Freight broker for the Kent Valley: Kent, Auburn, Sumner and Renton

A valley built for warehouses

The Kent Valley is the flat floor of the lower Green River valley, a dense industrial corridor between I-5 on the western hillside and SR-167, the Valley Freeway, which runs down the middle. Renton anchors the north end, where I-405 connects the valley to Bellevue and the Eastside. Kent and Auburn fill the center with long rows of distribution buildings, and Sumner closes the south end near the junction of SR-167 and SR-410.

SR-18 crosses the valley at Auburn and links I-5 near Federal Way with I-90 near Snoqualmie, a route east toward the Cascades that bypasses Seattle entirely. The BNSF and Union Pacific main lines also run the length of the valley floor. From much of the valley, the container terminals of both Seattle and Tacoma are a short drive away, which matters when import freight needs a building between the port and its final customer.

Freight that moves through the valley

In the valley, the work is usually about moving inventory into and out of buildings on schedule. Typical loads look like these.

• Replenishment loads from regional distribution centers to stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
• E-commerce inventory moving between fulfillment buildings or out to parcel and final-mile hubs.
• Cross-dock transfers that turn one inbound truck into several outbound deliveries.
• Parts and materials for manufacturers and aerospace suppliers; Boeing assembles the 737 in Renton, at the north end of the valley.

How we arrange valley loads

Many valley buildings run on tight dock schedules, and a truck that shows up outside its appointment can wait for hours or be turned away. So we start with the appointment and then pick the equipment. A store replenishment may be a full truckload, a weekly run of a few pallets may fit LTL, and drops into neighborhoods without docks call for a box truck with a liftgate.

• LTL and partial

  A few pallets out of a valley warehouse, priced by the space they use.

• Full truckload

  A trailer of your own from a valley dock to a store or a distribution center.

• Box truck and final mile

  Local drops from the valley to stops that have no dock.

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Cross-dock and storage in the valley

The Kent Valley is where coordinated storage makes the most sense for us: it sits between both ports and the main highways, with a large concentration of warehouse buildings. When freight has to change trucks, wait for an appointment or be staged for a store reset, we look for an independent partner warehouse in the valley with the dock doors and the space for it. The warehouse handles the freight and issues its receipts to you; we coordinate the trucks in and out.

Coordinated warehousing · Cross-dock and transload · Have space in the valley? Join as a partner warehouse

Kent Valley freight questions