. Iowa and the Carolinas fill in. From the plants, volume runs to regional distribution centres and then to retail and builder channels. The plants to know:

How to open

"Are you setting capacity for the spring pull? I run high-cube freight and I understand what a damage claim costs you here."

To the plants, February into March

Damage is the whole conversation on this freight. A scratched panel is a total loss on a unit worth hundreds of dollars, and a carrier who raises load securement before rate is having a different conversation from everyone else.

Qualifying questions

• How is it loaded and secured? Appliances are tall, light and easily scratched. They need load bars, airbags or straps and they must not shift. Confirm the securement expectation, because the claim here is cosmetic damage and it is expensive.
• What does it cube versus weigh? This is classic cube-out freight: the trailer fills to the roof well below legal weight. Get the unit count, not the tonnage, because the piece count is the constraint.
• Is it going to a distribution centre or a builder site? Distribution centre delivery is dock-to-dock and straightforward. Builder and jobsite work involves uncrating, floor protection and a completely different service level. Ask which.
• Who inspects at delivery, and how? Receivers inspect appliances carton by carton and note damage on the spot. Find out what the inspection is and whether the driver is expected to be present for it, because that is when the claim gets decided.
• Are there returns or reverse logistics? Damaged and swapped units go back, and reverse loads are real volume in this category. Ask whether they need return capacity, because it is often the part nobody has covered.

When to call

February and March, ahead of the spring housing pull. A second, smaller build runs into late summer. Because the demand driver is housing rather than a season, the freight is steadier than most on this calendar, and a lane won in spring generally holds through the year.

Sources

• Company manufacturing disclosures: Whirlpool producing washers and dryers at Clyde and Ottawa, Ohio with production centred on Clyde, Marion and Greenville plus facilities in Tennessee and Iowa, and reporting roughly 20,000 American jobs including 14,000 manufacturing jobs across 10 American factories; GE Appliances at Appliance Park, Louisville; LG's Clarksville, Tennessee plant opened in 2019; Electrolux range production at Springfield, Tennessee. (whirlpoolcorp.com)
• The February to March call window and the housing-linked spring and late-summer pulls. Reasoned from the demand driver rather than a manufacturer's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the plant belt, the two pulls, and why damage decides the lane.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/appliances/

Season

No season worth naming. A network that refills itself every night, all year.

Commodity playbook

Who ships auto parts

Head offices of four national networks. Each runs dozens of regional distribution centres, and the distribution centre is where the freight actually moves.

Ask for inbound transportation at the distribution centre. Store replenishment is usually run on dedicated fleets or established regional carriers. The inbound leg, from manufacturers and importers into the distribution centre, is the truckload business and it is far more open. Ask for the inbound planner, not the outbound one.

Where it hauls

Three tiers, and each one is freight. Manufacturers and tier suppliers ship into regional distribution centres, which are placed to reach their stores overnight and are spread across every major market in the country. Those distribution centres then run store replenishment, which is short, nightly and enormous in aggregate. Import parts add port drayage on the front. The networks to know:

How to open

"Who covers your inbound from suppliers? I'm not chasing the store runs, I'm after the freight coming into the building."

To distribution centres, January into February

Explicitly not asking for the store network is what gets you a conversation. Everyone pitches the visible freight; the inbound is bigger, less contested and much better suited to a broker.

Qualifying questions

• Inbound to the distribution centre, or store replenishment? Inbound is truckload from suppliers and importers. Store replenishment is short, nightly, multi-stop and usually already covered. Establish which one is on offer before you invest any time.
• What does it scale? Enormously variable. A load of filters cubes out light; a load of brake rotors or batteries scales heavy immediately. Get the commodity mix, not just the pallet count.
• Any hazmat? Batteries, aerosols, oils and airbag modules all carry classifications. A mixed parts load can quietly include hazmat. Ask directly, because the paperwork and the driver endorsement are not optional.
• What is the appointment discipline? Parts distribution centres run tight inbound schedules because the outbound leaves on a fixed nightly cycle. A late inbound truck misses the whole night. Get the window and treat it as firm.
• Is there a returns flow? Cores, warranty returns and overstock move backwards through this network constantly. Reverse capacity is real volume and it is chronically under-served.

When to call

January and February, when annual arrangements get placed. Beyond that there is no window to miss: the freight runs every week of the year. What does move is the mix, with heavier demand in spring and autumn as weather changes drive maintenance, and a reliable winter spike in batteries and starters.

Sources

• Genuine Parts Company SEC filings: domestic distribution centres serving approximately 4,800 independently owned NAPA Auto Parts stores throughout the United States across 51 distribution channels. (sec.gov)
• The January to February call window, the inbound-versus-replenishment framing, and the seasonal mix shifts. Reasoned from how aftermarket networks operate rather than a published schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the three tiers, the inbound leg worth asking for, and the year-round frequency.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/auto-parts/

Season

Built for summer starting in late winter, then sold hardest between May and September.

Commodity playbook

Who ships beer

Five brewers from a field of nearly ten thousand. The distributor tier behind them is where most of the short-haul freight sits.

Ask for the brewery's logistics manager, and then ask who their distributors are. The three-tier system means the distributor is a separate company with its own warehouses and its own freight problem, and it is usually the easier door. Regional distributors run constant short-haul volume and are chronically short of trucks in summer.

Where it hauls

Two very different maps. The large brewers run a small number of very large plants placed to serve regions, so those lanes are long, scheduled and mostly contracted. The craft layer is nearly ten thousand breweries, overwhelmingly regional, shipping shorter distances in smaller quantities and far more likely to need a broker. Between brewer and retailer sits the distributor, a legally separate business in most states, and that tier moves an enormous amount of local freight. The brewers to know:

How to open

"Are you building for summer yet? I'd rather be set up in February than be a phone call in June."

To brewers and distributors, February into March

Ask whether they need temperature control. Plenty of beer moves protected rather than ambient, and a broker who raises it before the shipper does is not the usual call.

Qualifying questions

• What does it scale? Beer is mostly water in glass or aluminium and it weighs out well before it cubes out. Cans are lighter than bottles, kegs heavier again. Get the pack format and target gross before you quote.
• Does it need temperature control? More than people assume. Unpasteurised and hop-forward beer degrades with heat, and freezing ruins anything. Ask whether they want protection from heat, protection from freezing, or a true setpoint.
• Kegs, cans or bottles? Kegs are heavy, awkward and come back empty, which means a return leg. Cases palletize cleanly. Glass breaks. Three different handling problems, so ask which is on the trailer.
• Brewery to distributor, or distributor to retail? The first is a real truckload lane. The second is short, multi-stop and often on the distributor's own fleet. The three-tier system means these are separate companies, so establish who is actually hiring you.
• Is there a date code or freshness window? Beer carries freshness dating and retailers reject short-dated product. A delayed load can arrive legally fine and commercially worthless. Confirm the window before you accept a long lane.

When to call

February and March, as the summer build begins. Production ramps well before the heat, because the peak selling weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day cannot be supplied from a standing start. Autumn brings a second, smaller build for the holidays. Mid-summer calls are quoting overflow into a market that is already tight.

Sources

• Brewers Association annual industry production figures: 9,796 operating US craft breweries in 2024 falling to 9,578 in 2025, craft production of 23.1 million barrels in 2024 and 21.86 million in 2025, craft at 24.7% of the total beer market in retail dollar sales, and sector employment of 197,112. (brewersassociation.org)
• The February to March call window and the summer build shape. Reasoned from the seasonal selling peak rather than a brewer's stated production schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the two maps, the distributor tier, and the summer build the freight is timed against.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/beer/

Season

Summer is the season. Hurricane season is the surge nobody can schedule.

Commodity playbook

Who ships bottled water

A head office and named plants. Niagara alone operates more than 50 bottling plants, so the site serving your lane is rarely the address here.

Ask for the plant's transportation coordinator. This is high-frequency, short-haul, low-rate freight, which means the shipper cares about reliability and availability far more than about a few dollars. Volume is the compensation: a plant running at capacity in July needs trucks every single day.

Where it hauls

Plants sit next to water and next to people, because shipping water any distance is uneconomic. That means a dense national network rather than a few big origins: over 50 plants for one bottler alone, placed to serve their regions. The Sun Belt carries disproportionate capacity because that is where the demand is. Distribution runs plant to retail distribution centre on very short lanes. The bottlers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting summer capacity yet? And do you want someone on call for storm surges?"

To the plants, March into April

The storm question is the one worth asking. When a hurricane is forecast, retailers order water by the trailer with days of notice, and the bottler needs capacity that can appear immediately. Being that number is a real position.

Qualifying questions

• What does it scale? Water is the definition of weigh-out freight. A trailer reaches legal weight well before it looks full. Get the pallet count and target gross and expect the trailer to look half empty.
• Is it going to a distribution centre or direct to store? Distribution centre delivery is dock to dock. Direct store delivery on promotional weeks means multiple stops and pallet jacks. Very different day, so establish which.
• Does it need protection from freezing? Frozen bottles split and the whole load is scrap. In northern winters this is a real risk on a load nobody thinks of as temperature-sensitive. Ask about protective service.
• Is this a storm order? Hurricane stocking creates urgent, large, short-notice orders. They pay differently and they matter more. Knowing whether you are in one changes the whole conversation.
• How is it palletized? Shrink-wrapped cases stack high and can shift or collapse. Confirm the pallet pattern and whether load bars are expected, because a collapsed load of water is a long afternoon.

When to call

March and April, ahead of the summer build. The hurricane season overlay runs June to November and is genuinely unpredictable, which is the opportunity: nobody can plan for it, so a carrier who answers the phone in that week gets remembered for the next one.

Sources

• Company disclosures: Niagara Bottling operating more than 50 bottling plants in the United States and Mexico with more than 7,000 employees, including a 450,000 square foot plant in Mesa, Arizona and a 252,000 square foot plant in Phoenix; BlueTriton Brands operating 27 production facilities across brands including Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Poland Spring and Zephyrhills; Primo Brands headquartered in Tampa, Florida. (niagarawater.com)
• The March to April call window and the hurricane-season surge pattern. Reasoned from the demand drivers rather than a bottler's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the dense plant network, the weigh-out economics, and the two surges.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/bottled-water/

Season

No storage. Cut, cooled and gone, out of whichever valley is in season.

Commodity playbook

Who ships broccoli

The same grower-shippers that run the lettuce deal. Broccoli rides the rotation with it.

Ask for the cooler or the traffic desk. Broccoli is a commodity item for these companies rather than a headline crop, which works in your favour: it moves constantly, it is less glamorous than salads, and the person tendering it is more interested in a truck that shows up than in a story.

Where it hauls

The same rotation that carries lettuce. The Salinas Valley from roughly April to November, running south through Gonzales, Soledad and King City, with Santa Maria and Oxnard covering the shoulders. Yuma County, Arizona from November to March. Broccoli travels with the leafy green deal because it is grown by the same companies, cooled in the same facilities and loaded on the same trucks. The coolers to know:

How to open

"Are you moving broccoli out of the desert yet, or still Salinas? I'd like to get set up ahead of the transition."

To the coolers, September into October

Broccoli is often the load nobody wants because it ices heavy and it is not the customer's priority. Say you will take it and you have found the opening most brokers walk past.

Qualifying questions

• Is it iced, and how much? Broccoli is often package-iced or liquid-iced, which adds real weight and drips. Ask how it is cooled and how much ice is on it, because it changes both your gross and what the trailer looks like on arrival.
• What is the setpoint? It runs just above freezing, around 32 to 34 degrees, and it is unforgiving. Broccoli yellows fast when it warms. Confirm the setpoint and that the unit runs continuous, not cycling.
• Crowns or bunched? Crowns pack denser and travel better; bunched product is bulkier and more fragile. The pack changes the count, the weight and the handling. Ask before you quote.
• Salinas or Yuma right now? It flips in November and again in April. The answer tells you whether you are quoting a coastal lane or a desert one, and it tells them you know the deal moves.
• What is the appointment at the receiver? Most of this goes to retail distribution centres on firm appointments. Get the window and what a miss costs, because on a product with days of shelf life a reschedule is a rejection.

When to call

September and October ahead of the desert season, and February and March ahead of the move back to Salinas. Those transitions are the two weeks a year when a shipper's regular carriers are all in the wrong state. Mid-season the freight is steady but the seats are taken.

Sources

• Salinas Valley production reporting: the valley grows almost half the nation's lettuce and about a third of its spinach, and makes about half its broccoli and cauliflower. (montereycfb.com)
• Arizona Leafy Greens: about 90% of US leafy vegetables grown from November to March come from the Yuma area, supported by 22 coolers and 10 salad plants. (arizonaleafygreens.org)
• The September to October and February to March call windows. Reasoned from the published season transition rather than a shipper's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: both valleys, the rotation, and the coolers that tender it.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/broccoli/

Season

Packed in five months, sold over twelve. The fill is the spike.

Commodity playbook

Who ships canned goods

Four packers at head offices and home plants. Seneca alone operates 21 packaging plants across the country.

Ask for the plant's traffic manager, and ask about both directions. Inbound is short, frantic and seasonal: raw crop from field to plant on a clock measured in hours. Outbound is palletized cans to distribution centres, steady and year-round. Most brokers only ever ask about one of them.

Where it hauls

Plants sit in the crop, not near the customer, because raw vegetables cannot travel far before they lose quality. That puts canning capacity in Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York for peas, corn and beans, the Midwest tomato belt through Indiana and Ohio, California's Central Valley for tomatoes and fruit, and the mid-Atlantic for a mix. Finished goods then run out to distribution centres nationally, which is the long-haul half. The packers to know:

How to open

"Are you covered for pack season? I can help on the raw inbound as well as the finished outbound."

To the plants, June into July

Offering the inbound is the differentiator. Raw crop haulage is unglamorous, short and urgent, and a broker who will take it earns the right to quote the finished goods that run all year.

Qualifying questions

• Raw inbound or finished outbound? Two different jobs at the same address. Raw crop is short-haul, hours-critical and seasonal. Finished cans are palletized, year-round and long-haul. Establish which before you quote anything.
• What does a finished load scale? Canned goods are dense and a trailer weighs out well before it fills. Get the pallet count and the target gross, because this is the opposite of the cube-out freight in the same warehouse.
• Is the trailer food-grade? Even sealed cans move under food safety expectations. Expect questions about prior loads and washouts, and about whether the trailer is clean and odour-free.
• How is it palletized and stretch-wrapped? Cans shift and a collapsed pallet is a damaged load and a hazard. Confirm the pallet pattern and wrap standard, and whether they expect load bars.
• What is your pack window this year? It moves with the crop and the weather. Asking tells you when the inbound crunch lands and when the outbound starts, which is the whole calendar of the account.

When to call

June and July, before pack season opens. Once the crop is coming in the plant runs around the clock and has no capacity to onboard anyone. The finished-goods outbound then runs all year from the warehouse, so a seat won at pack is a lane that pays long after the fields are empty.

Sources

• Seneca Foods SEC filings: 21 packaging plants located throughout the United States plus a can manufacturing plant, three seed packaging operations and a farming operation, sourcing from over 1,600 American farms, with raw product harvested mainly between June and November. (sec.gov)
• The June to July call window and the inbound-versus-outbound framing. Reasoned from the published harvest window rather than a plant's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: where the plants sit, the two directions of freight, and the pack window that drives both.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/canned-goods/

Season

Three districts arranged so the crop never stops. Steady, unglamorous, constant.

Commodity playbook

Who ships celery

The coastal grower-shippers that run the staggered districts. Oxnard winter acreage is farmed by several of the same names.

Ask for the cooler. Celery is a programme item for retail and foodservice rather than an impulse buy, so the volume is predictable and the shipper values a carrier who is predictable back. This is not exciting freight and that is precisely the argument for it: steady weekly loads beat a seasonal scramble.

Where it hauls

Three districts, deliberately staggered. Salinas through the summer and autumn, Oxnard in Ventura County for the winter growing, and Yuma in the desert for the coldest months, with Santa Maria filling gaps. The point of the arrangement is continuity: a receiver on a celery programme expects product 52 weeks a year, so somebody is always cutting. The coolers to know:

How to open

"Do you run celery straight through the winter out of Oxnard? I'm after steady weekly freight rather than a season."

To the coolers, September into October

Asking for steady rather than peak is the right ask on this commodity. A shipper who covers 52 weeks a year would rather have one carrier for all of it than 12 carriers for the busy weeks.

Qualifying questions

• How is it packed, and what does it scale? Celery is mostly water and it ships in tall cartons that are heavy for their size. A full load scales closer to legal weight than most produce. Get the carton count and the target gross.
• What is the setpoint? Just above freezing, around 32 to 34 degrees. Celery freezes easily and freeze damage shows as translucent, collapsed stalks that the receiver will reject on sight. Confirm the setpoint.
• Is it hearts or whole stalks? Celery hearts come out of a processing line and travel in smaller, denser cases. Whole stalks are bulkier and more easily damaged. They are effectively two different products with two different receivers.
• Which district is cutting? Salinas, Oxnard, Santa Maria or Yuma, depending on the month. Asking which one tells you the lane and shows you understand the crop is arranged so it never stops.
• Is this a standing weekly lane? Celery programmes run all year, which makes recurring freight genuinely available here. Ask directly whether they want a weekly commitment, because that is worth more to both sides than a spot load.

When to call

September and October, as the desert season is planned. But celery is the one item on this list where an off-season call still works, because the crop never stops and somebody is always short a truck. Ask for the standing weekly lane rather than the seasonal surge.

Sources

• Salinas Valley crop reporting listing celery among the district's top crops alongside leaf lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower, and Church Brothers Farms describing its celery winter growing in Oxnard while broccoli and cauliflower transition from Salinas to Yuma. (churchbrothers.com)
• USDA Agricultural Marketing Service shipping point and movement reporting for celery across the California districts and the Arizona desert. (ams.usda.gov)
• The September to October call window and the standing-weekly-lane framing. Reasoned from the year-round district rotation rather than a shipper's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the three districts, the continuity they exist to create, and the weekly lane it implies.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/celery/

Season

Milk arrives every day, so cheese ships every week. Demand lifts into the holidays.

Commodity playbook

Who ships cheese

Four producers at head offices and home plants. Each runs multiple sites, and Wisconsin alone holds dozens of independent cheesemakers beyond these.

Ask for the plant's logistics manager. There are three separate freight businesses at a cheese plant: inbound raw milk in tankers, outbound bulk blocks and barrels to processors, and outbound packaged retail cheese to distribution centres. The third is the classic refrigerated truckload; the second is steadier and less contested.

