Phoenix to Imperial Valley freight

Supplies for a farm valley that is also an energy valley

The Imperial Valley is one of the country’s great winter vegetable regions, and it also grows alfalfa and other hay all year and runs large cattle feedlots. It is an energy valley too, with utility scale solar farms on the surrounding desert and geothermal plants tapping the hot ground near the Salton Sea. Phoenix, the biggest city in the desert Southwest, makes and stocks much of what that work consumes.

So the flatbeds on this lane carry steel, pipe and irrigation fittings, solar racking, electrical gear and replacement parts for the plants, and the dry vans carry corrugated boxes and packaging, retail goods for the stores of El Centro and Calexico, and components bound for the factories across the border in Mexicali. Packaging volume swells in the fall, ahead of the harvest that starts in November.

How we cover it

We move freight on this lane several times a year. Our own tractors haul loads from Southern California into Phoenix on Interstate 10, and a load toward the Imperial Valley is one of the ways one of them can work its way back west; when none is in position, a partner carrier that our office has screened through Highway takes the load. Either way one dispatcher books the truck, sets the appointments, follows it across the desert and returns the signed receipt to you.

Buckeye, Gila Bend, Yuma and the dunes

The truck leaves the Phoenix area on Interstate 10 west through the West Valley suburbs to Buckeye, then turns south on State Route 85, a straight desert highway that crosses the Gila River and meets Interstate 8 at Gila Bend. From there Interstate 8 heads west across the Sonoran Desert past Dateland and Wellton, climbs over Telegraph Pass in the Gila Mountains and drops into Yuma, the farm city on the Colorado River. Drivers usually fuel at Gila Bend or Yuma, because the towns in between are small.

Across the river is California, and every westbound truck pulls in at the agricultural inspection station near Winterhaven. Past it the road crosses the Algodones Dunes, tall hills of sand that run north from the border, follows the All American Canal and descends into the Imperial Valley, much of which lies below sea level, reaching El Centro at the 244 mile mark. Brawley lies north on State Route 86 or State Route 111, and Calexico and its commercial border crossing lie a few miles south on State Route 7.

Heat and dust, then the harvest

From June into September this is as hot a drive as any in the country: Gila Bend, Yuma and El Centro pass 110 degrees on many afternoons. Carriers leave at first light, keep water in the cab, and watch tires and coolant on the long straight miles. The summer monsoon adds dust storms, walls of blowing dirt that can sweep across Interstate 10 and State Route 85 near Phoenix with little warning, and short downpours that send water over low crossings on Interstate 8. Drivers pull fully off the road and wait them out.

Winter is mild and the roads are easy, but the valley itself gets crowded. The vegetable harvest runs from November into March, harvest crews and produce trucks fill the roads between Holtville, El Centro and Brawley, and packing sheds keep strict receiving hours. A load of boxes or equipment for a shed should arrive before the harvest starts, or with an appointment set well ahead.

Return loads from the valley

Inbound loads outnumber outbound ones in Phoenix, so carriers emptying trailers there want westbound work, and a load out of the city is usually not hard to cover. The real question is the truck’s next move after El Centro. A dry van can often reload toward the Inland Empire or Los Angeles, because goods made in Mexicali cross at Calexico every day bound for Southern California warehouses. A flatbed has hay: the valley’s alfalfa and other hay move out year round, a good share of it for export through the twin ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach.

During the vegetable harvest the reload comes easily; in summer, when the fields are quiet, carriers may run toward the coast or the Inland Empire before they find freight.

Open deck and van, and the permits

Flatbeds carry most of the heavy freight: steel shapes and plate, bundled pipe, irrigation fittings, solar racking, transformers and switchgear for energy projects, and farm equipment. Tarps protect finishes from dust and the occasional downpour, and the driver rechecks the straps within the first 50 miles and at stops along the way, as federal securement rules require. Pieces beyond the legal width of 102 inches need an oversize permit from each state, Arizona and California, and tall electrical equipment can need a step deck to keep the height legal; the carrier secures the permits while our office keeps the paperwork straight.

Vans take the rest. A load for a Calexico warehouse that serves the Mexicali factories is delivered north of the line, where a cross border carrier takes it into Mexico, so the bill of lading should name the warehouse, not the plant.

Time on the road and on the clock

Driving takes about four and a half hours, well inside the 11 hours a driver may legally drive in a day, so a truck loaded in Phoenix in the morning normally unloads in El Centro that afternoon.

The clocks need care. Arizona skips daylight saving time entirely while California follows it, so through the winter months, November into March, Phoenix clocks run an hour ahead of the Imperial Valley’s, and while California is on daylight time, from March into November, both clocks agree. A 7 AM Phoenix pickup in January is 6 AM in El Centro. Our rate confirmations give every appointment in local time at that end of the trip.

What the dispatcher needs

For a flatbed: the size and weight of every piece, whether a tarp is needed, and how it comes off, by forklift, crane or a crew. For a van: the pallet count, the weight and any appointment. The type of delivery matters too, because a packing shed, a solar site with a safety check in and a Calexico border warehouse each run their own rules. On days we have priced this lane, its dated range is shown above the quote form; the firm number is whatever the dispatcher quotes back to you.

The Arizona end is described on truckload shipping in Phoenix and freight shipping in Arizona, and the California end on freight shipping in California. The same highways carry our Phoenix to San Diego freight as far as El Centro, and flatbed trucking explains the open deck service.