Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / Bananas are the number one selling produce item in the grocery store. On average,
bananas account for 6% of produce department sales and 1% of total grocery store sales.
According to The Packer’s “2010 Fresh Trends”, 88% of consumers in all categories
purchase bananas. Also, 94% of consumers in the study purchased bananas within the last
twelve months.
Over the last decade, fuel prices have increased to a point where logistics and
shipping have become more important than ever to the banana industry. This logistics
challenge is compounded because there are no bananas grown in the United States and the
fruit has to be shipped from around the world. Fuel is used at high rates via the ocean cargo
and trucking shipments to meet yearly demand. To manage these logistical challenges, this
thesis analyzes the optimal shipping route for bananas arriving to the west coast from
Central and South America to various markets using a transshipment model. The goal of
the transshipment model estimates the supply chain that creates the lowest cost. Through
analysis of fuel, trucking, and shipping markets, the model makes the optimal decision
regarding transportation routing. The model is limited to transportation costs only.
However, items such as fruit costs and other additional up charges could be analyzed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/35223 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Brasington, John |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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