Where it hauls

Two states carry it. Wisconsin is the traditional centre, with Plymouth, Green Bay and the eastern dairy counties holding an extraordinary density of plants. California is the volume producer, with the Central Valley around Hilmar, Tulare and Visalia processing enormous milk volumes into commodity cheese and whey. Idaho and New Mexico have grown fast. Freight runs plant to distribution centre, plant to further processor, and a constant inbound milk business in tankers. The producers to know:

How to open

"Do you need standing refrigerated capacity? I'm after weekly repeat rather than a seasonal spike."

To the plants, January into February

The bulk block and barrel lane is the detail worth raising. It is unglamorous, high volume and moves constantly between plants and processors, and far fewer brokers ask about it than about the retail freight.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint? Packaged cheese runs refrigerated, typically 34 to 40 degrees depending on product. It must not freeze, which ruins texture. Confirm the setpoint and whether they want a temperature download on arrival.
• Retail packaged, or bulk blocks and barrels? Retail cases palletize and go to distribution centres. Bulk 40-pound blocks and 500-pound barrels go to further processors and load completely differently. Two separate businesses, so ask which.
• What does it scale? Cheese is dense and loads run heavy, particularly bulk. Get the pallet count and target gross rather than assuming refrigerated food freight will cube out.
• Is the trailer food-grade and odour-free? Cheese absorbs odours readily and receivers reject on it. Prior-load history matters more here than on most refrigerated freight. Have the answer ready.
• Is there inbound milk work too? Raw milk arrives daily in tankers and is a separate freight business with separate equipment. If you have or can source tank capacity, it is worth asking about.

When to call

January and February, when annual arrangements get set. Cheese has no harvest, so there is no window to miss; what there is instead is a steady weekly requirement and a lift into the autumn and holiday baking season. That makes it a lane to hold rather than a season to catch.

Sources

• Company disclosures: Sargento Foods founded 1953 in Plymouth, Wisconsin with sales over $1.8 billion annually and about 2,500 employees; Schreiber Foods established 1945 and headquartered in Green Bay with 20 locations worldwide and over 10,000 employees; Hilmar Cheese founded 1984 and based in Hilmar, California, operating across 10 locations with annual revenue of $2.8 billion; Leprino Foods headquartered in Colorado. (wisconsincheese.com)
• The January to February call window and the three-lane framing. Reasoned from the continuous production pattern rather than a plant's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the two producing states, the three freight businesses at one plant, and the weekly lane.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/cheese/

Season

The shortest window on the calendar. Five weeks decides the whole year.

Commodity playbook

Who ships cherries

The same tree fruit houses that pack Washington apples. One call list, two crops, and ten months between them.

Ask for the traffic or transportation manager, the same desk that handles the apple programme. That is the useful thing about this commodity: the tree fruit houses are year-round shippers, so a cherry conversation in April is really an audition for the storage apple freight that runs the other ten months. Treat it that way.

Where it hauls

The same Washington districts that pack apples pack cherries, and often in the same buildings. The Wenatchee Valley and the Columbia River corridor through Chelan, Orondo and Quincy, then the Yakima Valley south through Selah and Wapato. Oregon's Columbia Gorge around The Dalles and Hood River runs early fruit, and California's San Joaquin opens the national season several weeks before the Northwest does. The Washington packers to know:

How to open

"How's the bloom looking for cherries? I'd like to be lined up before June, and I'm interested in the apple programme after it."

To the tree fruit packers, April into May

Naming both crops in one sentence is the move. It shows you understand that the same building ships cherries in July and apples in January, and that you are asking for a relationship rather than five weeks of work.

Qualifying questions

• How fast, and what is the setpoint? Cherries are hydrocooled immediately after picking and run just above freezing. Shelf life is short and the fruit is fragile. Confirm the setpoint, and confirm the trailer is pre-cooled before it backs in, not after.
• Is any of this going to the airport? A meaningful share of Northwest cherries flies to Asia, and the ground leg to the airport is a hard cutoff rather than a delivery window. Ask whether the load is export, because missing an aircraft is not a late delivery.
• How many boxes and what does it scale? Cherry boxes are small, commonly around 20 pounds, so a load is a lot of boxes and not much weight. Get the count and the pallet configuration, because the trailer fills before the scale notices.
• What happens if it rains? Rain near harvest splits cherries and can stop picking dead for days. A truck scheduled into a rain event may have nothing to load. Ask what their cancellation practice is before you deadhead into the valley.
• Do you ship apples out of the same house? Usually yes, and that is the real prize. Cherries are five weeks; storage apples run most of the year from the same dock. Ask it in April and you are having a different conversation than everyone else calling that week.

When to call

April and May, before the fruit is on. Once the window opens in mid-June the packing houses are running around the clock and nobody is setting up a new carrier. Miss it and the next natural opening is August, calling the same desk about apples out of storage, which is the longer and steadier half of their year anyway.

Sources

• Northwest Cherry Growers season reporting: a crop estimate of 18 to 20 million boxes, a peak commercial window projected from June 15 to July 20, and daily shipments exceeding 400,000 boxes at full stride. (nwcherries.com)
• Washington State Tree Fruit Association, which represents the growers, packers and marketers of Washington apples, pears and sweet cherries out of the same districts and frequently the same packing houses. (wstfa.org)
• The April to May call window, and the load figure converting 400,000 boxes a day at roughly 2,000 boxes to a reefer load. The box counts are green; the load conversion is a working assumption.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the districts, the five week window, and the apple programme behind the same door.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/cherries/

Season

Grown for eight years, cut in three weeks, shipped in six. Everything hinges on one date.

Commodity playbook

Who ships christmas trees

Four wholesale growers from a field of roughly 15,000 US farms, including about 1,300 Fraser fir growers in North Carolina alone.

Ask for the shipping coordinator, and ask in September. Wholesale growers sell to retail lots, garden centres, big box chains and church groups, and they arrange the transport as part of the sale. This is one of the few commodities where the grower will happily talk logistics months ahead, because they already know their own worst problem is trucks in November.

Where it hauls

Two states cut more than half the national crop and they serve different halves of the country. Oregon is the largest at about 4.7 million trees a year, concentrated in the Willamette Valley around Salem, Corvallis and Aurora, shipping Noble and Douglas fir west and south, and a long way east. North Carolina is second at about 3.2 million, grown almost entirely as Fraser fir in the mountain counties, with Ashe, Alleghany and Avery carrying it, and serving the east coast and upper midwest. Michigan and Pennsylvania supply their own regions. The wholesale growers to know:

How to open

"Have you got your November capacity covered yet? I'd rather commit to you now than be a phone call you make in a panic."

To the wholesale growers, September

Committing early is the whole pitch. A grower whose entire year rides on a three-week delivery window values a truck that shows up more than a truck that is cheap, and they will say so.

Qualifying questions

• Van, reefer, or flatbed? All three carry trees and the grower will have a preference. Baled trees load into a 53 foot van at up to about 750 to a trailer. Long hauls sometimes run refrigerated to hold freshness. Ask what they ship on rather than assuming.
• What day does it have to be on the lot? This is the only question that really matters. Retail lots open the day after Thanksgiving and a tree that arrives on the Saturday has missed the weekend that pays for the year. Get the must-arrive date, not a window.
• How many trees, and what does it scale? Up to roughly 750 baled trees in a full trailer, though species and size change it a lot. Fresh-cut trees hold water and are heavier than people expect. Confirm the count and the gross.
• Is it loaded the same day it is cut? Usually yes, and that is the point. Freshness is the product. Ask how long between cut and load, and whether they expect the trailer pre-cooled or the doors cracked.
• One stop or a milk run? Some loads go to a single distribution point and some drop at six retail lots across two states. The second is a completely different rate and a completely different day. Ask before you quote.

When to call

September, before the cut. October is late and November is not a conversation, it is a scramble. This is the clearest plan-ahead commodity in the calendar: the harvest date is fixed by a holiday that does not move, every grower in the country needs trucks in the same fortnight, and the ones who sorted it out in September are the ones whose trees reach the lot on time.

Sources

• National Christmas Tree Association: more than 700 active member farms across 29 state and regional associations, roughly 15,000 US farms growing Christmas trees, and 14.5 million trees cut in 2022, with Oregon at 4.7 million and North Carolina at about 3.2 million. (realchristmastrees.org)
• North Carolina Christmas Tree Association: nearly 1,300 Fraser fir growers across about 40,000 acres, concentrated in the western mountain counties. (ncchristmastrees.com)
• The 99% November and December shipping share, the pre-Thanksgiving peak, and up to 750 baled trees per 53 foot trailer come from freight market commentary on the season rather than a published industry statistic. The load count divides the harvest by that figure.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. Written in the month before the September call window this commodity turns on.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/christmas-trees/

Season

An eight month shipping season with a freeze risk sitting in the middle of it.

Commodity playbook

Who ships citrus

San Joaquin Valley houses. Sunkist is a marketing cooperative whose member packinghouses are listed publicly by county.

Ask for the traffic or shipping manager at the packinghouse, not the grower. Fresh citrus moves through a packing and marketing operation that pools fruit from many growers, and that house tenders the truck. Some of these are large enough to run scheduled programmes to retail distribution centres, which means appointment discipline matters more than rate.

Where it hauls

California is the fresh citrus state and the San Joaquin Valley is where it packs: Fowler and Orange Cove in Fresno County, Exeter, Lindsay and Terra Bella in Tulare County, and Delano in Kern County. Navels, mandarins and lemons come off the same district and often the same houses. Texas grapefruit out of the Rio Grande Valley and Florida citrus are real but much smaller in fresh terms, and Florida's crop is heavily juice. The packinghouses to know:

How to open

"Are you setting carriers for navels yet? I'd rather be on the list before the season opens than be the December phone call."

To the packinghouses, October into November

If you want to sound like you have done this: ask what they do on a freeze. Cold nights in the valley stop picking and then release a backlog all at once, and the carriers who absorb that surge are the ones who keep the freight.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and which fruit is it? Navels, mandarins, lemons and grapefruit do not all want the same temperature, and citrus is chill sensitive in a way apples are not. Get the commodity and the setpoint together, never one without the other.
• Has there been a freeze? A cold snap stops harvest and then dumps a backlog when it lifts. It also raises the risk of fruit damage that shows up at the receiver. Ask what the last week's weather did before you take a load out of the valley.
• How many boxes and what does it scale? Reported volumes use 80 pound box equivalents, so a legal load is somewhere near 550 boxes. Cartons, bags and bulk bins all scale differently. Confirm the pack and the gross weight.
• Is this a retail programme or spot? Programme freight to distribution centres runs on firm appointments with performance scored. Spot is faster and less forgiving on rate. Ask which one this load is, because it decides how much a late arrival costs you.
• Is it export fruit? A meaningful share of California citrus goes to Asia through the ports, and export fruit carries extra paperwork, registered packinghouse requirements and hard vessel cutoffs. Ask early, because a missed cutoff is not a late delivery, it is a missed boat.

When to call

October and November, before navels start moving. The season then runs to June, so a seat won at the start is eight months of freight rather than a load. Mid-season calls are quoting overflow, though a freeze week is the one moment mid-season when a packinghouse will genuinely take a new number.

Sources

• USDA and California Citrus Mutual crop reporting for the navel season: about 42 million 80 pound boxes estimated against 44.3 million the prior season, with navels shipping November to June. (ams.usda.gov)
• Sunkist Growers publishes a registered packinghouse list by county for export markets, which doubles as a public roster of California citrus packing locations. (sunkist.com)
• The load count divides the box estimate by 550 boxes to a legal reefer load. The crop figure is green; the 550 box load is a working assumption. The October to November call window is reasoned from the season opening, not from a packinghouse schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the packing districts, the eight month season, and the freeze that reshuffles it.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/citrus/

Season

No season. Vessels arrive all year and roasters run to a retail schedule, not a harvest.

Commodity playbook

Who ships coffee

Roasters and green coffee handlers. Smucker's New Orleans silo operation is the largest facility of its kind in the world and Dupuy the largest storage and forwarding operation in the US.

Ask the warehouse operator about green, and the roaster about finished goods. The green side is handled by specialist storage and forwarding companies who move bags between terminal, warehouse and roaster, and it is short-haul, high-frequency and much less contested. The roasted side is conventional CPG distribution on annual bids.

Where it hauls

Two maps that meet at the ports. Green coffee arrives in containers, overwhelmingly through New Orleans, with New York, Houston, Oakland and the Virginia ports handling the rest, and sits in bonded and dry warehouses until a roaster calls for it. Roasted coffee leaves plants across the country: New Orleans itself, the Pacific Northwest, the northeast and Texas. The green leg is drayage and warehouse transfer; the roasted leg is national consumer freight. The companies to know:

How to open

"Do you need capacity on the green side, terminal to warehouse to roaster? I'm not just after the finished goods."

To warehouses and roasters, January into February

Knowing that green coffee moves several times before it is roasted is the credential. Most callers only know the branded end exists.

Qualifying questions

• Green or roasted? Green coffee moves in 60-kilo bags or bulk liners, dense and heavy, on short port-area hauls. Roasted product is packaged consumer goods on long lanes. Two entirely different jobs.
• Is the trailer clean and odour-free? Coffee absorbs odour aggressively, green beans especially. Prior-load history matters more here than on most dry freight, and a tainted load is unsellable rather than merely damaged.
• What does a green load scale? Bagged green coffee is dense and loads to weight quickly. Get the bag count and target gross rather than assuming an agricultural import will cube out.
• Is it in bond? Green coffee sitting in a bonded warehouse carries customs requirements on movement. Confirm the status and whether a bonded carrier or specific paperwork is needed.
• When does the vessel actually discharge? Arrival dates move, and the drayage window moves with them. Ask how much notice they can give, because flexible short-notice capacity is what the green side actually needs.

When to call

January and February, as annual arrangements are set. There is no harvest to time from the US end, because the crops that matter are in the southern hemisphere and the tropics and the buffer stock in warehouses smooths it out. What varies is vessel arrival, which is unpredictable in a way that creates short-notice drayage work.

Sources

• US coffee handling and import data: the US importing over 25 million 60-kilo bags annually; New Orleans as the nation's premier coffee-handling port with 14 coffee warehouses holding more than 5.5 million square feet of storage and six roasting facilities within a 20 mile radius; Smucker Coffee Silo Operations as the largest facility of its kind in the world and Dupuy Storage and Forwarding the largest in the United States; Folgers roasting all of its coffee in New Orleans. (jmsmucker.com)
• The January to February call window and the green-side entry advice. Reasoned from how imported commodities are contracted rather than a published schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the port concentration, the green and roasted legs, and the drayage nobody asks for.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/coffee/

Season

Runs ahead of everyone else's season, then never really stops.

Commodity playbook

Who ships corrugated

Head offices of four producers running plant networks. The useful call is always the individual plant, because corrugated is bought and shipped locally.

Ask for the plant's shipping or logistics coordinator. Corrugated runs on a plant-by-plant basis even inside the big integrated companies, so a national conversation is usually the wrong one. Sheet plants and independents are often the easier door than the integrateds, and they run the same short, frequent lanes. Ask whether they are a full corrugator or a sheet plant, because it changes what moves and how often.

Where it hauls

Everywhere, and deliberately so. Corrugated is bulky, light and cheap relative to its volume, so plants sit inside a short drive of the people who fill the boxes: about 1,150 plants across North America, with the heaviest concentration around food processing, produce packing and distribution corridors. A converting plant serves a radius measured in hours, not days. The integrated producers and independents to know:

How to open

"Are you building for the autumn pack yet? I run high-cube freight and I'd rather be set up before your customers' season starts."

To the box plants, July into August

The thing that lands here is knowing whose peak they serve. A plant feeding produce packers has a completely different calendar from one feeding e-commerce, and asking which tells them you have thought about their business rather than your truck.

Qualifying questions

• How many bundles, and what does it scale? Corrugated cubes out long before it weighs out. A full trailer of knocked-down boxes can be barely half of legal weight. Get the bundle count and the loading pattern, because the only real question is whether it fits.
• Is it going to a plant or a distribution centre? Plant deliveries feed a production line and a late truck stops it. Distribution centres are more forgiving but run appointments. Ask which, because on the plant side the delivery time is the whole job.
• Does it have to stay dry? Corrugated loses strength when it gets damp and a wet load is a rejected load. Confirm the trailer is clean and dry and that the doors seal, which sounds obvious until it is your claim.
• Full corrugator or sheet plant? A corrugator makes board and runs bigger, steadier outbound volume. A sheet plant buys board in and converts it, which means inbound freight too. Ask which they are, because it tells you what lanes exist.
• Whose season are you building for? A box plant's calendar is its customers' calendar. Produce packers, protein plants and e-commerce all peak at different times. The answer tells you when their busy weeks are, which is when they need you.

When to call

July and August, ahead of the autumn pack and the run into holiday. That is when box plants are building for their customers' peaks and when their own outbound gets tight. The freight itself runs all year at high frequency, which is the appeal: short lanes, repeat volume, and a plant that will use a reliable carrier every week rather than every season.

Sources

• Fibre Box Association industry annual report: corrugated industry shipments of 381 billion square feet in 2024, up 0.1% on the prior year, with a shipment value of $40.8 billion, and an average corrugator plant producing 1,081 million square feet of combined board. (fibrebox.org)
• Fibre Box Association plant counts for corrugated and solid fibreboard manufacturing across the United States, Canada and other areas, at roughly 1,150 plants and 103,000 workers. (fibrebox.org)
• The July to August call window and the claim that box freight runs a month ahead of the season it serves. Reasoned from how packaging supply precedes a pack season rather than from a plant's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the plant network, the local radius, and the peak it runs ahead of.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/corrugated/

Season

Priced on an annual clock, built on a construction season. The pre-buy is the spike.

Commodity playbook

Who ships drywall

Five of the seven US wallboard producers, at their head offices. Each runs a plant network, and the plant is where the truck loads.

Ask for the plant traffic manager, and the buyer at the distributor. Board moves plant to distributor yard to jobsite, and only the first leg is real truckload freight. Jobsite delivery is usually a boom truck the distributor owns. Ask which leg you are being offered, because one of them is not yours to haul.

Where it hauls

Wallboard plants sit near two things: a gypsum source and a metro that is building. That means quarries in the interior west and Texas, synthetic gypsum plants beside coal power stations in the midwest and southeast, and board lines close to the Sun Belt housing markets. It is heavy, low-value freight, so the haul is short by design and the plant network is dense. The producers to know:

How to open

"Are you covering the pre-buy? I'd rather commit capacity before the increase than chase it after."

