Pallets in Eugene, OR. Delivered by the truckload.

Eugene sits at the head of the Willamette Valley, where I-5 meets Lane County's timber country. Lumber and wood products, grass seed, hazelnuts and natural foods leave by truck, on Union Pacific trains, and on a port-owned rail line to Coos Bay.

Wood products manufacturing ranks among the largest industries in Eugene, and neighboring Springfield built its economy around timber for most of the 20th century. North of town, farms around Junction City grow hazelnuts, hay, grass seed, nursery crops and Christmas trees, and ryegrass is a specialty across the river in Linn County. Eugene also grew a cluster of natural and organic food makers, from tea and herb blenders to a Springfield yogurt creamery founded in 1960. Several manufacturers line I-5 at Coburg, just north of the city.

Pallet demand tracks those products. Mills and panel plants move long, heavy bundles that standard stringers aren't built for. Seed warehouses bag and stack product on pallets for shipment, and any seed sold abroad needs heat-treated wood. Hazelnut handlers fill bags and bins once the October harvest starts. Natural-food plants ship cases to grocery and co-op warehouses that expect sound pallets. With Coos Bay's port linked by rail and Portland's container terminal up I-5, export planning starts here, not at the dock.