Plastic pallets delivered in Washington

Two ports, one gateway to Asia

Seattle and Tacoma run their container terminals together as the Northwest Seaport Alliance, one of the largest container gateways in North America. Much of the traffic is trans-Pacific: imports for Midwest retailers that leave by rail, and exports of hay, fruit, frozen food and paper heading to Asian markets.

On-dock and near-dock rail ramps at both harbors put containers onto BNSF and Union Pacific trains bound for Chicago and the Midwest. Between Renton and Auburn, the Kent Valley holds one of the West Coast's densest clusters of warehouses, where import cargo is sorted, racked and reloaded for regional stores.

Exporters loading containers on Puget Sound often choose plastic pallets because APHIS classes them as an alternative to wood packaging, not subject to its wood packaging rules. No heat treatment certificate travels with the load, and nothing waits on an ISPM 15 stamp being legible at the port of arrival.

The footprint should suit the box. A 40-foot container is about 39.5 feet long and 7.7 feet wide inside, and the receiving country may prefer an ISO size such as 1200x1000 or 1100x1100 over the US 48x40.

• Plastic export pallets →
• 1100x1100 plastic pallets →

Corridors and the metros on them

Fruit sheds east of the Cascades

Washington grows most of the fresh apples sold in the US, with packing houses clustered around Yakima and Wenatchee. Cherries and pears come out of the same valleys, and the Yakima Valley grows most of the country's hops.

Fruit goes into controlled-atmosphere storage after harvest and comes out for packing months later. Pallets in those rooms sit in cold, humid air for a long time, so HDPE is the usual resin: it stays tough near freezing and doesn't take on water.

Packers shipping to retail DCs generally follow the retailer's routing guide for the pallet. Check whether the receiving chain wants a pooled pallet before buying a fleet for outbound loads; plastic often fits best in the in-plant and storage side of the operation.

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

Potatoes, aerospace and Puget Sound plants

The Columbia Basin, around Pasco, Moses Lake and Othello, is a center of frozen potato processing for fries and hash browns. Freezer rooms there run well below zero, and a pallet that cracks on impact in the cold is a liability. Ask the maker how the exact model is rated for freezer use.

Boeing builds airliners at Everett and Renton, and parts suppliers around Puget Sound ship to them on returnable packaging. Those loops tend to specify heavy-duty or rackable models with a known racked load, since parts often sit on beams before going to the line.

• Heavy duty plastic pallets →

Getting a load over the pass

Truckload orders ship on a 53-foot van, about 100 inches wide inside, to the dock you name. Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 can close or require chains in winter storms, so deliveries to Spokane or the Basin from the west side may need a buffer day in the schedule.

Smaller orders move LTL, with regular service to the I-5 cities and Spokane and longer routing to the orchard towns. Note on the request if the site needs a liftgate or has a limited receiving window.

Spokane handles its own distribution for eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle, so loads bound there sometimes ride with Coeur d'Alene stops on I-90. Walla Walla, Ellensburg, Omak and Moses Lake take longer routing because terminals sit farther apart east of the mountains.

Selling surplus from Washington

End of the packing season, a closed DC or a new pallet program can leave stacks of plastic pallets idle. Send us the count, footprint, resin if the code is visible, condition and pickup ZIP. We reply with an offer for reusable pallets, or for regrind if the decks are cracked.

• Selling cracked and broken plastic pallets →