Los Angeles to Reno freight

Southern California goods for a northern Nevada boom

Reno and Sparks have spent a decade turning into a logistics and manufacturing hub, with battery, electronics and food plants in the industrial parks east of town and regional distribution centers that serve the whole Pacific Northwest and Mountain West. Those warehouses and plants are fed in good part from Southern California: imported consumer goods out of the port warehouses of the Inland Empire, building materials and fixtures for the construction that never seems to stop, food and beverage from Los Angeles County, and components for the plants on flatbeds and in vans.

Our own trucks already work the Reno corridor southbound, and the northbound side is covered by the same dispatch desk and a carrier base with drivers who know Interstate 15 and US 395, so a load out of the Los Angeles basin goes to a screened truck with the right trailer and a driver ready for the long climb along the Sierra. The dispatcher who books it checks the driver in at the dock, follows the truck up the Sierra and calls the receiver before it arrives.

Cajon Pass, then 300 miles of US 395

From Los Angeles County the truck takes Interstate 10, State Route 60 or Interstate 210 to Interstate 15 in the Inland Empire and climbs Cajon Pass, about 3,800 feet, to the high desert at Victorville. A few miles on, US 395 splits off to the north and stays the road for the next 300 miles: Adelanto, Kramer Junction, the Indian Wells Valley, Lone Pine under Mount Whitney, Independence, Big Pine, Bishop, the climb past Mammoth Lakes and Lee Vining, Mono Lake, Bridgeport, Topaz Lake at the Nevada line, Carson City and Reno.

North of Bishop the road crosses several summits above 7,000 feet, and Conway Summit north of Mono Lake is above 8,000. Between Bishop and Carson City services are thin and the phone signal comes and goes. It is a beautiful drive and a serious one, and carriers who do not know it are better sent the long way round through Sacramento.

Peak season at the origin, snow at the destination

The Los Angeles end has its own rhythm: freeway traffic between 6 and 10 in the morning and 3 and 7 in the evening, and from October into December the retail peak fills the Inland Empire docks and stretches pickup appointments. Cajon Pass sees high wind, occasional snow between December and March and brake fires on the southbound descent, which matters more for the return trip.

The Sierra summits on US 395 get snow from November into April. The California Department of Transportation posts chain controls and closes sections in big storms, and the alternative, Interstate 5 to Sacramento and Interstate 80 over Donner Summit, is also in the snow. In winter we plan this lane with a day of slack. In summer the Owens Valley is hot and smoky in a bad fire year, and nothing more.

Next day

About nine and a half hours at the wheel, which one driver can legally complete in a day with little to spare. A pickup early in the morning in the Inland Empire can deliver in Reno late the same evening when the receiver is open, but the normal plan is next day: load, run as far as Bishop or Carson City, rest, deliver first thing. Our southbound loads on this corridor took about 20 hours at the median and the northbound trip should look the same.

Both ends are on Pacific time.

Vans, open decks and winter on US 395

Dry vans carry most of the northbound freight: palletized consumer goods for the Reno and Sparks distribution centers, cases of food and beverage, and boxed components and supplies for the plants in the industrial parks east of town. The 53 foot van is the standard, and the big receivers along Interstate 80 are built around it, with dock doors, yard space and appointment systems. Air ride suspension is worth asking for when the load is electronics or anything fragile, since nearly 300 of the miles are on US 395.

Flatbeds take steel, pipe, building materials and machinery, and in winter the open deck needs more thought than the van. From November into April carriers on this lane carry chains, and when California posts chain controls on the Sierra summits, heavy trucks are among the first vehicles required to chain up. A tarped load collects snow and ice over Deadman Summit and Conway Summit, so drivers stop to clear the tarp and retighten straps before the long descents toward Mono Lake and Bridgeport, and a load that cannot be tarped should not be planned for this road in a storm.

Wide and tall freight is harder here than on most of our lanes. US 395 runs straight through the middle of the Owens Valley towns and over the passes, and both California and Nevada hold oversize loads to daylight hours and off the road in bad weather, so a piece over 8 feet 6 inches wide needs permits from both states and a schedule with slack in it. Power only suits shippers with their own trailers or regular volume to one Reno warehouse: a tractor hooks the loaded trailer at your dock and drops it at the receiver.

What to tell us

The pickup side of the basin, whether it is Los Angeles County itself or the Inland Empire to the east, since they are priced as two markets; the trailer; the pallet count or dimensions and the weight; the pickup date and the Reno or Sparks delivery address, with the appointment if there is one. Flexibility on the date lets us pair your load with one of our trucks going north, which usually prices better. When this lane carries a price range above the form, it is that morning’s figure from our own history on the road and the day’s diesel, and the quote turns it into a firm number for your load.

Pages for the two ends: our Los Angeles page, our Inland Empire page and freight shipping in Reno. The return trip is Reno to Los Angeles freight.