To the plants and distributors, January into February

Naming the pre-buy is the whole credential. Everyone in this business plans around the annual increase, and a broker who mentions it unprompted is not calling cold.

Qualifying questions

• What does it scale, and how many sheets? Wallboard is dense and a load weighs out fast. Half-inch board runs roughly 1.6 pounds per square foot, so a trailer reaches legal weight well before it looks full. Get the sheet count, thickness and target gross.
• Flatbed or van, and does it need tarps? Both are used. Flatbed needs tarping because wet board is scrap, not damaged goods. Confirm who supplies tarps and how the load is covered, because rain on this freight is a total loss.
• How is it handled at the yard? Board is lifted in banded stacks and it breaks if it flexes. Confirm the yard has the right forklift with long forks and that they will not drag a stack. Damage claims here are about handling, not driving.
• Is this the pre-buy or a normal stocking order? Volume around an annual increase is a spike with a hard deadline behind it. A normal stocking order is plannable. They price differently and they forgive lateness differently.
• Plant to yard, or yard to jobsite? Only the first is truckload freight. Jobsite delivery generally rides a boom truck the distributor already owns. Establish which one before you quote.

When to call

January and February, around the annual price increase and ahead of the spring build. Distributors stock hard before an increase takes effect, which concentrates freight into a few weeks and strands anyone who has not committed. The construction season then runs March to November, so the seat keeps paying.

Sources

• Industry and SEC reporting on US gypsum wallboard: seven domestic producers (American Gypsum, CertainTeed Gypsum, Georgia-Pacific, Lafarge North America, National Gypsum, PABCO and USG), with USG historically near a third of domestic sales and manufacturing at 46 North American plants, and National Gypsum operating 17 US gypsum board plants. (sec.gov)
• The January to February call window and the pre-buy spike around annual price increases. Widely described in the building products trade but not published as a dated statistic, so treated as trade knowledge rather than a measurement.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the seven producers, the short-haul plant network, and the annual clock the freight bunches against.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/drywall/

Season

Continuous production with a spring baking spike and a supply that disease can rewrite.

Commodity playbook

Who ships eggs

Head offices of four large producers. Each runs complexes across several states, so the loading point is rarely the address here.

Ask for the logistics manager at the complex. Egg producers run continuous operations with predictable weekly volume, which makes them good candidates for standing lanes. Ask about the further-processing side too: liquid egg moves in tankers and is a completely separate freight business from cartoned shell eggs.

Where it hauls

Layer complexes sit near feed, which means the midwest and the mid-south dominate: Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and Texas, with large operations in the southeast and mid-Atlantic serving eastern markets. Producers run multi-state networks, so a single company may ship from seven states. Freight runs farm to processing and grading, then out to retail distribution and to further processors making liquid and dried egg. The producers to know:

How to open

"Do you need standing weekly capacity? I understand eggs are a fragile load and I'd rather commit than spot-quote you."

To the producers, January into February

If there has been an avian influenza event, ask about it directly. Flocks get depopulated and supply shifts hundreds of miles overnight, and the carriers who help re-route in that week get remembered.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint? Shell eggs move refrigerated, typically around 45 degrees, and regulations govern it. They must not freeze. Confirm the setpoint and whether continuous monitoring is expected.
• How is it loaded and secured? Eggs are the most breakable freight most carriers ever haul. Pallets must not shift and the ride matters. Confirm the securement expectation and be honest with yourself about the road.
• Shell eggs or liquid? Cartoned shell eggs are a refrigerated van load. Liquid and further-processed egg moves in tankers under different rules entirely. Establish which product before you quote.
• Who inspects on arrival, and what is the tolerance? Receivers check for breakage and temperature and reject readily. Find out the tolerance and what evidence settles a dispute before you load, not after.
• Has avian influenza affected your supply? It reshapes the map every couple of years. The answer tells you whether their normal lanes are running or whether they are covering from an unusual origin this month.

When to call

January and February, ahead of the Easter baking pull, which is the largest predictable spike of the year. Beyond that the freight runs every week regardless of season. The unpredictable driver is disease: an outbreak removes supply from one region and creates new long lanes from another, usually with days of notice.

Sources

• US egg industry survey data: the 63 largest US egg producers housing 338.1 million hens, Cal-Maine Foods the largest at 44.51 million layers, and Rose Acre Farms second at an estimated 25.5 million layers, based in Seymour, Indiana with facilities in seven states. (wattagnet.com)
• The January to February call window ahead of the Easter pull. Reasoned from the seasonal demand spike rather than a producer's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the layer complexes, the shell-versus-liquid split, and the disease risk that redraws the lanes.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/eggs/

Season

Raw potatoes arrive in the autumn; finished fries ship every week of the year.

Commodity playbook

Who ships frozen fries

Head offices and named plants of three of the four companies that make nearly every US frozen fry.

Ask for the plant's logistics manager. There are two freight businesses here: raw potatoes moving from storage cellars to the plant in the autumn and through the winter, and finished frozen product moving out all year. The raw side is short, heavy and seasonal; the finished side is long-haul frozen and steady.

Where it hauls

The Columbia Basin and the Snake River Plain, overwhelmingly. Washington carries the largest processing capacity in the country, concentrated around the Basin at Othello, Connell, Warden, Pasco and Quincy. Idaho runs the Snake River complex from American Falls through Twin Falls and Burley. Oregon adds meaningful capacity around Hermiston and Boardman. Finished product runs frozen to foodservice distributors and retail nationally, and to the ports for export. The processors to know:

How to open

"Do you need capacity on the raw side this autumn, or is it the finished frozen you're short on?"

To the processors, August into September

Asking about both halves separates you immediately. Most callers only know the frozen outbound exists, and the raw inbound is where a new carrier can actually get started.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint? Frozen product runs at or below zero degrees and the temperature record decides any claim. Confirm the setpoint, that the unit runs continuous, and whether they want a download at delivery.
• Raw inbound or finished frozen? Raw potatoes from storage cellars to the plant are a heavy, short, seasonal haul. Finished frozen fries are long-haul reefer running all year. Two different jobs at the same site.
• What does a finished load scale? Cases of frozen fries palletize densely and load close to legal weight. Get the case count and target gross rather than assuming frozen food will cube out.
• Is the trailer pre-cooled? Loading frozen product into a warm trailer costs product temperature you cannot get back. Confirm pre-cooling expectations and how long they will hold you at the dock.
• Is any of it export? A meaningful share moves through the northwest ports to Asia, which means container drayage and a hard vessel cutoff rather than a delivery window. Ask early.

When to call

August and September, before the crop comes in and the raw haul begins. The finished-goods freight then runs every week of the year, which is the real prize: a frozen lane out of the Basin is as close to permanent as this calendar offers. Export volume through the northwest ports adds a third stream.

Sources

• Frozen potato industry reporting: Lamb Weston, McCain, Simplot and Cavendish Farms controlling 97% of US frozen french fries, with Lamb Weston at about 40% share and $3.6 billion revenue, McCain at 30%, Simplot at 20% and Cavendish at 7%; North American frozen potato plant capacity of 5.82 billion pounds in Washington and 2.4 billion in Oregon; Lamb Weston's $415 million processing line at American Falls, Idaho and McCain's Othello, Washington facility. (potatopro.com)
• The August to September call window and the raw-versus-finished framing. Reasoned from the harvest and continuous processing pattern rather than a plant's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the two processing complexes, the raw and finished legs, and the year-round frozen lane.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/frozen-fries/

Season

Two markets a year, in April and October. Everything downstream is scheduled from them.

Commodity playbook

Who ships furniture

Head offices of four manufacturers. La-Z-Boy's US plants are in Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas, and Ashley manufactures across several states.

Ask for the plant or distribution centre transportation manager. Furniture is high cube, low weight and extremely damage-prone, and the industry knows it. There is also a distinct opportunity around the two markets: showroom setup and teardown in High Point generates concentrated, deadline-driven freight twice a year that sits outside the normal network.

Where it hauls

Three origins. Domestic manufacturing concentrates in the Carolinas and Virginia, with upholstery in Mississippi and Tennessee and case goods in Wisconsin and the midwest. Imports arrive through the west coast and southeast ports and move inland to distribution centres. High Point, North Carolina is the commercial centre for all of it, and the showroom freight around the two markets is itself a real logistics event. The makers to know:

How to open

"Do you need capacity around market, or is it the ongoing distribution you're short on? I can help with either."

To the manufacturers and importers, January into February

Mentioning market by name is the shibboleth. Everyone in this business organises their year around April and October in High Point, and a broker who knows that is immediately in a different category.

Qualifying questions

• What does it cube versus weigh? Furniture is the archetypal cube-out load: a trailer fills completely at a fraction of legal weight. Count pieces and cartons, never tons.
• How is it protected? Damage is the entire risk. Corners crush, finishes scuff and upholstery marks. Confirm blanket wrap versus cartoned, and whether they expect load bars, decking or airbags.
• Is it blanket wrap or cartoned? Cartoned goods palletize and handle conventionally. Blanket wrap is a specialised service with its own equipment and handling standards. Establish which before you quote.
• Is this market freight? Showroom setup and teardown around High Point in April and October is deadline-critical and completely unlike normal distribution. It pays differently and forgives nothing on timing.
• Domestic plant or import distribution centre? Plant outbound follows a production schedule. Import distribution centre freight follows vessel arrivals and container availability. Different rhythms, so ask which.

When to call

January and February, ahead of the spring market and the shipping that follows it. The rhythm is set by the two shows: orders written in April ship through summer, orders written in October ship into the new year. Around the markets themselves there is a short, intense burst of showroom freight into and out of High Point.

Sources

• High Point Market: the largest home furnishings industry trade show in the world, with over 11 million square feet and about 2,000 exhibitors across roughly 180 buildings, holding two shows a year in April and October and attracting between 70,000 and 80,000 attendees. Ashley Furniture headquartered in Arcadia, Wisconsin; La-Z-Boy's primary US manufacturing in Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. (highpointmarket.org)
• The January to February call window and the order-to-shipment rhythm following each market. Reasoned from the show calendar rather than a manufacturer's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the three origins, the two markets that set the year, and the showroom freight around them.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/furniture/

Season

Fifty to sixty days that decide the year. Everything after it is storage drawdown.

Commodity playbook

Who ships grain

Head offices and major terminals of five large handlers. The country elevators beneath them number in the thousands and are the real origin.

Ask for the merchandiser or the logistics desk at the elevator. At a country elevator this is often the same person who buys the grain. Big handlers have dedicated freight teams. The critical distinction is farm-to-elevator (short, frantic, seasonal) versus elevator-to-processor or terminal (longer, steadier, year-round). The second is the better business and the first is how you meet them.

Where it hauls

Three layers, each with its own freight. Country elevators take farm trucks at harvest and are the origin of everything downstream. Terminal and river elevators consolidate onto barge and rail, concentrated on the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio river systems and at the Gulf. Processors (crush plants, ethanol, mills, feed) pull all year. The corn belt through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana is the densest origin. The companies to know:

How to open

"How are you fixed for hoppers at harvest? I'd rather commit now than be a rate you're arguing with in October."

To elevators and merchandisers, July into August

The follow-up that matters: "What does your storage look like?" An elevator short of space has to ship immediately at harvest whatever the rate; one with room can wait. That single answer tells you how desperate October will be.

Qualifying questions

• Hopper bottom or end dump? Most grain moves in hopper bottoms that unload through belly gates over a pit. Some short farm hauls use end dumps. Confirm what the receiving pit accepts, because the wrong trailer cannot unload at all.
• What is the test weight and moisture? Moisture drives discounts and drying charges, and it changes what the load weighs. It is the shipper's problem commercially but it is your problem on the scale. Ask what they are seeing.
• Is the trailer clean, and what was the last load? Grain destined for food or export carries cleanliness requirements and some prior commodities disqualify a trailer entirely. Have your washout history ready before it is asked for.
• What is the wait time at the pit? At harvest peak the line at a country elevator can be hours, and it is the whole economics of the day. Ask what the current turn is and whether they pay detention, because in October many do not.
• How is your storage? An elevator out of space must ship at harvest regardless of rate. One with room can hold. This tells you exactly how tight the freight is going to be before anyone quotes you.

When to call

July and August, before the combines roll. Once harvest starts the market clears at whatever hoppers cost, which is good money and a terrible way to build a relationship. Commit before and you are the carrier they protect. After harvest the freight continues all year as storage draws down to processors and terminals, and that is the lane worth holding.

Sources

• USDA and trade reporting on the US grain harvest: a record harvest totalling 21.5 billion bushels of corn, soybeans and grain sorghum, with harvest typically running 50 to 60 days and elevators working 80 hour weeks in clear weather. (usda.gov)
• Company disclosures on handler footprint: Cargill headquartered outside Minneapolis with grain storage and handling dating to 1865, ADM's North American headquarters at Decatur, Illinois, Scoular headquartered in Omaha with more than 100 locations and ranked eighth by licensed storage capacity, and TEMCO export terminals at Tacoma, Kalama and Houston. (naega.org)
• The roughly 3x harvest capacity spike and the four to six week compression window come from freight market commentary on hopper-bottom demand rather than a published statistic. The July to August call window is reasoned from the harvest start.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the three layers of the grain chain, the harvest spike, and the storage drawdown behind it.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/grain/

Season

Cut three or four times from May. The last cutting decides the year, and it is late.

Commodity playbook

Who ships hay

Export compress plants, where the truckload freight concentrates. Domestic hay is a local business with a different call list in every county.

Ask for the logistics or transportation manager at the compress plant. Export hay companies buy from a wide grower network and consolidate it, so the plant is both the destination for inbound farm freight and the origin for outbound port drayage. Both legs are brokerable and the inbound one is the less contested of the two. On the domestic side you are calling the farm or the feed dealer directly.

Where it hauls

Two very different businesses. Export runs out of the Columbia Basin and the Kittitas Valley in Washington, where compress plants at Ellensburg and Mattawa squeeze bales to container density and rail or truck them to Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. California's Imperial Valley does the same through Long Beach and Oakland. Domestic hay is a local business everywhere there are cattle and horses, moving short distances on flatbeds. The export compress plants are where the truckload freight is:

How to open

"How's the second cutting looking? I'd rather get set up now than call you in September when everyone else does."

To the compress plants and the growers, May into June

Asking about the cutting by number is the tell that you know this freight. First cutting is volume, later cuttings are quality, and which one they are talking about changes both the lane and the urgency.

Qualifying questions

• Compressed or field bales? Export hay is compressed to roughly double density for containers and loads completely differently from field bales. Domestic big squares and round bales are bulky and light. Ask which, because one weighs out and the other cubes out.
• Is it going to a port, and what is the cutoff? Export loads run against a vessel cutoff, and missing it does not mean a late delivery, it means the next boat. Get the cutoff and the terminal, and confirm whether you need a port appointment.
• Do you need tarps, and how many? Hay on a flatbed has to stay dry, and wet hay is not just a claim, it is a fire risk. Confirm the tarp requirement and who supplies them before you dispatch, because it changes the equipment you need.
• What is the moisture, and which cutting is it? Moisture drives both spoilage and spontaneous combustion risk, and the cutting number tells you what grade you are hauling. Anyone who works this freight expects the question and worries about the answer.
• What are the payment terms? Export forage runs on thin margins against international buyers and the trade has seen real credit events. Standard diligence applies: agree terms, check credit, and do not let a receivable age quietly on a lane you like.

When to call

May and June, as the first cutting comes off and the year's buying begins. By September the supply is known, the contracts are placed and a new call is quoting the remainder. This is the commodity brokers most reliably discover eight weeks late, because the freight looks like it peaks in autumn when the decisions were made at the start of summer.

Sources

• US alfalfa hay export reporting: a monthly total of 282,496 metric tons recorded in March 2021, the highest month since April 2020, with China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates the leading destinations. (agproud.com)
• Company disclosures on the export compress network: Eckenberg Farms farming over 3,000 acres and sourcing from growers across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana covering more than 15,000 acres, running four bale compressors; Border Valley Trading operating two California processing facilities with transloading at the ports of Long Beach and Oakland; ACX Pacific Northwest processing at Ellensburg for the Seattle and Tacoma ports. (eckenbergfarms.com)
• The May to June call window and the claim that buying begins with the first cutting. Drawn from how the forage trade contracts rather than a published schedule. The export volume figure is a 2021 monthly record and is cited as history, not as current run rate.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the compress plants, the export lanes, and the June window brokers reliably miss.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/hay/

Season

Freezer planograms reset in spring, so production ramps months before anyone feels warm.

Commodity playbook

Who ships ice cream

Named plants rather than head offices. Wells is the largest privately held US ice cream maker and Blue Bell's Brenham plant is that town's largest private employer.

Ask for the plant's logistics manager and mention temperature first. Ice cream ships deep frozen, well below the setpoint most frozen food needs, and a few degrees of drift produces heat shock that shows as ice crystals in the tub. The receiver sees it immediately. This is the shortest tolerance in refrigerated freight.

Where it hauls

Plants sit near milk and near markets. Le Mars, Iowa is the single largest node, calling itself the ice cream capital of the world on the strength of one enormous plant. Brenham, Texas anchors the southern business, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania the mid-Atlantic, and additional capacity sits in New York, Nevada and across the dairy states. Freight runs plant to frozen distribution centre and then to retail. The makers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting capacity for the spring reset? I run deep frozen and I know what heat shock does to a tub."

To the plants, January into February

Saying "heat shock" is the credential here. It is the specific failure mode of this product and a carrier who names it has clearly hauled frozen dessert before.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and how tight? Deep frozen, typically minus 10 to minus 20 degrees, which is colder than most frozen food. Drift produces heat shock and visible ice crystals. Confirm the setpoint and that the unit runs continuous.
• Is the trailer pre-cooled, and how long will loading take? Loading into a warm trailer is the most common way this load fails. Confirm pre-cooling expectations and dock time, because every minute at temperature costs product quality.
• Do they want a temperature recorder? Almost always. The download is what settles a claim on a product where damage is visible but the cause is not. Agree in advance who reads it and what tolerance applies.
• What does it scale? Frozen dessert palletizes densely and loads heavier than people expect. Get the case count and target gross rather than assuming it will cube out.
• Is this the spring reset or in-season replenishment? The reset is a large scheduled build with firm dates. Summer replenishment is steady and urgent. Different pressure, so ask which one you are quoting.

When to call

January and February, ahead of the spring freezer reset. Retail planograms change in the spring and production ramps well before the weather turns, so the freight builds from March and peaks through the summer. Calling in June means quoting into a plant that is already flat out.

