Bulk bags shipped to Washington

Who fills bulk bags in Washington

Palouse pulses and wheat

The rolling Palouse country around Pullman and Colfax in the southeast corner grows wheat, and between wheat crops it grows dry peas, lentils and chickpeas. Those pulses are cleaned, sometimes split, and shipped as food or kept as seed.

Food pulses go in new bags, food grade where the buyer asks, with a spout bottom so they run into a packer. Seed pulses and seed wheat need new uncoated bags that breathe, with a document pouch for the lot tag. Neither one goes in a used bag.

The ground there is wind-blown loess, laid down in steep rolling hills, and combines work those slopes with leveling systems. After harvest, processors sort, dehull and split the peas, size the lentils and polish the chickpeas, and each grade gets its own bag tag.

The Columbia Basin under irrigation

Irrigation water from the Columbia River turned the basin around Moses Lake, Quincy and the Tri-Cities into potato, corn, onion and orchard country. Potatoes go to processors as fries and to dehydrators that make flakes and powders.

Dehydrated potato and starch are food powders: new bags, liner, spout bottom. The fields themselves take fertilizer in spring, and granular fertilizer wants coated fabric and a liner because it pulls moisture.

Water from the Columbia Basin Project, fed by Grand Coulee Dam, irrigates much of the basin. Farmers there also grow timothy and alfalfa hay for export, sweet corn and peas for freezing, and mint.

South along the Columbia and in the Walla Walla Valley, wheat, sweet onions and wine grapes share the ground, and vineyards on the Horse Heaven Hills and around Red Mountain buy compost and amendments by the bag.

Passes, rivers and Puget Sound boxes

I-90 runs from Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass through Ellensburg, Moses Lake and Spokane. In winter the pass can need traction tires or chains, and that can hold a truck. I-82 leaves I-90 at Ellensburg and runs through Yakima to the Tri-Cities, where I-182 links Pasco and Richland. I-5 carries the west side from Vancouver to Bellingham.

Wheat moves from eastern Washington down the Snake and Columbia by barge to export elevators on the lower river. That grain is loose, not bagged, but the same river ports at Vancouver and Kalama sit on I-5 and take bagged freight by truck.

Seattle and Tacoma container terminals load bagged pulses, feed and other dry cargo for export. A bulk bag bound for a container has to fit the box: a filled 35 x 35 in bag leaves room to stack two wide in a 40 ft container, while a wider bag might not.

Tell us whether the fill goes into a container and how it is loaded, and we'll check the footprint before quoting.

Skagit seed, Yakima hops and Spokane freight

North of Seattle, the Skagit Valley's mild, damp climate suits vegetable seed, and growers there raise spinach, cabbage and beet seed alongside tulip bulbs. Seed buyers want clean, new, breathable bags with the lot tag in a pouch where a sampler can read it without opening anything.

The Yakima Valley is famous for hops, picked from late August into September and dried in kilns before baling. Hops leave in bales and boxes rather than FIBCs, but the valley's orchards, vineyards and row crops take lime, gypsum and nitrogen in bulk bags, and harvest crews and spray schedules compete for the same forklift hours.

Spokane is the freight hub for the Inland Northwest, sitting on I-90 with US-395 running south to the Tri-Cities and US-2 heading west to Wenatchee. A consolidated LTL load for Pullman, Colfax or Moses Lake often crosses a Spokane dock first, so allow for a transfer when you plan a fill date.

Grays Harbor and Aberdeen on the outer coast, and Longview and Kalama on the lower Columbia, handle logs, grain and other bulk cargo, with I-5 or US-12 tying them to the rest of the state.

Ordering and pickups

For a quote, send product, SWL, top and bottom, liner, static type and ZIP. Warehouses in Pasco or Spokane can take LTL; a cleaner filling at harvest may want a full trailer.

Once the season's bags are run, book an empties pickup with a count and a bale photo. 5:1 bags go to recycling; inspected 6:1 bags may be bought back for non-food use.

Whatcom County, up against the Canadian line, grows red raspberries and supports dairies around Lynden. Freight bound for British Columbia crosses at Blaine, and a cross-border load needs customs paperwork in order before the truck leaves.

• Crop or product and its grade
• Bags per lot and lots per season
• Fill line ZIP and dock details
• Trailer, container or both