Pallets in Wilmington, DE. Delivered by the truckload.

Wilmington's freight starts at the state-owned port on the Christina River, where fruit, juice concentrate, livestock, steel and vehicles come across the docks. From there, I-95 and I-495 run to Philadelphia and Baltimore, and the Delaware Memorial Bridge carries trucks into New Jersey.

Banks, hospitals and chemical and materials companies dominate Wilmington's office economy, but goods move mostly through the port and the warehouses south of the city. The port's operator lists more than a million square feet of cold and ambient warehousing, including 20 million cubic feet of cold storage, and it handles containers, forest products, steel, livestock and project cargo. Construction is under way on a new container terminal at Edgemoor, with its first waterside phase targeted for the end of 2028. To the northwest, Kennett Square, considered a Wilmington suburb, sits in mushroom country that grows about half the nation's crop.

Cold rooms set the tone for pallet demand. Imported fruit and local mushrooms move through chilled, damp rooms where weak boards soften and break, so packers want tight decks and fresh lumber. Breakbulk handlers need sturdy, heavy-duty pallets for steel, lumber and machinery. Fulfillment centers in Middletown and along US 301 cycle ordinary 48x40s quickly and care more about matching grades than anything else.