Sources

• US ice cream production data: American makers producing over 870 million gallons a year, with regular ice cream production of 176.7 million gallons in the first quarter of 2026, up 1.6% year on year; Wells Enterprises producing more than 200 million gallons annually from Le Mars, Iowa, the largest privately held US ice cream manufacturer, with plants also at Dunkirk, New York and Henderson, Nevada; Blue Bell's 300,000 square foot Brenham plant. (idfa.org)
• The January to February call window and the spring planogram reset. Reasoned from the seasonal demand build rather than a plant's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the plant map, the spring reset, and heat shock as the failure mode that decides the lane.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/ice-cream/

Season

A housing-driven build season. The plant network exists because the product cannot travel.

Commodity playbook

Who ships insulation

Named plants from the four major manufacturers, which run more than 25 US sites between them.

Ask for the plant's shipping coordinator. The economics of this product mean the manufacturer thinks hard about freight: when a trailer holds very little weight, the cost per unit of product is unusually sensitive to how well the trailer is loaded. A carrier who understands cube utilisation is speaking their language.

Where it hauls

Regional by necessity. The four major manufacturers place plants so no customer is far from one: Ohio and Indiana in the midwest, Georgia and Tennessee in the southeast, Texas and Kansas in the centre, Arizona and California in the west, plus New Jersey, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Freight runs plant to building products distributor and then to jobsite, with the first leg being the truckload business. The plants to know:

How to open

"Are you setting spring capacity? I run high-cube and I'd rather commit before the build season than quote you in May."

To the plants, February into March

Ask how they want it loaded. Insulation batts compress, and how much compression they will accept changes how much goes on the trailer, which is the entire economics of the load.

Qualifying questions

• How much compression will you accept? Batts are compressed to fit and the degree of compression decides how much goes on a trailer. Too much damages the R-value. Get their standard, because it determines the load and the rate.
• What does it scale? Almost nothing. This is the extreme of cube-out freight and a full trailer may be a quarter of legal weight. Think in bags and pallets, never in tons.
• Does it need to stay dry? Wet fiberglass loses performance and can grow mould, and it is not salvageable. Confirm the trailer is dry and sealed, and if it is riding flatbed, that it is properly tarped.
• Plant to distributor, or jobsite? Distributor delivery is dock or yard and straightforward. Jobsite delivery involves access, timing against a framing schedule and often no one to unload. Ask which.
• Blown, batt, board or mineral wool? Bagged loose fill, faced and unfaced batts, rigid board and mineral wool all load and damage differently. Mineral wool in particular is far heavier than fiberglass.

When to call

February and March, ahead of the March to November build season. Insulation goes into a house after framing and before drywall, so it follows housing starts with a lag of a few months, which makes demand reasonably forecastable from public data if you care to look.

Sources

• North American Insulation Manufacturers Association member plant locations: Johns Manville at Berlin NJ, Cleburne TX, Defiance OH, McPherson KS, Richmond IN, Waterville OH, Willows CA and Winder GA; Knauf Insulation at Albion MI, Inwood WV, Kingman AZ, Lanett AL, Shasta Lake CA, Shelbyville IN and Winnsboro SC; Owens Corning at Cleveland TN, Columbus OH, Delmar NY, Eloy AZ, Fairburn GA, Kansas City KS and Ladysmith WI; CertainTeed at Athens GA, Chowchilla CA and Kansas City KS. (insulationinstitute.org)
• The February to March call window and the lag between housing starts and insulation demand. Reasoned from construction sequencing rather than a manufacturer's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the regional plant network, the cube economics, and the build season it follows.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/insulation/

Season

No storage at all. Cut today, on a truck today, and the origin moves twice a year.

Commodity playbook

Who ships lettuce

Both ends of the same season. Several of these farm in Arizona and California and simply follow the crop.

Ask for the traffic desk or the cooler. Leafy greens move through grower-shippers who farm, cool and sell, and the cooler is where the truck actually gets tendered. Salad plants are a separate and more scheduled business than whole-head lettuce. Receivers are retail distribution centres and foodservice, and they do not pick the carrier, so the shipper is who buys the freight.

Where it hauls

Two valleys, six months each. Yuma County, Arizona from about November to March: the Yuma Valley, the Gila Valley, Wellton-Mohawk, and Bard just over the California line. The Salinas Valley, California from about April to October, with Salinas, Gonzales, Soledad and King City, plus Oxnard and Huron covering the shoulders. The same companies farm both ends and many of the same crews drive between them. The growers and shippers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting up for the desert yet? I'd rather be on the list before the transition than calling you in December."

To the coolers, September into October

The transition weeks are the opening. Both moves are the one moment in the year when a shipper's normal carrier base is in the wrong state, which is precisely when a new number gets tried.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and is it a mixed load? Leafy greens run just above freezing, around 34 degrees, and they are unforgiving. A mixed load with anything that wants a different temperature is a claim waiting to happen. Confirm the setpoint and what else is going on the trailer.
• Vacuum cooled and how long ago? Lettuce is vacuum cooled after cutting and the clock starts there. Shelf life is measured in days, not weeks, so ask when it was cooled, not just when it loads. A late truck on this freight is a rejected truck.
• Whole head or value added? Cartons of whole-head lettuce and cases out of a salad plant are different businesses with different receivers and different appointment discipline. Ask which one, because the salad plant is far tighter on schedule.
• What is the appointment at the receiver? Most of this goes to retail distribution centres on firm appointments where a miss means a reschedule days out on a product that does not have days. Get the window and the penalty before you commit a truck.
• Are you running out of Yuma or Salinas right now? It changes twice a year and the answer tells you whether you are quoting a desert lane or a coastal one. Anyone who works this freight will assume you know the transition is coming, so ask it that way.

When to call

September and October for the Yuma season, and February and March for the move back to Salinas. Those two transitions are when the freight is genuinely up for grabs. Calling in the middle of a season means quoting overflow behind carriers who committed months ago, which is real business but a much worse seat.

Sources

• Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement and Arizona Farm Bureau reporting: 1,500 to 2,000 refrigerated truckloads leaving Yuma daily between Thanksgiving and Easter, about 75% of Arizona leafy greens grown in Yuma County, and 22 coolers and 10 salad plants supporting the district. (arizonaleafygreens.org)
• USDA Agricultural Marketing Service shipping point and movement reporting for lettuce out of the Arizona desert and the Salinas district. (ams.usda.gov)
• The September to October and February to March call windows. Reasoned from the published season transition rather than from a shipper's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: both origins, the two transitions, and the coolers that tender the freight.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/lettuce/

Season

Bought against next year's housing starts, hauled through a March to November build.

Commodity playbook

Who ships lumber

Head offices and named mills. Each of these runs many sites, and which ones are running changes with the market.

Ask for the mill's traffic manager, and separately for the reload centre. Mills tender long-haul outbound, much of it on rail with truck covering the gaps and the short runs. Reload centres and wholesale distributors handle the truck legs constantly and are far more broker-friendly than a mill on a rail contract. Start with the reloads.

Where it hauls

Two producing regions and a distribution layer between them and the yard. The US South is southern yellow pine, with mills across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and east Texas. The Pacific Northwest and inland west run Douglas fir, hem-fir and inland species out of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and northern California. Between mill and lumberyard sit reload centres, where rail cars are broken down onto trucks, and they are often the easiest freight to win. The producers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting flatbed capacity for the spring build? I'd rather commit in January than quote you in May."

To the mills and reloads, January into February

The useful follow-up is about curtailments. Mills have been taking downtime, and asking which of their sites are running tells you where the freight actually is rather than where the map says it should be.

Qualifying questions

• What does it scale, and is it kiln dried? Green lumber is much heavier than kiln dried and will put you over on a load that looked fine on paper. Ask which it is and get the target gross before you commit a trailer.
• Tarps, and how many? Finished lumber tarps; framing stock to a yard sometimes does not. Wet lumber stains and swells and the claim is real. Confirm the requirement and who supplies the tarps.
• Mill direct, reload, or yard? Mill outbound is long haul and often rail-competitive. Reload centres run short truck legs constantly. Yard delivery is short and frequent. Three different businesses, ask which one.
• How is it secured, and how long are the units? Banded units shift and settle, and long stock overhangs. Confirm unit lengths, the securement expectation and whether anything needs flags or permits.
• Which of your mills are actually running? Curtailments are common and a mill on downtime has no freight. This question tells you where the loads are this month rather than where they were last year.

When to call

January and February, while buyers are positioning against the coming build season. March to November is the haul, and by then capacity is committed. The market is genuinely volatile, which cuts in your favour: a mill that has watched carriers disappear during a price spike remembers whoever stayed.

Sources

• Forisk top 10 North American and US lumber producer rankings: the top 10 US firms holding 24 billion board feet and 52% of national softwood capacity, with Weyerhaeuser the largest US producer followed by Sierra Pacific Industries and West Fraser, and PotlatchDeltic operating six sawmills across nine states from Spokane. (forisk.com)
• Company mill activity disclosures: West Fraser's Henderson, Texas sawmill expansion, Weyerhaeuser's Dodson, Louisiana modernisation, and Interfor's reduced shifts at DeQuincy, Louisiana. (forisk.com)
• The January to February call window and the reload-centre-first advice. Reasoned from the build season and the rail-versus-truck split rather than a mill's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: both producing regions, the reload layer, and the build season the buy is timed against.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/lumber/

Season

Year-round, with holiday weekend promotions driving the biggest delivery weeks.

Commodity playbook

Who ships mattresses

Head offices and named plants. Tempur Sealy alone operates 33 North American facilities, so the plant serving your lane is rarely the head office.

Ask for the plant's transportation manager. The compressed bed-in-a-box business changed this category: rolled and boxed mattresses ship like ordinary parcels and palletized freight, while traditional innerspring units are bulky and easily soiled. Ask which they are shipping, because the two are barely the same commodity from a trailer's point of view.

Where it hauls

Regional, deliberately. Because a trailer of mattresses cubes out at a fraction of legal weight, manufacturers place plants close to their markets rather than centralising: one maker alone runs 33 North American facilities, from Kentucky and Indiana through Virginia and New Mexico. Freight runs plant to regional distribution centre to retail, with a growing direct-to-consumer stream in compressed boxes. The makers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting capacity ahead of the spring promotions? I run high cube and I know these have to arrive clean."

To the plants, February into March

Cleanliness is the specific issue. A mattress that arrives marked is a total loss on a high-value unit, and a carrier who raises trailer condition before rate is not the usual call.

Qualifying questions

• Boxed or traditional? Compressed bed-in-a-box units palletize and stack like ordinary freight. Traditional innerspring mattresses are bulky, awkward and easily marked. Establish which, because they load nothing alike.
• What does it cube versus weigh? A full trailer of mattresses can be a fraction of legal weight. Count units, not tons. The constraint is always volume.
• Is the trailer clean? This is the whole claim risk. A mattress that arrives with a mark on it is scrap, and the value per unit is high. Confirm trailer condition expectations and be honest about your equipment.
• Distribution centre or direct to store? Distribution centre is dock to dock. Store delivery means multiple stops and often no dock. Home delivery is a separate last-mile business entirely. Ask which.
• Is this a promotional week? Retail bedding runs on holiday weekend promotions and the delivery build before them is the tightest capacity of the year. Knowing which week you are quoting into changes everything.

When to call

February and March, ahead of the spring promotional season. The category runs all year but the biggest delivery weeks cluster around the holiday weekends that retailers build promotions on, from Presidents Day through Memorial Day and Labor Day. Those weeks are when capacity gets tight.

Sources

• International Sleep Products Association mattress industry trends: a total US mattress market of 39.7 million units valued at $9.8 billion in 2023, with 2025 unit shipments down 13.2% and market value down 6.5%. Tempur Sealy operating 33 North American facilities plus 38 international plants, including a $138 million foam pouring facility at Crawfordsville, Indiana and operations at Duffield, Virginia and Albuquerque, New Mexico. (sleepproducts.org)
• The February to March call window and the holiday-weekend promotional pattern. Reasoned from retail bedding practice rather than a manufacturer's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the regional plant network, the boxed-versus-traditional split, and trailer cleanliness as the claim.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/mattresses/

This season: Planning season. Spring 2027 retail programs are being set now, which is when producers decide how they will cover the load-in. Two things are worth knowing walking in: Scotts Miracle-Gro's gross margin fell 100 basis points in the June quarter with freight named as a cause, and retailer inventories came out of spring running high single digits above last year. The freight buyer is cost-focused and the schedule is not settled.

Commodity opportunity

No harvest. The retail window is fixed, so everything upstream is scheduled backwards from it.

Mulch has no harvest, no growing district and no origin worth naming. It is bark and wood fibre ground and bagged at plants sited near their customers, which is why the Mulch and Soil Council can list 245 member companies behind 316 certified mulches and 1,602 certified soils without any of them dominating a map. What it has instead of a season is a deadline.

The retail window is published and it is short. Lowe's ran its 2026 spring mulch event from March 26 to April 22, four weeks, with Home Depot's spring event landing in the same fortnight. A year of sell-through goes over the counter in that window and the weeks either side of it. Everything upstream is scheduled backwards from a date the retailer sets: stores stack pallets outside in March, so distribution centres fill in February, so plants run and ship from January.

Why it matters: that load-in collides with the front edge of produce season in the same southeastern and mid-Atlantic lanes, when dry van volume steps up sharply from its February floor. The producers know it. What they are deciding in August and September is which carriers cover a January to April surge that their core fleet cannot absorb, and they are deciding it while freight cost is visibly on their minds: Scotts Miracle-Gro's adjusted gross margin fell 100 basis points to 31.3% in the quarter ended June 27, with higher freight named among the causes.

Commodity playbook

Who ships mulch and soil

Head offices and home plants. Every one of these bags in more than one place, so ask which plant serves the lane before you quote it.

Ask for the transportation or logistics manager, and for the plant scheduler at a single-site regional. On the national brands the person who matters in August is the one building next spring's carrier plan, not the one dispatching today. On the receiving side the big box distribution centres control appointments but not the carrier, so the plant is who buys the truck.

Where it hauls

Everywhere, which is the point. Bagging plants sit close to their retail territory because a trailer of mulch cubes out long before it weighs out and nobody hauls air across the country. Expect a national brand to run a dozen or more plants and a strong regional to run two or three. The mid-Atlantic and southeast carry the heaviest concentration on hardwood and pine bark, the upper Midwest on peat and soil blends, California on compost-based soils. Corporate offices and the plants they run:

How to open

"Are you setting spring carriers yet? I'd rather be on the list before January than calling you in March when everyone else is."

To the plants and the brands, now through November

If they push back, the follow-up that gets a real answer is about the shape of the surge: "What does your worst week in March look like against a normal week in November?" Anyone who runs this freight has a number and most of them enjoy saying it.

Qualifying questions

• Floor loaded or palletized? This is the first question and it changes everything. Palletized comes off in twenty minutes. Floor loaded is hours of hand unloading, and whoever did not ask is the one paying for it. Get it in writing.
• How many bags, and what is the gross? Mulch cubes out before it weighs out, so a full trailer can be light. Soil, peat and compost are the opposite and will scale heavy. Ask for bag count, bag size and target gross weight, because the two products load nothing alike.
• Distribution centre or direct to store? A big box distribution centre wants a scheduled appointment and will turn a late truck away. Store delivery means a garden centre with no dock, a busy lot and someone who was not expecting you. Different job, different rate.
• Is there a dock, or do you need a lift gate? Independent garden centres and landscape yards frequently have neither dock nor forklift. Confirm how it comes off the trailer before you dispatch, or the driver arrives to a problem nobody owns.
• What is the appointment lead time in season? In February and March the receiving windows at the big distribution centres get tight and slip. Ask what lead time they are seeing now and what happens to a truck that misses, because in season that answer is expensive.
• What does your peak week look like against a normal one? The whole business is the ratio. A producer who ships a handful of loads a week in the autumn may need many times that in late March. The number tells you how much overflow is actually available to win.

When to call

Now through November, while spring programs and carrier plans are being written. December is late but workable. From January the load-in has started and a new call is quoting overflow at surge prices, which is business but it is not a relationship. March is the worst month of the year to introduce yourself to a mulch shipper.

Sources

• Mulch and Soil Council: 245 member companies, 316 certified mulches, 1,602 certified soils and 38 elite bulk members, as published on the council's own site. The membership categories cover producers, equipment affiliates and service associates. (mulchandsoilcouncil.org)
• Lowe's corporate newsroom: the 2026 SpringFEST promotion ran March 26 to April 22, 2026, with mulch among the featured lawn and garden items and same-day delivery offered on eligible orders. (corporate.lowes.com)
• Scotts Miracle-Gro third quarter fiscal 2026 results for the quarter ended June 27, 2026: net sales of $1.172 billion, adjusted gross margin down 100 basis points to 31.3% with higher freight and commodity costs cited, and retailer inventories running high single digits above the prior year. (scottsmiraclegro.com)
• The February to March step up in dry van volume, and the overlap between the bagged goods load-in and the start of produce season in the same lanes. Reported consistently by freight market commentary rather than published as a mulch-specific statistic.
• The January to April load-in shape, and the claim that spring carrier plans are set in late summer and autumn. Reasoned from the published retail window and how seasonal bagged goods programs run, not from a producer's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: First edition. Written in planning season, five months ahead of the load-in it describes, with spring 2027 programs still being set.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/mulch/

Season

Grown indoors, picked every day, shipped every day. The only seasonality is demand.

Commodity playbook

Who ships mushrooms

Four of the 50-plus commercial farms inside 25 miles of Kennett Square. Almost the whole industry is within one county.

Ask for the shipping office. These are mostly family businesses rather than corporate logistics departments, and the person who answers often knows the whole operation. That cuts both ways: decisions are quick, and reputation travels between farms fast because everyone in the belt knows everyone.

Where it hauls

One place, overwhelmingly. Chester County, Pennsylvania, centred on Kennett Square and running through Avondale, Toughkenamon and Oxford, with a spillover into Berks County and northern Maryland. The concentration is extreme even by agricultural standards: dozens of independent farms, many family-owned for three generations, inside a circle you can drive across in half an hour. California and Florida run their own smaller production. The growers to know:

How to open

"Do you need daily runs out to the northeast markets? I'm looking for repeat short-haul rather than one load."

