10-08-2011, 01:31 PM
I think that typically a "food processor" or a canary would be located in a location relatively near their "raw material" source. Example-Tyson foods is located in Arkansas near the chicken ranches. Can goods can be shipped all over the country by rail since it really isn't considered perishable. Fresh meats are shipped in refrigerated trailers more often I think because it is somewhat perishable, and may not be delivered quickly enough by rail. Frozen foods are often delivered great distances by rail because if kept frozen they are also not considered perishable. Fresh produce is shipped on rail only when it can go directly from port to port without having the cars switched around through a lot of yards.
On the other hand a food distributor like Sysco sells fresh produce, fresh meat, fresh seafood, as well as institutional sizes of canned goods, and cases of frozen french fries and other frozen products. They also handle fresh bread and bakery products, I think. Before I retired, our biggest customer was Sysco. They had a service agreement with our company that required us to have a mechanic working at their location on their reefers daily and I did a lot of service calls for reefers that quit working while delivering product as well as call outs to reefers that were parked at customer's location for food storage. I think the warehouse in Walnut, Ca had about 600 refrigerated trailers. They had another 120 trailers in San Diego that our San Diego shop took care of. In addition they had warehouses in Phoenix and Las Vegas that would take care of customers in the Eastern part of So California. I don't think they even had rail service to any warehouse in So. Cal., but that doesn't mean that they would not have rail service on the East Coast.
On the other hand a food distributor like Sysco sells fresh produce, fresh meat, fresh seafood, as well as institutional sizes of canned goods, and cases of frozen french fries and other frozen products. They also handle fresh bread and bakery products, I think. Before I retired, our biggest customer was Sysco. They had a service agreement with our company that required us to have a mechanic working at their location on their reefers daily and I did a lot of service calls for reefers that quit working while delivering product as well as call outs to reefers that were parked at customer's location for food storage. I think the warehouse in Walnut, Ca had about 600 refrigerated trailers. They had another 120 trailers in San Diego that our San Diego shop took care of. In addition they had warehouses in Phoenix and Las Vegas that would take care of customers in the Eastern part of So California. I don't think they even had rail service to any warehouse in So. Cal., but that doesn't mean that they would not have rail service on the East Coast.