Arizona Truck Dispatch: Nogales Produce and Phoenix Freight

Arizona is a growing consumer market with one big outside link: California. About 38 million tons of truck freight came into Arizona from other states in 2022. Most of it came from California. About 26 million tons went out. Nine of every ten tons trucked from Arizona origins stayed in Arizona.

For an owner-operator, that makes Phoenix a strong inbound market and a harder outbound one. The best outbound freight comes from two places: Phoenix's distribution centers, and the winter produce that crosses from Mexico at Nogales.

Nogales and the winter produce run

The Mariposa Port of Entry at Nogales is the main gateway for Mexican fresh produce coming into Arizona. The Arizona Farm Bureau describes billions of pounds of fresh produce imported through Mariposa each year, carried by thousands of trucks during the season. In the FAF6 data, about 7.9 million tons of imports from Mexico entered through Arizona and kept moving by truck in 2022.

• The season runs mainly from late fall through spring. That's when Mexican growers in Sonora and Sinaloa ship tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and melons north.
• Produce is loaded at warehouses in Nogales and Rio Rico, not at the border itself. Then it heads north on I-19 to Tucson and on toward the rest of the country.
• It's reefer freight with long hauls. Many loads go to Texas, the Midwest and the East, which makes Nogales one of the best ways out of Arizona in winter.

Nearby, Yuma in the southwest corner grows winter lettuce and vegetables on the U.S. side, adding more reefer freight from November to March.

Phoenix and the rest of Arizona

FAF6 lists mixed freight (about 13 million tons), other agricultural products and other foodstuffs (about 6 million each) and animal feed (about 6 million) among the largest van and reefer-type freight leaving Arizona origins by truck in 2022.

Arizona's lanes

• I-10 west to California is Arizona's busiest freight lane, ending in the Los Angeles and Inland Empire warehouse belt. California sends the most truck freight into Arizona and receives the most from it.
• I-10 east to El Paso and Texas, and I-40 east toward Albuquerque, carry produce and long-haul freight out of the state.
• I-17 links Phoenix with Flagstaff and I-40.
• I-15 through the northwest corner carries Las Vegas and Utah freight, but most Arizona freight doesn't use it.

Outbound from Phoenix can be slower than inbound. Your dispatcher should plan the reload before you deliver in Phoenix, especially in summer, when produce is out of season.

Arizona freight by the numbers

Tonnage from the BTS Freight Analysis Framework (FAF6, base year 2022). Diesel tax from the IFTA, Inc. rate matrix.

Trailers that fit desert freight

A winter reefer run: Nogales produce to Dallas

In produce season, a Phoenix reefer can turn one Nogales pickup into a long, well-paid run to Texas and back.

An example of how a week can be planned, not a promise of loads, rates or miles. Distances are rounded.

Long produce runs need a legal plan for your hours. The trip planner shows where your 10-hour breaks fall before you accept.

Produce season, monsoon and summer heat

• Late fall to spring: Nogales produce season and Yuma vegetables. The best months for reefers.
• Summer: Extreme heat in Phoenix and the low desert, hard on tires, engines and reefer units. Produce is out of season, so outbound freight thins.
• Monsoon (summer): Dust storms on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson can cut visibility to zero. Pull off when they hit.
• Winter: Snow on I-40 and I-17 around Flagstaff.

Our seasonal freight calendar shows how the desert produce season fits the national cycle.

Costs to know

• Fuel tax. Arizona's diesel rate is 26 cents a gallon on the IFTA matrix for the 4th quarter of 2026, far below California's. Many drivers fuel in Arizona before heading west. The IFTA calculator shows how IFTA settles it.
• Heat. Budget for higher maintenance and reefer fuel in summer. Add it to your cost per mile.

Arizona checklist: Nogales pickups, heat and dust storms

• On Nogales produce, confirm the warehouse location and the pickup time, since many loads go out late in the day.
• Line up the outbound load before delivering into Phoenix, especially in summer.
• Check reefer unit and tires before summer runs across the low desert.
• Pull off for monsoon dust storms on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson.
• If the next load goes into California, check your CARB status before you accept.

Working Arizona freight with us

In winter your dispatcher works the Nogales produce warehouses and the long run east. In summer the job is finding a way out of Phoenix before you deliver into it, since loads leaving the Valley are scarcer than loads arriving.

Most Arizona trucks run to or from California. The produce run east crosses into Texas, and I-15 in the northwest corner leads toward Utah.