To the growers, any month, ideally January

Frequency is the pitch here, not season. A grower harvesting every day needs trucks every day, and a carrier offering a standing daily or weekly run is solving their actual problem.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint? Mushrooms run just above freezing, around 34 to 36 degrees, and they deteriorate visibly within a day or two of warming. They also bruise. Confirm the setpoint and that the unit runs continuous.
• How fast does it have to move? Picked in the morning, on a truck the same day, in a store within days. This is one of the shortest clocks in produce and the haul is usually short precisely because the clock is.
• White, brown, or specialty? Agarics, criminis and portabellas handle the road differently from oysters, shiitake and maitake, which are far more fragile and far more valuable per case. Ask which, because the claim exposure is not the same.
• Is it a multi-stop run? Because the farms are clustered and the receivers are spread across the northeast, a load often picks at two or three farms and drops at several. Establish the stop count before you price it.
• Do you need standing capacity? Daily harvest means daily freight. Asking for a recurring lane rather than a spot load is the right shape of offer for this commodity and it is what they actually need.

When to call

Any time, which makes this unusual on the calendar. There is no harvest to plan around because harvest is every morning. January is a reasonable moment to formalise annual arrangements, and demand does lift into the autumn and holidays. Otherwise this is the one commodity where a cold call in an ordinary week is not badly timed.

Sources

• Pennsylvania mushroom industry reporting: Pennsylvania producing 68% of US mushrooms, Chester County holding the largest concentration of growers in the country with more than 50 family-owned commercial farms within 25 miles of Kennett Square, and regional production of over 400 million pounds in 2023. Phillips Mushroom Farms is the country's largest specialty mushroom producer at about 35 million pounds a year. (dced.pa.gov)
• The standing-daily-run framing and the January formalisation window. Reasoned from the continuous harvest rather than a grower's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the Chester County concentration, the daily harvest, and the short-haul frequency it creates.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/mushrooms/

Season

Live goods, one season, and a delivery window measured against a frost date.

Commodity playbook

Who ships nursery stock

Four growers, each running production sites in several states. The trade association behind them is the largest horticulture membership in North America.

Ask for the logistics or transportation manager, and ask early. These are sophisticated shippers with real distribution operations, because a plant that arrives late is not late, it is dead. Big box garden centres and independent garden centres are the receivers, and the grower almost always controls the freight. Some run their own fleets for the core lanes and broker the surge, which is the opening.

Where it hauls

Production follows climate and the freight runs north out of it. Florida is the winter engine, with Miami-Dade the densest growing area in the country. Southern California around Vista and the San Diego hills runs succulents and container stock. Oregon's Willamette Valley ships woody ornamentals and shade trees nationally, and the upper midwest and Carolinas supply hardy nursery stock to their own regions. Most large growers run sites in several of these at once. The growers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting spring carriers yet? I understand these are live goods and I want to talk about temperature before we talk about rate."

To the growers, December into January

Leading with temperature rather than price is the whole difference on this freight. A grower who has lost a trailer of plants to a cold night will take that call, and everyone else is calling about rate.

Qualifying questions

• What temperature, and what is the low tolerance? This is the first question on live goods. Plants want cool, not cold, and a reefer set wrong or a door left open at a fuel stop kills the load. Get the setpoint and the minimum, and confirm the unit runs continuous rather than cycling.
• Racked, carted, or floor loaded? Much nursery stock ships on rolling racks or Danish carts that come back empty, which means a return leg and a piece of the customer's equipment in your trailer. Confirm what comes off and what has to go back.
• How long can it sit? Plants in a dark trailer are on a clock even at the right temperature. Ask the maximum transit time they will accept and whether a weekend layover is allowed, because on this freight it usually is not.
• Is the receiver a distribution centre or a store? Big box garden centres often take direct store delivery in spring, which means many stops, tight windows and unloading in a car park. That is a different job from one drop at a distribution centre. Ask before you quote.
• Who owns the risk if it arrives damaged? Live goods claims are unusually expensive and unusually contested, because condition on arrival depends on the grower, the trailer and the weather. Agree in advance what evidence settles it, and whether they want a temperature download.

When to call

December and January, before the load-in starts. From February to May the growers are shipping flat out against a spring that will not wait, and there is no bandwidth to qualify anybody new. The freight is also unusually loyal: a carrier that delivers live plants in good condition through one spring generally has the lane for the next one.

Sources

• Company disclosures on scale and footprint: Costa Farms growing more than 1,500 varieties across 5,200 acres with sites in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia and distribution to more than 20,000 retail locations; Altman Plants running over 38 million square feet of greenhouse and 4,000 acres of outdoor space; Monrovia operating nurseries in Oregon, California, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia; Bailey Nurseries operating from St. Paul with growing operations across the country. (costafarms.com)
• AmericanHort, formed in 2014 from the American Nursery and Landscape Association and the Association of Horticultural Professionals, represents the largest national nursery, greenhouse and garden retail membership of any horticulture association in North America. (americanhort.org)
• The December to January call window and the February to May load-in. Reasoned from the spring garden centre season rather than from a grower's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the growing regions, the spring deadline, and why temperature outranks rate on this freight.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/nursery-stock/

Season

No season, no weather, no harvest. The only date is the contract award.

Commodity playbook

Who ships paper products

Named mills plus one head office. Georgia-Pacific alone runs 14 US production and converting facilities.

Ask for transportation procurement, and separately for the converting plant. Like pet food, this category buys freight centrally on annual bids. The converting plants also run their own short-haul outbound to distribution centres. Parent-roll movements between mill and converter are a third lane and often the least contested.

Where it hauls

Mills sit on fibre and water; converting plants sit near customers. Green Bay, Wisconsin is the single densest node in the country, with multiple mills in one city, and Marinette adds more up the shore. Beyond Wisconsin, mills and converting operations spread across the southeast, the Gulf and the Pacific Northwest. The mill makes parent rolls; the converting plant turns them into the packs that fill trailers. The producers to know:

How to open

"When does your bid open? I run high-cube freight and I'd rather be qualified before the RFP than call you during it."

To procurement, October into November

The mill-to-converter parent roll lane is the detail that shows you know the business. Everyone pitches the finished goods; fewer notice that the rolls have to get there first.

Qualifying questions

• How does it load, and what does it scale? This is the extreme case of cube-out freight. A trailer packed to the roof with tissue can be under half of legal weight. Ask for the case or pallet count and stop thinking about tonnage.
• Parent rolls or finished goods? Parent rolls are enormous, heavy and need specific handling and blocking. Finished packs are light and palletized. Two entirely different loads out of the same complex, so establish which.
• Does the trailer need to be dry and clean? Paper absorbs everything: moisture, odour, contamination. A trailer that carried something aromatic will taint the load. Confirm what your prior load was before you take it.
• Is this contract or spot? Most tissue freight is contracted annually. Spot appears around demand shocks and plant changes. Knowing which you are quoting changes the whole conversation.
• Is there a mill-to-converter leg? Parent rolls move from mill to converting plant constantly and that lane gets less attention than finished goods. It is often the easier place to start.

When to call

Autumn, ahead of bid season. There is no seasonal peak to time, which is the appeal: the freight runs at the same rate in February and August and it does not care about weather. What it does care about is qualification, so the call that matters is the one before the RFP.

Sources

• US tissue industry reporting: more than 80% of US toilet paper produced by Procter and Gamble, Kimberly-Clark and Georgia-Pacific; Georgia-Pacific the largest North American tissue producer at about 37% volume share across 14 US production and converting facilities; Kimberly-Clark's Marinette mill and Procter and Gamble's and Georgia-Pacific's Green Bay mills. (tissueworldmagazine.com)
• The autumn bid-season call window. Reasoned from how centrally-procured CPG freight is awarded rather than a published schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the mill and converter split, the Green Bay cluster, and the bid that decides the lanes.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/paper-products/

Season

No storage and no second chance. A March freeze decides what ships in June.

Commodity playbook

Who ships peaches

The two southeastern districts. California runs a far larger peach business on a different calendar and a different call list.

Ask for the packinghouse sales desk or the shipping office. These are grower-packer-shippers: they farm it, pack it and sell it, and the packinghouse tenders the truck. Several ship directly into retail distribution centres on programmes, which means appointments and scorecards. Ask whether the load is programme freight or spot before you quote it.

Where it hauls

Two districts carry the southeast. The Ridge in South Carolina, around Ridge Spring, Monetta and Johnston in Saluda and Aiken counties, plus McBee further east. The Fort Valley plateau in middle Georgia, around Fort Valley, Musella and Reynolds in Peach and Crawford counties. South Carolina ships considerably more fruit than Georgia despite the branding. California runs a much larger clingstone and freestone business on its own calendar. The southeastern packers to know:

How to open

"How does the crop look after the winter? I'd like to be set up before you start picking in May."

To the packinghouses, March into April

Asking about the crop is not small talk on this commodity. A late frost during bloom can take out most of a district's fruit, and every grower in the southeast will tell you exactly where they stand.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and has it been hydrocooled? Peaches are usually hydrocooled or forced-air cooled straight after picking and then run just above freezing. Ask whether cooling is finished at pickup. A warm load into a cold trailer stays a warm load in the middle of the pallet.
• How ripe is it, and how far is it going? Peaches soften fast and a piece of fruit that is perfect on the dock is bruised on arrival. Ask what maturity they are picking at and match it to the transit time, because that is the whole risk on this load.
• Cartons or bins, and what is the count? Most fresh fruit moves in 25 pound cartons on pallets. Bins go to processing and load completely differently. Confirm the pack, the pallet count and the gross before you quote.
• Programme freight or spot? Retail programme loads run on firm appointments with performance scored; spot moves faster and forgives less on rate. Ask which one this is, because it changes what a late arrival actually costs you.
• How did the bloom go this year? A February or March freeze can take out most of a district's crop, and it has. This question tells you whether the season is long and full or short and frantic, and any grower in the southeast will answer it honestly.

When to call

March and April, before picking starts. Once the season opens in mid-May there are only 16 weeks and nobody is onboarding a new carrier in week three. The other thing March tells you is how much freight there will actually be: bloom is in February and March, and a freeze then decides the size of the season you are bidding on.

Sources

• Grower and industry reporting on the southeastern peach districts: Titan Farms at Ridge Spring running more than 5,000 acres as the largest peach grower in South Carolina, a 16 to 17 week season from mid-May into September, and Lane Southern Orchards near Fort Valley packing up to one million 25-pound cartons a season. (gapeaches.org)
• Regional crop profile for peaches in Georgia and South Carolina: the Fort Valley plateau and the South Carolina Ridge together account for roughly 70% of bearing acreage across the two states. (ipmcenters.org)
• The March to April call window. Reasoned from the published season start rather than from a packinghouse's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: both districts, the 16 week window, and the freeze risk that sets its size.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/peaches/

Season

Picked hard in six weeks, then conditioned and shipped from storage for most of the year.

Commodity playbook

Who ships pears

Six of the 29 handlers the marketing order covers, picked to span all four districts.

Ask for the traffic or transportation manager. With only 29 handlers for more than 800 growers, this is a concentrated call list and the same desks handle apples and cherries. Pears are the quieter third of the tree fruit business, which makes them a reasonable way into a house that also ships the other two.

Where it hauls

Four districts and a short list of handlers. In Washington, the Wenatchee and Yakima valleys. In Oregon, the Hood River valley and the Rogue Valley around Medford. Hood River and Medford are pear country in a way they are not apple country, which means Oregon packers matter here more than they do on any other tree fruit page. The packers to know:

How to open

"How's the pear crop looking this year? I'd like to get set up before harvest rather than during it."

To the packers, July into August

Pears reward a carrier who understands they are picked firm and ripened later. A load that gets too warm in transit starts a clock the packer did not choose to start.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and is it conditioned fruit? Pears run cold, around 30 to 32 degrees for storage varieties. Conditioned fruit has been deliberately warmed to start ripening and is far more fragile. Ask which you are hauling, because they are not the same load.
• Which variety? Bartletts, Anjous, Bosc and Comice behave differently in storage and in transit. The variety tells the packer you have hauled this before and it tells you how much margin for error you have.
• How many boxes and what does it scale? Standard box equivalents run around 44 pounds. Get the count and the pallet pattern, because pear loads scale heavier than people expect for fruit.
• Is it going to a ripening room? A lot of pears deliver into a receiver's ripening programme with a firm arrival window, because the room is booked. Late is not late, it is a missed slot.
• Do you pack apples and cherries here too? Usually yes. Pears are the smallest of the three by volume, so a pear conversation in July is a reasonable route into a house whose apple programme runs most of the year.

When to call

July and August, before harvest opens. Fruit is picked mature but hard, then conditioned and released from storage across most of the following year, so a seat won at harvest is a lane that keeps producing into the spring. It is the same shape as apples and often the same building.

Sources

• Pear Bureau Northwest: more than 800 growers and 29 handlers across four growing regions around Wenatchee and Yakima in Washington and Hood River and Medford in Oregon, funded through the oldest federal marketing order of its kind, with a five-year average crop of 16.8 million boxes representing 84% of the national commercial fresh pear crop. (usapears.org)
• USDA Agricultural Marketing Service marketing order 927 for Oregon and Washington pears, and Washington State Tree Fruit Association crop estimates. (ams.usda.gov)
• The July to August call window. Reasoned from the published harvest start rather than a packer's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: four districts, 29 handlers, and the storage season behind the harvest.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/pears/

Season

No season at all. The only date that matters is when the contracts are awarded.

Commodity playbook

Who ships pet food

Plants and head offices across the midwest and south. Most of these companies run several sites, and the ingredient inbound is a second lane at each one.

Ask for transportation procurement, not the plant. This is one of the few commodities on this list where the freight is genuinely bought centrally, on annual bids, by people whose job is buying freight. That is harder to walk into and much better once you are in. Ask when their bid season is and get on the list for it.

Where it hauls

Plants follow the ingredients, which means grain country and protein country: Missouri and Kansas carry an unusual concentration, with Ohio, Alabama, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas adding capacity. Finished goods run from plant to the manufacturer's own distribution centres, then out to grocery, mass, pet specialty and e-commerce fulfilment. Inbound ingredient freight is a whole second business at the same sites. The producers to know:

How to open

"When does your annual bid open? I'd rather be qualified before it than ask you for a spot load in the middle of it."

To transportation procurement, October into November

Asking about the bid rather than a load is the correct register for this shipper. Spot freight here is the exception and treating it as the opening marks you as someone who has not worked the category.

Qualifying questions

• Bagged or bulk? Palletized bagged finished goods are the truckload freight. Bulk ingredients inbound move in hoppers and tankers and are a different business entirely. Ask which side of the plant you are being offered.
• What does it scale? Dry kibble palletized runs close to legal weight in a van, wet food in cans more so. Get the pallet count and target gross, because this is not the light freight people assume consumer goods to be.
• Is the trailer food-grade? Pet food is a regulated food product and shippers apply sanitation standards to the trailer. Expect questions about prior loads, washouts and whether the trailer has ever carried anything unsuitable. Have the answer ready.
• Is this contract or spot? Most volume is contracted annually. Spot exists around plant startups, promotions and weather disruptions. Knowing which one you are quoting changes both the rate and the conversation.
• When is your bid season? The single most useful question here. Get the month, get the qualification requirements, and be ready before it opens rather than calling once it has closed.

When to call

Autumn, ahead of bid season for the new year. Carriers get qualified before an RFP, not during it, so the call that matters is months ahead of the award. The upside is that the freight does not care about weather, harvest or holidays, which makes a won lane unusually durable.

Sources

• Company disclosures on pet food manufacturing capacity and footprint: Blue Buffalo's Heartland facility providing in-house dry food manufacturing of up to 30 million pounds a month with a plant at Joplin, Missouri; Diamond Pet Foods headquartered at Meta, Missouri with additional facilities in South Carolina and California; J.M. Smucker running plants at Decatur, Alabama, Lawrence, Kansas and Buffalo, New York; Hill's Pet Nutrition at Topeka, Kansas. (sec.gov)
• The autumn bid-season call window, and the load conversion dividing 30 million pounds a month by 40,000 pounds to a van. The capacity figure is green; the load conversion and the bid timing are working assumptions.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the plant map, the ingredient inbound, and the annual bid that decides the lanes.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/pet-food/

Season

No season. Plants run continuously and hurricanes are the only thing that stops them.

Commodity playbook

Who ships plastic resin

Five producers at major Gulf Coast plants. The packaging and warehousing companies that bag resin for them are a second, less contested call list.

Ask which form it ships in before anything else. Bulk pellets go out in pneumatic tank trailers to converters with silos, and that is a specialised fleet. Bagged resin, gaylords and boxed material go in ordinary dry vans and that is where a general carrier gets in. Ask for the logistics group at the plant, and for the packaging warehouse separately.

Where it hauls

The Chemical Coast, and very little else. The corridor from Houston and Baytown through Freeport and Point Comfort in Texas, then east through Lake Charles and the lower Mississippi in Louisiana, holds the overwhelming majority of US capacity. Pellets move from there to converters across the midwest and southeast who blow, mould and extrude them into product, and increasingly to the ports for export to Asia. The producers to know:

How to open

"Do you move bagged and boxed resin as well as bulk? I've got van capacity out of the Gulf and I'd like the packaged side."

To the plants and packagers, January into February

Naming the packaged side is the whole opening. Everyone assumes resin means pneumatic tanks, so the van freight gets less attention than the volume deserves.

Qualifying questions

• Bulk pellets or packaged? Bulk goes in pneumatic tank trailers and needs a converter with a silo and a blower. Bagged, boxed and gaylord resin goes in a dry van. Completely different equipment, so establish it in the first minute.
• What does it scale? Resin is light for its volume in bags but bulk loads run to weight. Get the pounds and the packaging format, because a gaylord load and a bulk load are not comparable.
• Is the trailer clean and dry? Resin contamination is a serious and expensive problem, and moisture ruins hygroscopic grades. Expect strict prior-load and cleanliness requirements even on packaged freight.
• Is it going to a converter or the port? Converter delivery runs to a production schedule. Port drayage runs to a vessel cutoff. Export is a growing share of Gulf resin, so ask which one this is.
• What happens in hurricane season? Plants shut and then restart hard, and the recovery period is genuinely chaotic. Asking shows you understand the one thing that interrupts this freight.

When to call

January and February, when annual arrangements are set. Production is continuous otherwise. The genuine disruption is hurricane season: a storm on the Texas coast shuts plants and then floods the market with recovery freight afterwards, and carriers who were already set up are the ones who get called.

Sources

• US plastics production data: total US plastics production volume of 130.1 billion pounds in 2023, roughly 27 million tonnes or 60 billion pounds of pellets manufactured annually, and 84% of US plastics production located along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, with ExxonMobil, Dow, LyondellBasell, Westlake Chemical and Formosa Plastics among the largest producers. (statista.com)
• The January to February call window and the packaged-versus-bulk framing as the entry point. Reasoned from the equipment split rather than a producer's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the Gulf concentration, the two shipping forms, and the hurricane exposure.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/plastic-resin/

Season

Planted once, dug once, shipped for ten months. The storage is the whole business.

