Why Washington is Great for Your Warehousing and Fulfillment
Locating a 3PL warehouse company in Washington State is a smart choice when you want to corner markets in the NW corner of the United States. While many businesses choose California has a major west coast distribution hub, it’s not always close enough to many strong NW markets. Your advantage with Washington State is that it allows quick and easy shipping across the border of Canada to widen your customer base.
Washington also has a couple of notable ports to give you access to Pacific Rim trade. Along with Oregon to the south, you can corner all the NW territories easily with Washington being in the center. This includes notable highways throughout the region, plus a nearby international airport.
3PLs in Washington Have the Best Highway Routes and Air Transport
Finding suburbs of Seattle in Washington can give you close access to many major highway routes going throughout the state. The most significant is I-5, which gives you a straight highway line for truck shipping up into northern Washington, down into Oregon, and into California.
You also have I-90, I-405, and state highway 167 to serve all regions of Washington for small towns and other Seattle suburbs.
Near Seattle is Sea-Tac Airport, which is a major international hub for the entire NW. Air cargo is constant here, and the Port of Seattle is nearby as mentioned above. In addition, it’s worth noting Sea-Tac ranks 19th in air cargo volume throughout North America, with continual growth expected over the next few years.
While Seattle is one of your best cities in Washington for a 3PL company, don’t discount the tiny towns surrounding the central part of the state.
Finding a 3PL city in Washington near major highways can give you more benefits for local shipping duties.
While you’ll find many 3PL companies in Washington for the above conveniences, you still need to vet warehouses carefully to see if they have the technology you require. Let’s look at more shipping benefits in Washington and why distribution of goods is so much easier there.
Top Cities in Washington State for Fulfillment Centers and Warehouse Storage
Start With Seattle First When Looking for Public Warehousing
If you’re searching to find a fulfillment center in Seattle, you’ll find a lot of quality ones. There are a few options to choose from, but you definitely won’t find as many options in the city as you will in other populated cities within the US. Even if you see a five-star review on these, though, should you take it as gospel? With a lot of internal bias for fulfillment center reviews, you need better vetting than this.
It doesn’t hurt to see if you can find a warehouse in Seattle before trying other cities. The reasons are obvious, though a major plus is being near the Port of Seattle. As a major international trade resource, you can’t go wrong finding a warehouse nearby to take advantage of their numerous logistics services.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the grounds of the port helps add even more to bring fast delivery. Because customers want faster delivery than ever, Sea-Tac Airport helps get your products off to 71 domestic and 19 international destinations.
It also helps that this part of Seattle is a Foreign Trade Zone #5, which helps you immensely to save money on shipping charges and complex customs.
Along with two interstate highways going through Seattle and the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad not far away, try the Emerald City first. Yet, other cities exist giving you identical warehousing capability.
The Port of Seattle for 3rd Party Warehousing
This is one of two ports available in Washington State that gives you everything you need in the way of both sea and air cargo transport. The port is also part of the Foreign Trade Zone, which won an award from FDI Magazine for managing FTZ growth.
Being a part of the Foreign Trade Zone already gives you a major benefit since these help give you discounts on tariffs and other shipping fees. Without these reduced prices, shipping in the Pacific Rim can get quite expensive if you’re trying to cut costs.
With the port location in Seattle, you have immediate access to shipping since you’ll find many reliable 3PLs in Seattle. Seventeen ocean carriers are available here that give you access to markets in Asia, Europe, Latin America, plus Alaska, and Hawaii.
Because foreign trade is a major part of the economy in this region, you have dedicated teams working to keep sea cargo working optimally at all times.
While you may look at Seattle as being the true Emerald City for logistics, don’t ignore surrounding cities to the north and south of the state. Various opportunities exist in other cities that give you the same benefits as you’d find in Seattle.
What’s important is to vet all of your warehouse choices in each city. With this in mind, here’s top cities for warehousing service companies in Washington State where you may discover places you never thought about.
