0% .. 
The foregoing difference in the structure of rail and truck rates is 
in line with the difference in the nature of their operating costs. Terminal 
costs are a much smaller percentage of total truck operating costs than of 
railroad operating costs. This is especially true for trucks such as those 
hauling fruits and vegetables; these typically haul truckload lots from 
producing areas to receivers without use of any terminal facilities of their own. 
Neither rail nor truck rates followed a distance pattern completely. 
Rates to some markets were substantially different from what they would have 
been on a mileage basis of rates for the commodity in question. The rail 
rate structure had larger deviations from a mileage basis than the truck 
rate structure. A good example was the rail rates from Florida to Dallas. 
Dallas was 1,279 rail miles from Belle Glade and 1,12) miles from Sanford. 
These distances were somewhat less than to Chicago, yet the rail rates to 
Dallas were substantially higher than to Chicago. The Dallas rate was 
higher than the rate to Boston on all the fruits and vegetables studied, 
although Boston was roughly 176 to 220 miles farther from various Florida 
origins. 
The rail rate structure on Florida citrus was the result of a number 
of rate changes to meet competitive conditions, For a number of years, be-~ 
cause of water competition, rates to large East Coast ports, including New 
York and Philadelphia, were lower than to midwestern markets, as, for ex-~ 
ample, Chicago and St, Louis. In 1950, because of traffic losses by railways 
to trucks, rail rates to a number of these midwestern cities were reduced by 
varying amounts, The reductions to Chicago were greater than to Cleveland 
or Detroit, resulting in lower rates to Chicago than to these other cities, 
although the distances were approximately equal. 
Truck rates also exhibited variations from a strict distance pattern. 
For example, the rate on vegetables from Belle Glade to St. Louis was 
higher than to Philadelphia by from 8 cents per 100 pounds on celery to 
18 cents on cabbage, although these two markets were about the same highway 
distance away. On the other hand, the rates to these two cities on potatoes 
from Hastings, Fla., were the same, The truck rates on some vegetables from 
Belle Glade to New Orleans (815 miles away), were the same as to Washington, 
D. C. (1,070 miles) and Baltimore (1,108 miles); they were also the same to 
Boston (1,512 miles away) as to Detroit (1,357 miles away). 
Refrigeration Charges 
Railroad 
As indicated above, a number of railroad refrigeration services were 
available, These differed substantially in charges to shippers. The tabu- 
lation below presents the charges per car for various types of refrigeration 
services on most Florida fresh fruits and vegetables to Philadelphia: 
Standard refrigeration (initial icing plus 
reicing at every regular icing station) ...... $63.18 
RUS CaOmed ntti al SCINE Oo ccc ac tac neccccescee 2510 nOEGG 
Rule 2)3-+top icing with 10,000 pounds ........ 0.02 
Wereet a CLO’ | cice Sicaciascale es oleate ae SOC AAO No charge 