Commodity playbook

Who ships potatoes

Idaho sheds only, from a state association roster of 87 members. Washington, the Red River Valley, Wisconsin and Colorado have their own lists.

Ask for sales or the shipping desk. Fresh potatoes move through a grower-shipper who packs and sells, and that same desk usually tenders the truck. Processors are a separate business with separate freight: a shed sells cartons and poly bags to retail and foodservice, a processor buys raw product by the truckload for fries and dehydrated goods. Ask which side you have on the phone before you pitch.

Where it hauls

Idaho is the largest producing state and the Snake River Plain is the densest run of sheds in the country: Pingree, Aberdeen and Blackfoot in Bingham County, Rigby in Jefferson County, Paul and Rupert in Minidoka County, with Idaho Falls acting as the commercial centre. Washington's Columbia Basin, the Red River Valley on the Minnesota and North Dakota line, Wisconsin's central sands and Colorado's San Luis Valley are the other four that matter. The Idaho sheds to know:

How to open

"Are you into storage packs yet, or still running field-run? I'd rather get set up before the season gets going."

To the sheds, August into September

The follow-up that gets a real answer is about winter: "Do you run protect-from-freeze loads, and from when?" A shed that runs winter freight remembers whoever handled it without a claim.

Qualifying questions

• Vented van or reefer? Both haul potatoes. They need air and a steady temperature rather than deep cold, so vented van works most of the year and reefer on heat covers the winter. Ask what the shed specs before you send equipment.
• When does protect from freeze start? Roughly November through March out of the northern sheds. A frozen load is a total loss and the claim is the whole trailer, so confirm the shed's switch date and whether they want a temperature recorder.
• Cartons, poly bags, or bulk? The pack changes the count, the weight and the unload. Storage packs replace field-run once the season settles. Ask before you quote, because a bulk load and a palletized carton load are not the same job.
• What is the gross weight? Potatoes are dense and it is easy to load heavy. Confirm the target gross and where the certified scale is, because a reweigh at the first scale house is nobody's idea of a good first load.
• How far ahead do you want trucks booked? Sheds run on short booking cycles, often the day before loading, with a hard cutoff time. Get each shed's cutoff and hit it. Missing it once is how a new carrier stops being called.

When to call

August and September, before the crop is dug. Once storage packs are moving, every shed has its regulars and a new call is quoting overflow. The advantage of a storage crop is that the relationship pays out for ten months rather than six weeks, which is exactly why the seat is worth more than a load.

Sources

• USDA truckload movement for Idaho fresh potatoes, 55,903 truckloads in the 2022-23 season, as reported through the Idaho Potato Commission's crop and shipment reporting. (idahopotato.com)
• Idaho Grower Shippers Association membership roster: 87 members across 24 full, 51 associate and 12 allied industry categories. The Idaho Potato Commission separately publishes a licensed fresh shipper and processor directory. (idahoshippers.org)
• The August to September call window, and the claim that a shed's storage-season carrier list is settled before harvest. Reasoned from how storage crops cover rather than from a published shed schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: who ships it, where, and the storage season it books against.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/potatoes/

This quarter: Tight and getting tighter. Mill lead times on some long products are running six to eight months, and rebar prices are up sharply since January. The final duty determinations landed July 28 and the ITC injury vote follows within 45 days. Domestic mills are the only door left for the volume three countries used to cover.

Commodity opportunity

No season. The window is the trade case and the Q4 order book, not the weather.

On July 28, 2026 the Commerce Department issued final affirmative determinations in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations of steel concrete reinforcing bar from Bulgaria, Egypt and Vietnam. The final dumping margins are 53.27% for Bulgaria, 34.20% to 52.73% for Egypt and 128.53% to 136.57% for Vietnam, with countervailing rates of 23.27% on Egypt and 6.80% on Vietnam stacked on top.

In the reference year those three countries shipped 357,666 tonnes of rebar into the United States, worth about $211 million. At 24 tons to a legal flatbed load that is roughly 16,000 loads a year. Duties in the triple digits do not trim that volume, they move it.

Why it matters: imported rebar lands at a port and moves a short drayage leg to a fabricator. Domestic rebar leaves a mill in Seguin or Sedalia or Osceola and runs several hundred miles. Same tons, same tarps, completely different lane. The fabricators who were buying at the dock are re-sourcing to mills right now, and mill lead times of six to eight months mean the freight they book this quarter moves well into next year. The ITC injury vote closes the case within 45 days of the Commerce final, so the re-sourcing decision is being made now, not after the paperwork settles.

Commodity playbook

Who ships rebar

Nine of the 33 bar mills on Texas DOT's approved producer list, picked for spread rather than size.

Ask for the traffic or logistics manager at the mill, and the purchasing manager at the fabricator. Mills tender the outbound; fabricators tender the inbound when they buy on a mill-direct basis, which is most of the time. On federally funded work ask whether the job is under the Federal Domestic Materials Program, because that decides which mills are even eligible and it changes the sourcing conversation entirely.

Where it hauls

Rebar moves on two legs and they are not the same business. Mill to fabricator is the long haul: bundled bar out of a bar mill to a fab shop that cuts and bends it. Fabricator to jobsite is short, tightly scheduled and often runs on the fabricator's own trucks until it does not. The mills on Texas DOT's approved producer list as of July 27, 2026 run from Seattle to Jacksonville, with the heaviest cluster across Texas, the Southeast and the industrial Midwest. The mills to know:

How to open

"You picking up the volume that used to come in through the port? I'd rather get set up on the outbound lanes before your Q4 book fills."

To the mills and the fab shops, this quarter

To a fabricator the other side works better: "Where are you re-sourcing now that the duties are final?" Either way it shows you read the trade case, which almost nobody calling them has.

Qualifying questions

• Is this mill to fabricator, or fabricator to jobsite? Two different businesses. Mill to fab is a several hundred mile haul on a standard flatbed. Fab to jobsite is short, scheduled to the pour, and the delivery window is the whole job. Ask which leg before you quote.
• Bundled bar or coil, and what lengths? Straight bar commonly runs 20, 40 and 60 feet. Sixty foot bar overhangs a standard 48 or 53 foot flatbed and brings permits and flags with it. Get the length before you commit a trailer.
• Is any of it epoxy coated? Black bar ships open and gets handled roughly. Epoxy coated bar chips if it is dragged or banded wrong, and the claim is the coating, not the steel. Confirm coating and whether they want it tarped.
• Is the jobsite crane served? Rebar bundles are heavy and long, and a flatbed driver does not unload them. Confirm there is a crane or a forklift with the reach, and who is running it, or the truck sits.
• Is this a federally funded job? If it is, the material has to satisfy the Federal Domestic Materials Program, which narrows the eligible mills and adds certification paperwork. It changes who can ship it, so ask early.
• What is the gross weight and how is it secured? A legal flatbed load of bar runs around 24 tons. Bundled bar needs chains and edge protection, not straps alone. Confirm the weight and the securement expectation before the driver rolls.

When to call

Now, through the end of the fourth quarter. The duty rates are set, the ITC vote lands within 45 days of the July 28 determination, and mill order books for the first half of next year are being written against six to eight month lead times. A lane you get on this quarter is a lane you hold while the backlog runs.

Sources

• US Department of Commerce, final affirmative antidumping and countervailing duty determinations on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Bulgaria, Egypt and Vietnam, July 28, 2026: the duty rates, the reference-year import volumes and values, and the Rebar Trade Action Coalition membership. (trade.gov)
• Texas Department of Transportation, Reinforcing Steel Mills Material Producer List, July 27, 2026: the pre-approved bar mills, their locations, and Federal Domestic Materials Program status. (txdot.gov)
• Trade press reporting on long product lead times of six to eight months and rebar prices up 25 to 30% since January 2026. Directionally consistent across outlets but not a published statistic, so treated as trade press rather than a measurement.
• The load count: 357,666 tonnes converted at 1.10231 short tons per tonne and divided by 24 short tons to a legal flatbed load. The tonnage is green; the 24 ton load is a working assumption, not a published figure.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: First edition. Written the month Commerce finalised duties on rebar from Bulgaria, Egypt and Vietnam, with the ITC injury vote still to land.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/rebar/

This season: Fill season, and it is open now. The 2026/27 state contracts were bid in spring and awarded over the summer, and the initial fill orders are being placed against them. NOAA is forecasting a very strong El Nino for the coming winter, which points to lighter usage in the northern tier. It does not point to lighter freight: the tonnage was committed months ago with a contractual floor under it.

Commodity opportunity

Committed in winter, hauled in late summer, used in January. The crisis is not the buy.

Road salt runs on a calendar that has almost nothing to do with weather. Municipalities commit their tonnage months ahead, states bid the contracts in spring, and the freight moves in a fixed pre-season window. Pennsylvania's cooperative contract spells it out: initial fill orders must be placed between August 1 and October 31, for delivery within thirty calendar days. Winter orders after that get five to seven business days. The minimum order is 22 tons per stockpile location, which is to say one truck.

The commitment is the part brokers miss. Under that contract a member has to buy a minimum 60% of its stated requirement from the awarded supplier or pay storage fees. Ohio runs tighter still: the Ohio Turnpike committed 54,200 tons for the 2026/27 season across 14 delivery sites in 11 counties, and the contract obliges it to take between 85% and 115% of that estimate. At 22 tons a load that is roughly 2,400 truckloads, with about 2,050 of them contractually guaranteed, for one turnpike authority in one state.

Why it matters: NOAA is calling a very strong El Nino for winter 2026/27, with a 69% chance the October to December period runs hotter than any El Nino since 1950. A mild winter cuts salt usage. It does not cut the fill, because the fill was bought in the spring with a floor under it. The freight moving right now is the least weather-dependent freight in the seasonal calendar, and it is moving on a thirty day clock.

Commodity playbook

Who ships road salt

Producers and terminal operators, not the municipalities. Under most state contracts the supplier delivers, so the supplier buys the truck.

Ask for the logistics or distribution manager at the producer, and the terminal manager at a depot. On the receiving side the buyer is a public works director or a county engineer, and they are not the ones who tender the truck: under most state contracts the supplier delivers, so the supplier is who buys the freight. Ask which of the two you are talking to before you pitch.

Where it hauls

Two origins, and they behave differently. Mines are a short list: the salt belt under Lake Erie and the Finger Lakes, the Detroit deposit, and the Gulf domes in Louisiana. Mine salt reaches the Midwest and Northeast by vessel, barge and rail to river and lake depots, then moves to stockpiles by truck. Import terminals on the East Coast do the same job from ocean vessels. The truck leg in both cases is depot to municipal stockpile, and it is short, repetitive and heavy. The producers and terminal operators to know:

How to open

"You're inside the initial fill window now. Who's covering your depot-to-stockpile runs if a site needs a second truck the same day?"

To the producers and terminal operators, right now

The thirty day delivery clock on initial fill is the whole opening. It is generous compared to the five to seven business days a winter order gets, which is precisely why capacity that is not locked in now gets expensive in December.

Qualifying questions

• Bulk or bagged? Different trailer, different customer. Bulk deicing salt goes to stockpiles in end dumps, live floors or bottom dumps. Bagged and palletized deicer goes to retail and property managers in dry vans. Ask first, because nothing about the two quotes is the same.
• Can you dump at the stockpile, and is it under roof? A raised end dump needs overhead clearance and firm level ground. Many municipal stockpiles sit under a dome or a shed with a low door. If it will not dump, the load needs a live floor or a loader, and that changes the rate.
• Is it treated or straight sodium chloride? Treated salt carries magnesium or calcium chloride and sometimes an organic additive. It is stickier, more corrosive and it can freeze to a trailer. Confirm which one before you send equipment you care about.
• Which contract is this on? Most public salt moves on a state or cooperative contract with its own minimums, delivery clocks and penalties. It decides who pays, how fast you have to be there, and who eats a late delivery. Get the contract number.
• What are the receiving hours and the turn time? Municipal garages and county yards keep short hours and often will not take a truck outside them. On a repetitive depot run, turn time is the whole economics. Ask what a normal turn looks like before you price it.
• What is the load size and the scale ticket? Pennsylvania's contract sets a 22 ton minimum per stockpile location, which is roughly one truck. Salt is dense and it is easy to load heavy. Confirm the target weight and where the certified scale is.

When to call

Now, before October 31 closes the initial fill window. Second best is November, when the winter usage program starts and the delivery clock tightens to five to seven business days. The January emergency everyone pictures is not a buying moment at all: by then the contract, the supplier and the carrier list have been settled for six months and what is left is overflow at whatever the day costs.

Sources

• USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, salt: 40 million tons produced and 39 million tons sold in the United States in 2025 at a value of $2.6 billion, with highway deicing about 41% of salt consumed. (usgs.gov)
• Pennsylvania Department of General Services, COSTARS sodium chloride (bulk road salt) season contract: the August 1 to October 31 initial fill window, the thirty day delivery requirement, the five to seven business day winter clock, the 60% minimum purchase obligation and the 22 ton minimum order. (pa.gov)
• Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission resolution authorising participation in ODOT cooperative contract 018-27 for the 2026/2027 winter season: 54,200 tons across 14 delivery locations in 11 counties, at an 85% to 115% commitment band and an estimated $65.00 per ton. (ohioturnpike.org)
• NOAA Climate Prediction Center ENSO diagnostic discussion, August 2026: El Nino strengthening, with a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event through the 2026/27 winter and a 69% likelihood the October to December period exceeds plus 2.5 degrees. (cpc.ncep.noaa.gov)
• The truckload counts convert tonnage at the 22 ton minimum order Pennsylvania's contract states per stockpile location. The tonnages are green; treating 22 tons as one truck is a working assumption drawn from that minimum, not a published load count.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: First edition. Written inside the initial fill window, with the 2026/27 contracts awarded and NOAA calling a very strong El Nino for the winter the salt is being stockpiled for.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/road-salt/

Season

A March to October roofing season, stocked ahead of it and shipped heavy all through it.

Commodity playbook

Who ships roofing shingles

Plants, not head offices, because the plant is where the truck loads. Several of these companies run a dozen or more sites.

Ask for the plant traffic manager or the regional logistics manager. Manufacturers tender the plant-to-distributor leg, which is the truckload business worth having. The distributor-to-rooftop leg is usually a boom truck the distributor owns, and it is not brokered. Ask which leg before you quote, because only one of them is your freight.

Where it hauls

Shingle plants sit close to the markets they serve, because the product is dense and nobody hauls it far by choice. The big four run national networks: GAF across roughly 30 US locations, Owens Corning roofing out of 33 facilities including Savannah, Brookville, Irving and Medina, CertainTeed across about 65 North American sites, and TAMKO from five shingle plants in Kansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland and Texas. Freight runs plant to distributor yard, then distributor to jobsite on smaller equipment. The plants to know:

How to open

"Are you setting capacity for the spring season yet? I'd rather be on the list in January than be a phone call in April."

To the plants, January into February

The detail that proves you have hauled it: ask what their loads scale at. Shingles weigh out long before they cube out, and a broker who quotes them like dry van freight gives themselves away in one sentence.

Qualifying questions

• What does it scale, and how many squares? Shingles weigh out long before they cube out. A bundle is roughly 60 to 80 pounds and there are three to a square. Get the square count and the target gross, because a trailer that looks half empty can already be legal weight.
• Flatbed or van, and do you need tarps? Both move shingles. Flatbed is common plant to distributor and the load needs tarping against weather and road grime. Confirm whether tarps are on you and how many, because that is real money and real time.
• Is the distributor yard forklift served? Most distributor yards unload with a lull or a boom truck and it is quick. Some jobsite deliveries expect a truck with its own crane, which is a different piece of equipment entirely. Ask which one this is.
• How is it secured? Banded pallets of shingles shift and the straps bite into the bundles. Confirm the securement expectation, edge protection, and whether they want the load blocked, before the driver finds out at the first curve.
• Is this a stocking order or a jobsite pull? A stocking order into a yard is plannable and repeatable. A jobsite pull is date-critical because a crew is standing on a roof waiting. They price differently and they forgive differently. Ask which.

When to call

January and February, while distributors are stocking and before the roofing season opens in March. From March to October the plants are running and a new call is quoting overflow into a market that is already tight. The winter is also when the annual pricing conversation happens, which is exactly when a distributor is deciding how much to pull forward and therefore how many trucks it needs.

Sources

• Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association quarterly shipment reporting, as carried by Roofing Contractor: 38.1 million squares shipped in the first quarter of 2026, down 9.9% from 42.3 million a year earlier, against roughly 154 million squares of annual US demand. (asphaltroofing.org)
• Company disclosures and plant announcements for the manufacturing footprint: GAF at about 30 US locations, Owens Corning roofing at 33 facilities, CertainTeed at roughly 65 North American sites, and TAMKO at five shingle plants across Kansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland and Texas. (ustires.org)
• The January to February call window and the winter pre-buy. Reasoned from the published roofing season and quarterly shipment shape rather than from a manufacturer's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the plant network, the season it feeds, and the leg that is actually brokered.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/roofing-shingles/

Season

No season. Volume tracks the scrap price, which moves monthly and without warning.

Commodity playbook

Who ships scrap metal

Head offices of four processors and mill groups. Radius runs 103 facilities, OmniSource about 75, and Sims more than 230 yards in North America.

Ask for the yard manager or the traffic desk at the processing facility. This is a trading business as much as an industrial one: when the scrap price moves, volumes move with it and the freight requirement changes within weeks. Carriers who can flex up on short notice are genuinely valuable and there is little competition for the work.

Where it hauls

Yards sit where the metal is: industrial cities, ports and everywhere with a population. Processors run dense networks of collection yards feeding a smaller number of shredders and processing facilities, which in turn feed electric arc furnace mills across the south and midwest. Because scrap is heavy and low-value per ton, hauls are short by necessity and the volume is in frequency. Export scrap adds a port leg. The processors to know:

How to open

"Do you need capacity out to the mills when the price runs? I've got end dump and flatbed and I can flex."

To the yards and processors, January into February

Mentioning the price is the credential. Scrap volumes are driven by a monthly price settlement, and a broker who knows that is not the same as one calling about a load.

