SUMMARY 
Total costs of shipping by railroad in 1952.were generally higher than 
truck charges for most of the principal fresh fruits and vegetables produced 
in Florida. Rail shipping costs, in this report, include refrigeration 
charges and terminal cartage costs from railroads to wholesale houses, Truck 
charges also cover refrigeration and delivery to wholesalers. Total rail 
shipping costs were generally higher to important eastern, southern, and mid- 
western markets lying in the area to which the bulk of these commodities was 
shipped. However, to western markets (for example, Denver and important 
points in the Far West), trucking charges generally were substantially above 
total rail shipping costs, 
Basic railroad freight rates on Florida fresh fruits and vegetables 
generally "tapered off" with distance; i.e., rates increased as distance in- 
creased, but at a décreasing progression. This was also true of railroad 
refrigeration charges, which, in addition, exhibited a considerable amount of 
"blanketing," the same charges applying to groups of markets. Truck charges 
generally increased rather closely in proportion with distance, For most 
commodities, rail charges (including refrigeration and either including or ex- 
cluding cartage costs) were above truck charges to the relatively close marketg. 
The spread of rail above truck charges narrowed at the more distant markets, 
until rail charges became lower than truck charges. The margins of rail 
below truck charges increased at the markets farther away. 
Railroads and trucks.also differed as to the share of the traffic they 
handled, these shares varying according to commodity and market. Among the 
commodities analyzed here, the percentage of total unloads handled by rail 
from Florida to principal markets in 1952 ranged from 33 percent for snap beans 
to 83 percent for celery. Generally, rail transport was relatively less im- 
portant to nearer markets than to more distant.ones. Atlanta received most 
of its supplies of fresh Florida fruits and vegetables by truck. On the other 
hand, most of the shipments to Portland, Oreg., and Seattle, aces were 
by rail. 
In the division of traffic between railroads and trucks, the importance 
of distance stemmed in great measure from the relative level of rail and of 
truck charges. In general, the markets to which railroad charges were high 
in comparison with truck rates received a smaller proportion of their Florida 
fruits and vegetables by rail than those markets to which railroad rates were 
relatively low, But the lower the railroad rates were, in comparison with 
truck rates, the bigger the share of the traffic that was hauled by rail. 
There were some exceptions to the forezoing statements, For example, 
for-hire truck charges to Los Angeles and San Francisco were much higher than 
rail charges plus cartage costs, yet trucks hauled the buik of the Florida 
shipments to those cities. Such exceptions could probably be explained in 
part by nonrate factors, such as faster service. Another factor was that 
(because of the utilization of private trucks with return loads by shippers or 
receivers) the actual costs of shipping by truck were in many cases consider- 
ably less than for-hire truck charges. 
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