Vancouver, Washington Warehouses
One major benefit to Vancouver is you’re right on the border of Oregon and Washington, giving you a chance to deliver into Oregon and beyond with ease. The Port of Vancouver is a major aspect, especially because they describe themselves as being at the crossroads between ocean-bound and river shipping lanes. They’re also close to major highways and rail lines to ship to virtually anywhere domestically.
Basically, Vancouver is a suburb of Portland, Oregon, letting you connect to Oregon in a substantial way. You have PDX (Portland International Airport) close to you from Vancouver, giving you quick air access to international markets in every corner of the globe.
You may prefer Vancouver better if you want a location closer to states like Oregon and California, as well as close proximity to Canada. Any fulfillment center in Vancouver Canada can send delivery trucks down I-5 into those states within hours. However, never rely completely on something like online reviews to give you a sense of reality on how good a 3PL is.
Tacoma, Washington Pick and Pack Warehousing
In Tacoma, you have a perfect alternative to Seattle if you can’t find a warehouse available to you. You’re near the Port of Tacoma, which is part of the Northwest Seaport Alliance to strengthen the Puget Sound gateway.
This port has renown for exceptional customer care and modern equipment to make sure all your logistics work at optimum level. Thanks to this and Tacoma’s role in logistics, they’ve helped generate $4.3 billion in economic activity. It’s all the proof you need other cities outside of Seattle play a major part in upholding warehousing as a key component in the overall economic picture .
The second most important port in Washington State is this one in Tacoma. It joins the Port of Seattle as The Northwest Seaport Alliance that exists to strengthen the Puget Sound gateway. Tacoma is already another advantageous city in Washington because of its proximity to both ports above. This port, though, isn’t diminished in the equipment they use. They have superior cargo-handling technology to keep shipping on schedule every day.
With recent statistics showing container volumes from both ports surpassing the 3 million mark this last fall, you can see how strong of a market the region is.
Fulfillment in Northern Washington Such as Blaine WA
Washington is the northernmost state in the contiguous United States This northern state is a prime location for Canadian companies looking to do business in the United States. Washington’s largest concentration of ports is in the northern area, many along the Salish Sea, which flows into Vancouver. If you are looking for a fulfillment center that can ship to or from Vancouver, this is the ideal state.
Many recommend Blaine as a good central spot since it’s located in the northern part of the state. This makes Blaine a good spot for reaching Canada faster if you’re starting to receive more customers there. Another good reason to choose this city is it’s near most of Washington’s ports. You’ll want a fulfillment center near many of the sea ports so you can start to nurture international shipping to foreign markets.
Key Fulfillment Data in Washington
Choosing the best 3PL warehouse in Washington is a complex decision. Below is summary information about Washington population, number of warehouses, and taxes so that you can make a more informed decision about whether the state offers your company the best fulfillment services potential.
To get an idea of the types of companies that operate in Washington, check out the top 10 largest companies in the state.
Average Fulfillment and Warehousing Pricing in Washington
The below table gives a high-level idea of what average rates might look like in Washington for fulfillment services, based upon surveys of outsourced warehousing companies throughout the US.
Vetting Your Washington State Warehouses and Fulfillment Companies
Washington is also home to a huge West Coast port industry. If you are looking to fulfill orders in other countries, then Washington’s coastal region has everything you require. With 75 port districts, there are ports and fulfillment centers of various sizes to meet any business’ needs. Furthermore, bringing in goods from overseas is easily accomplished as well. If your business distributes goods throughout the Northwest US, Washington is a prime location for fulfillment.
While these are some of the best Washington cities, not all warehouses are going to fit your business structure, or even have stellar services. Most warehouses in America provide efficient services, yet not all are going to fit the type of logistics your products need. Sometimes this occurs because they aren’t fully updated on technology.
At WarehousingAndFulfillment.com, we’ll help you find the best warehouses in America using our unique vetting services.
Contact us to learn more about warehousing in Washington State and other top-tier warehouses around the nation.
View More