Plastic pallets delivered in Arizona

Produce comes north through Nogales

The Mariposa crossing at Nogales is one of the main gateways for Mexican fresh produce entering the US. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and melons from Sonora and Sinaloa cross there in winter and spring, then move through cold storage in Nogales before heading out on I-19 to Tucson and I-10.

Yuma, in the far southwest corner, grows much of the country's winter lettuce and leafy greens. Harvest crews cool the product within hours, and the coolers and pre-cool tunnels run hard from late fall to early spring.

Both trades want a pallet that can be washed between loads and won't hold moisture in a cooler. Wood in a humid cooler picks up water and can grow mold; HDPE absorbs almost none, so a plastic deck dries after a rinse and goes back into the line.

• Plastic pallets for fresh produce →
• Cold storage plastic pallets →

Which pallet for which Arizona job

Freight routes across the state

I-10 carries most of Arizona's truck freight, running from the California line through Phoenix and Tucson toward New Mexico and Texas. I-17 links Phoenix to Flagstaff, where I-40 crosses the north of the state on the old Route 66 corridor between California and Albuquerque. I-8 runs from Yuma to Casa Grande, and I-19 is the short run from Nogales to Tucson.

Phoenix sits about a day's drive from the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, so a lot of imported freight lands on the West Coast and finishes the trip on I-10. The west valley around Goodyear, Tolleson and Buckeye has filled with large distribution buildings for that reason.

Tucson adds missile and defense manufacturing beside Tucson International Airport, plus copper mines to its south and east at Sahuarita, Green Valley and the Morenci district. Mine suppliers move grinding media, reagents and lube oil in drums and bulk bags, so a heavy-duty or drum footprint usually suits those deliveries better than a light nestable.

• Drum plastic pallets →

Heat, trailers and load ratings

A trailer parked on a Phoenix lot in July gets far hotter inside than the outside air. Plastic softens as it warms, and a pallet carrying a heavy static stack can creep under sustained heat.

Load ratings come from the maker's sheet for the exact model, and the sheet usually states the conditions behind each figure. If pallets will sit loaded in hot trailers or an unconditioned yard, ask the maker whether the static and racked figures hold at those temperatures. We pass that question on with the quote.

• Reading dynamic, static and racked loads →

Chip plants and clean areas

Intel runs fabs in Chandler, and TSMC is building its first US fabs in north Phoenix. Suppliers to those plants ship chemicals, gases and tools into controlled areas where wood is not allowed past the dock.

Cleanroom pallets have smooth, closed decks with few crevices, so they can be wiped down before entering a gowned area. They are lighter duty than a rackable, so check the dynamic load against the tool or crate weight.

• Cleanroom plastic pallets →

Truckload, LTL and selling back

Full orders ship on a 53-foot van to the dock address, and nestable models fit several times as many pallets per load as a rackable with runners. Orders smaller than a trailer move LTL; carriers run regular LTL service into Phoenix and Tucson, with longer transit to Yuma, Flagstaff and border towns.

Produce seasons and DC openings both leave surplus pallets behind. To sell plastic pallets from Arizona, send the count, footprint, resin if marked, condition and pickup ZIP, and we answer with an offer as pallets or as regrind.

• Sell your plastic pallets →