Qualifying questions

• What grade of scrap, and what does it weigh? Shredded, busheling, plate and structural, turnings and borings all load differently and weigh differently. Grade decides the trailer and the target weight, so get it before you commit equipment.
• End dump, flatbed, or roll-off? Loose shredded scrap goes in end dumps or walking floors. Bundles, plate and structural ride flatbeds. Containers and roll-offs serve the collection side. Three different jobs.
• Is the yard scale certified, and where do I weigh? This is a business transacted by weight, so the scale ticket is the document that matters. Confirm where you weigh in and out and who holds the ticket.
• Any radiation or contamination screening? Mills screen inbound scrap for radioactive sources and contamination, and a rejected load is a serious problem. Ask what the screening process is and what happens if a load flags.
• Is this going to a mill or the port? Mill delivery runs to a melt schedule. Export scrap runs to a vessel and a hard cutoff. Different urgency and different paperwork, so establish which.

When to call

January and February, when annual arrangements get made, but this is genuinely a year-round business. The real timing signal is the monthly scrap price: when it rises, material that has been sitting in yards moves all at once, and the carriers already in the rotation take that volume.

Sources

• Scrap recycling industry data: the United States processing about 66 million metric tons of ferrous scrap annually and recycling 46.7 million metric tons of iron and steel from scrap in 2021; Sims Metal operating over 230 metal recycling yards across North America; Radius Recycling operating 103 facilities across 26 states; OmniSource, a Steel Dynamics subsidiary, operating about 75 metals recycling locations. (usgs.gov)
• The January to February call window and the monthly-price volume signal. Reasoned from how the scrap trade settles rather than a processor's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the yard-to-mill chain, the grades that decide the trailer, and the price that decides the volume.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/scrap-metal/

Season

No storage, no slack. The origin swaps coasts twice a year like the rest of the leafy deal.

Commodity playbook

Who ships spinach

The same grower-shippers that run the lettuce deal. Spinach mostly moves through their wash-and-pack plants rather than straight from the cooler.

Ask for the processing plant's traffic desk, not just the cooler. Bagged salad and baby leaf run out of dedicated wash-and-pack facilities on tight production schedules, and those plants ship to distribution centres on firm appointments. Raw field spinach for foodservice is a separate, simpler flow.

Where it hauls

The leafy green rotation, same as lettuce. The Salinas Valley from about April to November, with Santa Maria and Oxnard on the shoulders. Yuma County, Arizona and the Imperial Valley from November to March. Spinach differs from head lettuce in one important way: most of it goes through a processing plant to be washed and bagged rather than shipping as raw field product, which adds a step and a schedule. The growers and processors to know:

How to open

"Are you setting up for the desert transition? I run tight-temperature reefer and I understand what the clock looks like on baby leaf."

To the coolers and plants, September into October

Bringing up traceability shows you know this commodity's history. Spinach carries the produce industry's most serious food safety memory, and shippers expect a carrier to take lot integrity seriously.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and how tight? Baby leaf runs just above freezing, around 33 to 34 degrees, with almost no tolerance. It wilts and yellows visibly within a day of warming. Confirm the setpoint and that the unit runs continuous.
• How many days of shelf life is on it? Bagged spinach has one of the shortest shelf lives in the aisle. Ask how many days the pack carries and match it to the transit. A load that is legally on time can arrive commercially worthless.
• Bagged and washed, or raw field product? Processed baby leaf comes out of a plant on a production schedule with firm appointments. Raw bunched spinach for foodservice is simpler and less time-critical. Ask which.
• What are the traceability requirements? This commodity carries the industry's strictest lot tracking for good historical reason. Expect requirements on seals, documentation and trailer condition, and take them seriously.
• Salinas or Yuma right now? It flips in November and again in April. Asking this way tells them you know the whole leafy deal moves, not just that you want a load.

When to call

September and October ahead of the desert season, and February and March ahead of the return to Salinas. Those two transitions are when the carrier base is in the wrong state and the shipper is genuinely looking. Mid-season the plants are running to schedule and there is no room to try anyone new.

Sources

• Salinas Valley and Arizona leafy green production reporting: the Salinas Valley growing almost half the nation's lettuce and about a third of its spinach, and about 90% of US leafy vegetables grown from November to March coming from the Yuma area, supported by 22 coolers and 10 salad plants. (arizonaleafygreens.org)
• The September to October and February to March call windows. Reasoned from the published season transition rather than a shipper's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the rotation, the wash-and-pack step, and the shelf life that governs everything.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/spinach/

Season

No season. Annual contracts set in the turn of the year, then it runs every week.

Commodity playbook

Who ships steel coil

Head offices of mills and service centres. Each runs many locations, and the processing site is where the coil actually loads.

Ask for the traffic manager at the service centre first. Mills often move on rail and long-term contracts; service centres run truck constantly, in shorter lanes, with more urgency and far more willingness to try a new carrier. They are also the ones who will tell you honestly whether your equipment and securement are up to it.

Where it hauls

Three layers. Mills roll the coil, concentrated in the industrial midwest around Indiana and Ohio, in the south from Alabama through Arkansas to Texas, and on the Great Lakes. Service centres buy coil, slit and cut it and resell it in usable form; there are hundreds of them and they sit close to manufacturing clusters. End users are stampers, fabricators and appliance and auto plants. The mill-to-service-centre and service-centre-to-user legs are both real truckload freight. The companies to know:

How to open

"I run coil and I carry the right securement for it. Are you setting contract capacity for the new year?"

To service centres and mills, December into January

Lead with securement, not rate. Coil racks, correctly rated chains, timbers and the knowledge to place them are the qualification, and a shipper who has had a coil shift knows exactly what it costs.

Qualifying questions

• Eye to the sky or eye to the side? It decides the securement entirely. Suspended-eye coils need a coil rack or proper cradling and chains through the eye; eye-to-the-side needs different blocking. Get it before you dispatch, not at the dock.
• What does each coil weigh? Coils commonly run 10 to 25 tons apiece, so one or two make a load. Weight and placement decide axle distribution. Get individual coil weights, not just the total.
• Do you have the right chains and timbers? Coil securement is regulated and specific: rated chains, correct number, timbers or a rack. This is the question the shipper is really asking you, so answer it before they have to.
• Is it tarped? Cold rolled and coated coil rusts and stains and must stay dry; hot rolled often runs open. Confirm which, because tarping several 20-ton coils is real work.
• Mill, service centre, or end user? Mill outbound is long and often rail-competitive. Service centre freight is shorter and more frequent. End user delivery runs to a production schedule. Establish which leg you are quoting.

When to call

December and January, as annual contracts are placed for the new year. The freight itself runs every week regardless, but the contracted portion is decided at the turn of the year. Service centres also add capacity through the year as their own order books move, which makes a mid-year call worth making.

Sources

• Metals Service Center Institute and company filings: MSCI membership of nearly 250 companies across an association with more than 110 years of history; Reliance reporting approximately 14.0% of total US metals service centre tons sold; Ryerson selling three million tons of metal a year as North America's leading distributor and processor; a steel service centre market of about $320 billion in 2022. (msci.org)
• The December to January call window. Reasoned from annual contract timing rather than a published schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the three layers, the service centre as the way in, and securement as the qualification.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/steel-coil/

Season

Four months of season, three months of real volume, and a shelf life measured in days.

Commodity playbook

Who ships strawberries

Both seasons on one list. The California Strawberry Commission alone brings together more than 400 growers, shippers and processors.

Ask for the cooler or the traffic desk. Berries move through grower-shippers who pick, cool and sell, and the cooler tenders the truck because it is the cooler that knows what came out of the field that morning. Receivers are retail distribution centres, and they do not choose the carrier. On this freight the shipper decides, quickly, and often the day of.

Where it hauls

The Florida winter crop is concentrated to an unusual degree: Plant City, Dover and Lithia in eastern Hillsborough County, with a spillover into Manatee County, supported by more than 15,000 acres. That is the whole winter supply for most of the country. California is the far larger producer overall, running from Watsonville and Salinas in the north down to Santa Maria, Oxnard and Ventura, but its season starts as Florida's ends. The shippers to know across both:

How to open

"Are you covered for the winter deal yet? I'd rather be set up in November than be the truck you're hunting for in February."

To the Florida coolers, November into December

The line that proves you understand it: "What do you do when Valentine's falls midweek?" Holiday pull is the single largest stress on this season and every cooler has an opinion about it.

Qualifying questions

• How fast does it have to move? Faster than almost anything else you haul. Berries are picked, cooled and loaded the same day, and shelf life is days. A truck that sits is a claim. Confirm the delivery appointment before you accept, not after.
• What is the setpoint, and is it forced-air cooled? Strawberries run just above freezing, around 33 to 34 degrees, and they are usually forced-air cooled before loading. Ask whether cooling is complete at pickup, because loading warm fruit into a cold trailer does not fix it.
• Is this a holiday pull? Valentine's Day is the single biggest demand event of the Florida season and it drags volume forward hard. Ask which week they are building for, because the rate and the urgency both change around it.
• Who inspects, and what happens on a temperature exception? Receivers on berries inspect closely and reject readily. Find out who inspects, what the tolerance is, and whether they want a download or a continuous monitor, before the load rather than during the argument.
• Florida or California right now? It flips around March. Asking it this way tells them you know the season swings coast to coast, and it tells you whether you are quoting a short eastern lane or a long western one.

When to call

November and December, before the Florida deal really opens. February and March are peak and there is no time to onboard anybody then. The other window is late February, calling California ahead of its spring start, when the origin is about to swing 2,500 miles west and every winter lane goes quiet at once.

Sources

• Florida Strawberry Growers Association: more than 15,000 acres supported, a season running from after Thanksgiving to the end of March, and about 213 million pounds or 400 truckloads a week moving north, with 81% of volume in the first three months of the year. (floridastrawberry.org)
• California Strawberry Commission: more than 400 growers, shippers and processors, across roughly 36,000 to 40,000 acres from Santa Cruz through Santa Maria to Ventura. (californiastrawberries.com)
• The November to December call window and the Valentine's pull as the season's largest stress. Reasoned from the published season shape and holiday demand rather than from a cooler's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: both seasons, the Hillsborough County concentration, and the clock the freight runs on.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/strawberries/

Season

Detailed in winter, fabricated in spring, erected through the build season.

Commodity playbook

Who ships structural steel

Mills and their head offices. The fabricator layer beneath them is far larger and is where most of the truckload freight actually sits.

Ask for the fabricator's shipping coordinator. Mills often move on rail and contract; fabricators run trucks constantly and to a schedule that changes with the jobsite. Because steel arrives at a site in the order the crane needs it, delivery sequence matters more than delivery speed, which is a genuinely different service to sell.

Where it hauls

Two layers, both flatbed. Mills roll wide flange beams, channel and angle, concentrated in Arkansas, Indiana, Texas and the southeast. Fabricators buy that steel, cut, drill and weld it into the pieces a specific building needs, then ship it to the jobsite in erection sequence. There are far more fabricators than mills and they are spread across every metro. Mill to fabricator is the long haul; fabricator to jobsite is short, sequenced and unforgiving. The mills to know:

How to open

"Are you booking flatbed for the spring erection season? I understand loads have to arrive in sequence, not just on time."

To mills and fabricators, January into February

Sequence is the word that lands. A load of beams delivered out of order blocks a crane and costs a day of an erection crew, which is far more expensive than the freight.

Qualifying questions

• What lengths, and do you need a stretch trailer? Structural members run long. Anything over about 48 feet needs a stretch or extendable flatbed and may need permits and flags. Get the longest piece before you dispatch anything.
• Is it going in erection sequence? Jobsite steel arrives in the order the crane lifts it. Delivering the right steel in the wrong order is a failed delivery even though everything is on the trailer. Confirm the sequence requirement.
• Mill to fabricator, or fabricator to site? Mill outbound is long haul and rail-competitive. Fabricator to jobsite is short, sequenced and date-critical. Two different businesses, so establish which.
• How is it secured? Beams and bundles need rated chains, edge protection and proper blocking, and long members shift under braking. This is skilled flatbed work and the shipper will assess whether you know it.
• Is there a crane at the site? Structural steel is not unloaded by the driver. Confirm there is a crane, that it is scheduled for your arrival window, and who directs the lift.

When to call

January and February, while fabricators are detailing and buying for spring. With lead times running six to eight months, steel booked now is steel that erects late in the year or beyond. That long lead is the opportunity: unlike almost everything else on this calendar, this freight can be planned rather than chased.

Sources

• US Department of Commerce trade case filings identify the domestic long-products mill group: Nucor, Steel Dynamics, Commercial Metals Company, Gerdau Ameristeel US, Byer Steel and Optimus Steel, with head offices at Charlotte, Fort Wayne, Irving, Tampa, Cincinnati and Beaumont respectively. (trade.gov)
• Lead times of six to eight months at multiyear highs and structural steel prices up 25 to 30% since January come from steel trade press rather than a published index, and are flagged as trade press. The January to February call window is reasoned from the erection season.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the mill and fabricator layers, the long lead, and sequence as the service being bought.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/structural-steel/

Season

Year-round freight with two peaks: the spring changeover and the run into winter.

Commodity playbook

Who ships tires

Six of the 55 tire manufacturing facilities the industry association counts across 16 states. The distributor network downstream is larger again.

Ask for the plant logistics manager, and separately for the distribution centre's inbound planner. These are two different buyers. Manufacturers tender plant-to-DC on contract; the distributors run their own dense networks out to dealers and are far more likely to use a broker on short notice. The distributor side is the easier door and the more frequent freight.

Where it hauls

The plants cluster in the southeast and the industrial midwest. South Carolina is the densest: Michelin at Greenville and Lexington, Continental at Sumter. Tennessee carries Bridgestone at LaVergne and Hankook at Clarksville, North Carolina has Bridgestone at Wilson, and Oklahoma has Goodyear at Lawton. Illinois adds Continental at Mount Vernon and Bridgestone at Bloomington. Downstream, the volume runs through regional distribution centres and independent distributors, which is where most of the brokered freight actually sits. The plants to know:

How to open

"Are you setting spring capacity yet? I run high-cube freight and I'd rather be on your list before the changeover."

To the plants and the distributors, February into March

Saying "high cube" unprompted does a lot of work here. It signals you know the load will be full and light, and that you are not going to come back asking for more money when it does not scale.

Qualifying questions

• How many tires, and what does it scale? This is high cube, low weight freight: a trailer fills to the roof and often never approaches legal weight. Get the piece count and the loading pattern, because the question that matters is whether it fits, not whether it scales.
• Floor loaded or racked? Passenger tires are frequently floor loaded and hand stacked, which is slow at both ends. Truck tires and racked freight come off far quicker. Confirm which, because the unload time is the difference between one turn and two.
• Plant to distribution centre, or distribution centre to dealer? The first is long-haul contract freight on a schedule. The second is shorter, more frequent, more urgent and far more likely to be brokered. Ask which leg before you quote, because they are separate businesses.
• Any tires mounted on wheels? Tire and wheel assemblies weigh several times what a bare tire does and can change a load from cube-out to weigh-out. If assemblies are in the mix, get the split before you commit a trailer.
• What is the receiving window at the distribution centre? Tire distribution centres run tight inbound schedules and a floor-loaded trailer takes a bay for hours. Ask what the appointment is and what a live unload actually takes there, not what it takes in theory.

When to call

February and March, ahead of the spring changeover, and again in August before the run into winter. Tires ship every week of the year, so this is less about a season opening than about being on the list when the two peaks arrive. Distributors in particular add carriers when their own network is stretched, and those weeks are predictable.

Sources

• US Tire Manufacturers Association 2026 forecast and factbook: total US shipments of 330.3 million units forecast against 336.3 million in 2025, passenger replacement at 218.3 million units, and 11 member companies operating 55 tire-related manufacturing facilities across 16 states. (ustires.org)
• Manufacturer plant locations from company disclosures and facility announcements: Michelin at Greenville and Lexington, Continental at Sumter and Mount Vernon, Bridgestone at Wilson and LaVergne, Hankook at Clarksville, and Goodyear at Lawton. (ustires.org)
• The February to March and August call windows, and the spring and pre-winter demand peaks. Reasoned from replacement-market seasonality rather than from a shipper's stated booking schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the plant map, the two legs of the network, and which one is actually brokered.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/tires/

Season

A winter deal. When Florida stops, the country eats Mexican and Californian fruit instead.

Commodity playbook

Who ships tomatoes

Florida growers and packers. The western half of the country is supplied through the Nogales and Pharr crossings instead.

Ask for the packinghouse traffic desk. These are grower-packer-shippers, often family businesses several generations deep, and the packinghouse tenders the truck. They ship into retail and foodservice distribution across the entire eastern half of the country, so the lanes are long and the volume is steady through the winter.

Where it hauls

Two Florida clusters and two border crossings. Immokalee in Collier County is the winter centre; Palmetto and Ruskin in Manatee and Hillsborough counties run the autumn and spring shoulders, with Homestead adding a deep-winter district. West of the Mississippi the supply is largely Mexican, crossing at Nogales, Arizona and Pharr, Texas, where the freight becomes a domestic reefer load. The Florida growers and packers to know:

How to open

"Are you setting carriers for the winter deal? I'd rather be lined up in October than chase you in January."

To the packinghouses, October into November

Mentioning that tomatoes are chill sensitive marks you out immediately. Plenty of carriers run them too cold and the damage does not appear until the receiver opens the box.

Qualifying questions

• What is the setpoint, and is it chill sensitive? Tomatoes suffer chilling injury below about 50 degrees and the damage shows up as poor colour and mealy texture days later at the receiver. Running them at lettuce temperature ruins them. Confirm the setpoint precisely.
• Mature green, vine ripe, or roma? Mature greens are picked hard and gassed to ripen; vine ripes are picked with colour and are far more fragile. Different handling, different transit tolerance. Ask which is on the trailer.
• How many boxes and what does it scale? Standard cartons run around 25 pounds. Get the count and the pallet pattern, and confirm the target gross, because tomato loads scale heavier than the box size suggests.
• Is this a repack or straight to the distribution centre? A lot of Florida fruit goes to repack facilities before retail. Those receivers run different hours and different appointment discipline from a retail distribution centre.
• Florida or a border crossing? It changes with the month and the market. The answer tells you whether you are quoting an eastern lane out of Immokalee or picking up a crossed load at Nogales or Pharr.

When to call

October and November, before the winter deal opens. The season then runs to about June, which is seven or eight months of steady eastbound and northbound freight from a single district. Calling in January means quoting overflow behind carriers who committed in the autumn.

Sources

• Florida tomato industry reporting: Lipman Family Farms as the largest open-field tomato grower in North America, based in Immokalee and packing an average of 15 million boxes a year; West Coast Tomato farming in Florida for 80 years with operations in Palmetto and Immokalee; DiMare operating at Ruskin and Homestead; Pacific Tomato Growers as a family-owned grower, packer and shipper. (producebusiness.com)
• The October to November call window. Reasoned from the published winter deal opening rather than a packinghouse's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the Florida districts, the border alternative, and the chill sensitivity that decides the claim.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/tomatoes/

Season

Nine months of build for one week of demand, then it empties.

