Freight shipping in Seattle

Seattle as a freight market

Seattle's freight runs along the Duwamish River south of downtown. The Port of Seattle's container terminals on Harbor Island and the East Waterway, the BNSF and Union Pacific intermodal yards beside them, and the industrial district between the river and Interstate 5 make up the city's own freight area. South of the city line the Kent Valley takes over: Tukwila, Renton, Kent and Auburn along State Route 167 and Interstate 5 hold one of the largest concentrations of warehouse and distribution space on the West Coast, along with aerospace plants and the suppliers that serve them. The airport at SeaTac is a cargo gateway, and Federal Way and Everett, north of the city, round out the metro.

The highways are Interstate 5 north and south, Interstate 90 east over Snoqualmie Pass to Spokane and Montana, Interstate 405 around the east side of Lake Washington, and State Route 167 and State Route 99 through the valley. The Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma operate their container terminals as one alliance, so freight for the region moves through both.

What our records show here

Seattle sees us arrive, not depart, and the deliveries land in the Kent Valley rather than the city itself. Over January through September 2026 the freight we hauled into the Seattle side of the Puget Sound, a regular lane for us, split into dry vans and power only loads in roughly equal numbers, all from the Inland Empire, delivering in Auburn, Tukwila, Federal Way and Kent. About one in three rode on our own trucks, and the rest on partner carriers vetted through Highway. The Tacoma side of the sound, described on the Tacoma page, belongs to the same market in our dispatch records, and the two together form one of the long haul markets our dispatchers serve regularly.

We had no pickups in the Seattle area in those months. We can quote freight out of the Puget Sound, but a standing southbound pattern does not exist yet, and we prefer to say so rather than imply one.

Two to three days from Southern California

Seattle is about 1,135 miles from central Los Angeles and about 1,170 from the Inland Empire where our loads start, all of it on Interstate 5: the Tejon Pass, the Central Valley, the Siskiyou Summit, the Willamette Valley, Portland, and the last 170 miles through Olympia and Tacoma. That is two full driving shifts under federal hours of service rules with a ten hour break between them, and the median trip in our records was about 53 hours door to door. Plan an appointment for the third day after loading, or the evening of day two when the receiver accepts freight as it arrives. The whole trip is laid out on the Los Angeles to Seattle page.

Equipment we run to Seattle

Dry vans and power only in about equal measure in our records, which is a different mix from Tacoma, where nearly everything is power only. The power only trucking page describes how a trailer move works. Our 53 foot dry vans and partner carriers' vans cover the van loads. Flatbeds for the port, the aerospace plants and the construction trades are arranged through partner carriers, and the Puget Sound has a good supply of them.

Seasonal and local notes

Traffic is the planning factor here more than weather. Interstate 5 from Tacoma up to Seattle and State Route 167 through the valley are jammed for most of the working day, and the difference between a seven in the morning appointment and a three in the afternoon one is hours of a driver's day. Include the receiving hours in any Seattle quote request. Winter weather affects the approaches more than the city: the Siskiyou Summit in Oregon on the way north, and Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90 for anything continuing to Spokane. The port and Duwamish districts have truck routes and weight limits, and the older warehouses in Tukwila and south Seattle are tight for 53 foot trailers.

Seattle is on Pacific Time. Dispatch for Washington is done in Covina, California, where our one office is.

Data center and AI infrastructure freight

The Puget Sound has data center campuses from Seattle south through the valley, and the heavy electrical equipment for them, along with the racks and cooling plant, travels up Interstate 5 from Southern California and the ports. The data center freight section covers how we move each kind of equipment, the permits an oversize piece needs through Oregon and Washington, and inside delivery through partners.