Transport and Market Logistics
Fruit is finished at the packhouse and still can be lost on the road. Logistics is where quality meets distance.
Between the packhouse and the buyer sits a chain of hands, vehicles and hours — each one either protecting the fruit you graded or undoing it. This page covers the movement of fruit after packing (and the short trip before it), the cost of that movement, and the records that make it traceable.
Packing quality starts upstream in the packing house; what it produces is costed by the pack-out calculator.
The chain#
Field → (cut, de-hand, transport to packhouse) → wash, grade, pack
→ (load, haul, deliver) → buyer / ripener / market| Leg | Typical limit | Failure mode |
|---|---|---|
| Field → packhouse | Within 2–4 hours of cutting | Field heat, crown deterioration, dehydration |
| Packhouse dwell | Packed and into cool store same day | Warm cartons ripening in the shed |
| Load → delivery | Buyer's window; often 24–48 h max | Delay at borders, weekends, failed bookings |
Transport equipment#
- Harvest carts (Brunsfeld or equivalent) — the field leg. Railed carts on laid alleys or wide-tired trailers reduce bruising enormously versus shoulder carrying. This is the cheapest quality win on most farms.
- Packhouse crates / pallets — cartons stacked to a stable pallet pattern with layer sheets; never stack beyond carton crush rating (typically 5–8 high for 12–18 kg export cartons).
- Refrigerated truck — export and long haul. Bananas hold at 13–14 °C; below 13 °C is chilling injury, above that accelerates ripening. Ambient trucks are for short local runs only.
- Ventilated produce truck — short local market runs in cool conditions, with load restraint so cartons do not slide.
Costing the haul#
Freight is quoted per tonne-km or per trip. Build it into the farm budget as:
Cost per tonne = (trip cost × trips) ÷ tonnes per trip
Cost per ha = tonnes/ha × cost per tonneRules that move the number:
- Consolidate: one full truck beats three quarter loads; coordinate harvest days with delivery bookings.
- Distance bands matter more than rates: below ~50 km, labour at the loading dock often exceeds fuel; above ~300 km, reefer capacity and driver hours dominate.
- Backhaul: an empty return leg doubles your effective rate — pair with a supplier run if one exists.
- Ripener vs wholesale vs export: each has different load specs, windows and payment terms — see marketing and value chain.
Cold chain discipline#
- Cool before loading — cartons leave the packhouse at product temperature, not ambient.
- Pre-cool the truck reefer before loading a warm load into it.
- Keep the curtain closed and doors shut at every stop; every door-open minute is degrees the buyer deducts.
- Log temperatures: load-out, mid-transit, at delivery. A single logger per pallet is cheap insurance for export claims.
Traceability and paperwork#
- Lot code per harvest crew per block per day — printed on the carton, recorded in record-keeping.
- Delivery note matching lot codes, weight, grade and temperature log.
- Vehicle hygiene: clean, odour-free, no chemical residue in the load space — buyers audit this under certification.
- Retain records per certification scheme's period (typically 3–5 years).
Next steps#
- Protect quality before the truck arrives: post-harvest and packing house.
- What ships and what it earns: pack-out calculator.
- Where it goes: marketing and the value chain.
- Cost per tonne in the business: economics and records.