Commodity playbook

Who ships turkey

Four processors at head offices and home plants. Butterball alone runs processing in Arkansas, Missouri and North Carolina.

Ask for the plant's logistics manager and the cold storage scheduler. The cold storage leg is the one most brokers never think about: product is frozen months ahead and sits in third-party freezers until the retail pull. Those transfers are real truckload volume in the quiet months and nobody is competing for them.

Where it hauls

Production concentrates where the grain is and where the growers are. Minnesota and Wisconsin carry the upper midwest complex, North Carolina, Arkansas and Missouri the southern one, with Virginia and the Central Valley of California adding capacity. Freight runs plant to cold storage, cold storage to retail distribution centre, and then distribution centre to store in the final fortnight. The processors to know:

How to open

"Are you moving into cold storage yet? I'd rather run your quiet freight in September than fight for the November push."

To the processors, August into September

Asking for the boring freight first is the move. Everybody calls in November. The carrier who ran the September freezer transfers is the one they call in November.

Qualifying questions

• Frozen or fresh? Frozen whole birds run around zero degrees and tolerate a long transit. Fresh product runs just above freezing with days of shelf life and a hard delivery date. Completely different risk, so establish which.
• Is this a cold storage transfer or a retail delivery? Plant to freezer is steady and plannable. Freezer to retail distribution centre in November is date-critical with no forgiveness. Ask which leg, because the second one is a different service level.
• What is the setpoint and do they want a download? Frozen protein claims turn on the temperature record. Confirm the setpoint, whether continuous monitoring is expected, and who reads the download on arrival.
• What does it scale? Frozen whole birds in cases palletize densely and load heavy. Get the case count and target gross rather than assuming a protein load will cube out.
• Is the trailer certified for food? Protein shippers apply strict sanitation and prior-load rules. Have your washout documentation and prior-load history ready before it is requested.

When to call

August and September, as the freeze-and-store build begins. October and November are the distribution push and by then capacity is locked. There is also a second, smaller Christmas pull, and a year-round deli and ground turkey business that most people forget exists behind the whole-bird story.

Sources

• US turkey production figures: about 250 million turkeys raised annually, amounting to roughly 7.1 billion pounds live weight and 5.6 billion pounds dressed weight, with Jennie-O Turkey Store (Hormel), Butterball and Cargill controlling most of the national supply and Butterball operating processing plants in Arkansas, Missouri and North Carolina. (usda.gov)
• The August to September call window and the cold storage transfer being the least contested leg. Reasoned from the freeze-and-store pattern rather than a processor's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the production complexes, the cold storage leg, and the one week it all builds toward.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/turkey/

Season

One long season with a moving address. The origin never sits still for more than a few weeks.

Commodity playbook

Who ships watermelon

Head offices. Every one of these ships from wherever the harvest currently is, which over a season means several states.

Ask for the shipping desk, and ask where they are cutting this week. Watermelon shippers are used to moving. Many farm in several states specifically so they can hold a retail programme for five months, and their freight problem is that every few weeks their origin changes and their carrier base does not follow.

Where it hauls

A moving origin, and that is the whole story. The deal opens in south Florida in April, works up through central and north Florida, crosses into south Georgia around June with Cordele as its centre, then rolls on through the Carolinas, the Delmarva, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois into August. The same shippers follow it, which is why a shipper list here is a list of companies rather than a list of towns. The growers and shippers to know:

How to open

"Where are you cutting right now, and where are you next? I'd rather follow the deal north than quote one lane."

To the shippers, March into April

Offering to follow the season is the pitch. A carrier who will reposition with the harvest is worth more here than a cheaper one who only runs one state, and the shipper knows it.

Qualifying questions

• Bins or cartons, and is it loaded loose? Watermelon moves in bins, in cartons and sometimes hand-stacked loose. Loose loading is slow and bruises fruit. Confirm the pack, because it changes the unload time completely.
• Reefer or ventilated van? Watermelon does not want deep cold; below about 50 degrees it suffers chilling injury. Plenty moves on ventilated van in cooler weather and reefer on a high setpoint in summer. Ask what they spec.
• What does it scale? Fruit is dense and loads run heavy, especially in bins. Get the target gross and the bin count, because it is easy to build an overweight load out of something that looks like half a trailer.
• Where are you cutting this week? The single most useful question on this commodity. The origin moves through five or more states in a season and the answer tells you which lane you are actually quoting.
• Is this a retail programme? Most volume runs to retail on a programme with appointments and firm arrival dates. Promotional weeks around holidays spike hard. Ask which week they are building for.

When to call

March and April, before the Florida deal opens. The season then gives you five months of work if you can move with it. The other advantage of calling early is that the shipper is planning the whole run north at that point, so you are being written into a five-state plan rather than asked to cover one load.

Sources

• National Watermelon Promotion Board: watermelon topping 3.5 billion pounds at retail in 2025 with US consumption near 5.3 billion pounds, funded by an assessment paid by nearly 700 watermelon producers, handlers and importers. (watermelon.org)
• Grower disclosures on the rolling season: Frey Farms running 12,000 to 15,000 acres across seven states with a season starting each April in south Florida, continuing through central and northern Florida and moving into Georgia in June; Leger and Son shipping from Cordele, Georgia since 1965. (freyfarms.com)
• The March to April call window and the roughly weekly northward movement of the origin. Reasoned from the published season shape rather than a shipper's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the moving origin, the five-state run, and the shippers who follow it.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/watermelon/

Season

Two events: the autumn crush, then the holiday push. Different trucks, same valley.

Commodity playbook

Who ships wine

Head offices and named wineries. Gallo's Livingston site alone crushed 450,000 tons and Fresno 535,000.

Ask for the winery's transportation manager, and ask which of the three freights they need. Crush haulage is short, seasonal and often handled by specialised local operators. Bulk wine in tankers moves between facilities all year. Cased goods to distributors is the national truckload business and the one most brokers want.

Where it hauls

The Central Valley does the volume, around Modesto, Ceres, Livingston, Fresno and Manteca, and that is where the tonnage and the truckload freight are. Napa and Sonoma do the value on far smaller volumes. Lodi, the Central Coast and Washington's Columbia Valley fill in. During crush, grapes move in gondolas from vineyard to winery on very short hauls; bulk juice and wine then move in tankers, and cased goods go out in vans. The wineries to know:

How to open

"Are you set for crush, and separately, for the holiday case goods push? I can help on either."

To the wineries, August into September

Raising temperature on cased wine is the credibility move. Wine cooks in a hot trailer and freezes in a cold one, and long summer or winter lanes need protective service that a lot of carriers never mention.

Qualifying questions

• Cased goods, bulk wine, or grapes? Three different freights. Grapes move in gondolas on short hauls during crush. Bulk wine and juice move in food-grade tankers. Cased wine is palletized van freight. Establish which before anything else.
• Does it need temperature protection? Yes, more than people expect. Wine cooks above about 85 degrees and freezing pushes corks. Long summer and winter lanes want protective service or a reefer on a mild setpoint.
• What does a cased load scale? Glass is heavy. A trailer of cased wine reaches legal weight well before it fills. Get the case count and target gross rather than thinking of it as consumer goods.
• Is the tanker food-grade and certified? Bulk wine requires dedicated or properly certified food-grade tanks with documented wash history. This is not a lane to improvise equipment on.
• When does your crush start? It moves every year with the weather and it differs by variety and district. The answer tells you when the short-haul surge lands and how long you have before it.

When to call

August and September, before crush begins. The crush itself runs roughly September into November depending on variety and region. Then the case goods push into the holidays follows immediately, which is a completely different lane profile: long haul, national, and temperature-sensitive.

Sources

• California grape crush reporting: a 2025 crush of 2.6 million tons, down 8.4% from 2024 and the smallest since the 2.4 million tons of 1999, running 23% below the five-year average; E and J Gallo operating bottling and shipping at Modesto with wineries at Fresno and Livingston crushing 535,000 and 450,000 tons respectively. (wineinstitute.org)
• The August to September call window and the three-freight framing. Reasoned from the crush calendar and holiday distribution pattern rather than a winery's stated schedule.

Edition history

• 2026-08-25: Calendar entry. The evergreen half: the Central Valley volume, the three kinds of wine freight, and the two events a season apart.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/wine/

This season: Ramping, well supplied. Good crops, soft onion prices, and Northwest volume running about 25% ahead of last year's pace. No recall, no disease story. Eagle Eye Produce is in its second season running the former Baker and Murakami super shed in Ontario, which concentrates more of the Treasure Valley's packing at one origin point. Lots of freight.

Commodity opportunity

Planted once, picked once. Ships out of storage into May.

The US onion supply rotates from the Southwest to the Northwest every August, and this year's switch is happening right now. In USDA movement reports for the two weeks ending August 15, southern New Mexico fell from about 990 loads a week to 340, down roughly 65%, while the two Northwest storage regions climbed from under 500 loads a week to over 900, about 40% of national movement and rising.

Those two regions sit within a 200 mile radius: the Columbia Basin in Washington and Oregon, and the Treasure Valley in Oregon and Idaho. Together they moved 64,420 truckloads last season, 35,805 from the Basin and 28,615 from the valley, roughly 42% of US domestic onion truck freight and the clear majority of it in winter, once the summer regions finish. At full pace that is roughly 300 loads a day.

Why it matters: every distributor and grocery DC that bought New Mexico onions all summer is switching origin over the next few weeks. Onions are planted once, picked once, and ship out of storage into May, so the lane being re-sourced right now repeats all winter. Repeat business accrues to whoever runs clean early. Get set up in the next six weeks and you are positioned to haul it until spring.

Commodity playbook

Who ships onions

Partial map: the largest sheds by shipping presence.

Shipping side, the sheds. Ask for sales or shipping. Some sheds arrange their own transport and some work with the receiver's carrier, so ask who tenders the truck. Receiving side is food distribution: the produce houses and grocery DCs that just lost their New Mexico origin.

Where it hauls

Two valleys. The Treasure Valley: Ontario and Nyssa on the Oregon side, then Parma, Payette, Fruitland, Wilder, and Weiser in Idaho. The Columbia Basin: Hermiston, Boardman, and Umatilla in Oregon, with Moses Lake, Othello, and Pasco in Washington. The Basin is the bigger of the two. The sheds to know:

How to open

"Are you still shipping field-run, or into storage packs yet? I'd rather get set up before things get busy next month."

To the sheds, this month

Receivers get the other side of it: "Your onion supply moves Northwest this month. Who's covering that lane?" Either way it shows you know the season and the produce, not just the lane.

Qualifying questions

• Vented van, reefer, or flatbed? All three haul onions. Most Northwest loads ride vented dry van or single-temp reefer; under 20% move on open flatbed in early fall, though some sheds run well above that. Ask what the shed specs.
• When does protect from freeze start? Around November. Onions handle cold but not a hard freeze, so cold-weather loads move on reefer on heat or heated van, and the service prices accordingly. Confirm each shed's switch date.
• Sacks, cartons, or bins? Ask before you quote. The pack changes the count and the unload, and storage packs replace field-run as the season settles in.
• What is the gross weight against the scale? USDA counts an onion truckload at 40,000 lb of product. Confirm the real gross and the pack before you book so the truck scales legal.
• When do you want trucks booked by? Day-before booking is common: one Treasure Valley shed has drivers call before 3 PM the day prior to loading. Get each shed's cutoff and hit it.

When to call

This week, while the new lanes are still getting covered fresh. Once storage packs are moving, each shed has picked its regulars and a new call is quoting overflow. From about November, cold snaps add protect-from-freeze service, and carriers who run it cleanly tend to keep the winter loads.

Sources

• USDA National Potato and Onion Report and National Shipping Point Trends, August 2026: weekly movement by region, the New Mexico drop, last season's truckload totals, and the early-fall equipment mix. (ams.usda.gov)
• The Packer: Eagle Eye Produce's second season running the Ontario super shed, and the 2026 crop and pack-size picture. (thepacker.com)
• DAT reefer market reporting on Northwest onion lanes and the flatbed share some sheds run into November. (dat.com)
• The six-week window and repeat-lane read: how produce storage seasons cover in practice, from shed booking pages and broker interviews rather than a published statistic.

Edition history

• 2026-08-24: First edition. The origin flip caught mid-move: New Mexico down about 65% in two weeks, the Northwest past 40% of national movement and climbing.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/onions/

This season: Harvest has not started. Drought hit planting in May and June, fields were replanted, and the start slipped past its normal second week of August. Old crop sold out in July, and one packer went on record last week that everybody is running out of supply. The frost date does not move: same crop, fewer weeks, more loads per week. Overflow should hit the board within two weeks.

Commodity opportunity

Digging starts late this year. Everything has to beat the November frost.

North Carolina ships about 46,000 truckloads a year, roughly 60% of the US crop. It rides reefer around 55°F; below that is chilling injury. Digging normally starts mid August and runs to the November frost, then the crop cures and ships out of climate-controlled storage for ten months, with volume historically peaking in spring.

Why a late year matters: the frost date does not move, so a late start means the same tonnage has to move in fewer weeks. Loads per week go up, and that is a shortage of trucks, not of potatoes.

Commodity playbook

Who ships sweet potatoes

Partial map: the largest sheds by shipping presence.

The sheds directly. Most NC sweet potatoes sell FOB origin, so the packing shed tenders the truck, not the receiver. Ask for sales or the traffic desk.

Where it hauls

Seven counties move most of it: Sampson, Wilson, Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, Wayne, Greene. All eastern North Carolina. The market map:

How to open

"I know a lot of fields had to replant. When does digging start for you this year?"

The opener, this season

Every shed's answer is different right now, and asking it this way signals you know that.

Qualifying questions

• What pulp temp does the shipper want protected? They ride warm, around 55°F. Below roughly 55 is chilling injury, and it does not show at the dock. Quoting 34°F ends the call.
• Continuous or cycle-sentry on the reefer? Ask, do not assume. Cured sweet potatoes tolerate cycle-sentry in mild weather, but the shed's spec wins, and cold snaps change the answer.
• Bins or 40-lb cartons? Both exist. Cartons palletize to roughly 40,000 lb per load; bulk bins load and count differently. It changes the trailer count and the unload.
• What was the last load in the box? Washout and food-grade are assumed. Have the answer before the shed asks.
• What is the loading window at the shed? It is a farm shed, not a DC dock. Hours are shorter, appointments are looser, and during harvest the schedule moves with the field.

When to call

Before digging starts, while the traffic desk still picks up. Once harvest is running, every shed in the region is covering loads at once and a new carrier call is one of forty voicemails.

Sources

• USDA NASS production and rankings: NC #1 since 1971, about 60% of US supply. (quickstats.nass.usda.gov)
• Harvest delay, sold-out old crop and the supply squeeze, on record from a Wilson County packer, Aug 12 2026. (freshplaza.com)
• County concentration: NC Sweetpotato Commission industry data. (ncsweetpotatoes.com)
• Spot-heavy market structure and the near-term overflow read: consistent with produce practice and broker interviews; not independently published.

Edition history

• 2026-08-19: Sharper market read: old crop gone, a packer on record about supply running out, overflow expected on the board within two weeks. Page restructured into opportunity and playbook.
• 2026-08-17: First edition. Late harvest, drought at planting, old crop sold out since July.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/sweet-potatoes/

This season: Harvest has not started. Drought hit planting in May and June, fields were replanted, and the start slipped past its normal second week of August. Old crop sold out in July, and one packer went on record last week that everybody is running out of supply. The frost date does not move: same crop, fewer weeks, more loads per week. Overflow should hit the board within two weeks.

Commodity opportunity

Digging starts late this year. Everything has to beat the November frost.

North Carolina ships about 46,000 truckloads a year, roughly 60% of the US crop. It rides reefer around 55°F; below that is chilling injury. Digging normally starts mid August and runs to the November frost, then the crop cures and ships out of climate-controlled storage for ten months, with volume historically peaking in spring.

Why a late year matters: the frost date does not move, so a late start means the same tonnage has to move in fewer weeks. Loads per week go up, and that is a shortage of trucks, not of potatoes.

Commodity playbook

Who ships sweet potatoes

Partial map: the largest sheds by shipping presence.

The sheds directly. Most NC sweet potatoes sell FOB origin, so the packing shed tenders the truck, not the receiver. Ask for sales or the traffic desk.

Where it hauls

Seven counties move most of it: Sampson, Wilson, Nash, Edgecombe, Johnston, Wayne, Greene. All eastern North Carolina. The market map:

How to open

"I know a lot of fields had to replant. When does digging start for you this year?"

The opener, this season

Every shed's answer is different right now, and asking it this way signals you know that.

Qualifying questions

• What pulp temp does the shipper want protected? They ride warm, around 55°F. Below roughly 55 is chilling injury, and it does not show at the dock. Quoting 34°F ends the call.
• Continuous or cycle-sentry on the reefer? Ask, do not assume. Cured sweet potatoes tolerate cycle-sentry in mild weather, but the shed's spec wins, and cold snaps change the answer.
• Bins or 40-lb cartons? Both exist. Cartons palletize to roughly 40,000 lb per load; bulk bins load and count differently. It changes the trailer count and the unload.
• What was the last load in the box? Washout and food-grade are assumed. Have the answer before the shed asks.
• What is the loading window at the shed? It is a farm shed, not a DC dock. Hours are shorter, appointments are looser, and during harvest the schedule moves with the field.

When to call

Before digging starts, while the traffic desk still picks up. Once harvest is running, every shed in the region is covering loads at once and a new carrier call is one of forty voicemails.

Sources

• USDA NASS production and rankings: NC #1 since 1971, about 60% of US supply. (quickstats.nass.usda.gov)
• Harvest delay, sold-out old crop and the supply squeeze, on record from a Wilson County packer, Aug 12 2026. (freshplaza.com)
• County concentration: NC Sweetpotato Commission industry data. (ncsweetpotatoes.com)
• Spot-heavy market structure and the near-term overflow read: consistent with produce practice and broker interviews; not independently published.

Edition history

• 2026-08-19: Sharper market read: old crop gone, a packer on record about supply running out, overflow expected on the board within two weeks. Page restructured into opportunity and playbook.
• 2026-08-17: First edition. Late harvest, drought at planting, old crop sold out since July.

Canonical page, updated in place weekly: https://www.breadd.ai/shipper-list/sweet-potatoes/