Arizona LTL Freight Rates & Quotes

Shipping less-than-truckload (LTL) freight to or from Arizona? Rates depend on your specific route, freight class, and how close your pickup or delivery point is to the nearest LTL terminal. Arizona has about 7.6 million residents, and most of its freight is concentrated in a few places: the Phoenix metro area, Tucson, the Nogales border crossing with Mexico and Yuma’s winter farm country. The state is also wide and dry, with I-10 running about 392 miles and I-40 about 359 miles across it, and its summer monsoon can bring sudden dust storms. Here’s what actually affects your rate.

LTL trucking regulations in Arizona

A standard LTL tractor-trailer within legal size and weight limits does not need a permit in Arizona. Permits matter for oversize or overweight freight, and Arizona’s rules include a few that surprise shippers:

• Permits come from ADOT. The Arizona Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Division issues commercial vehicle permits, and applications can be made online through its ePRO system, by mail, or in person at its ports of entry and its central permit office.
• Class A permits cover most oversize loads. They are issued for non-reducible loads up to 14 ft wide, 16 ft high, 120 ft long and 250,000 lbs, for a single trip, 30 days or a year, and a Class A permit may not be used to routinely haul legal loads on over-width trailers.
• The fees are low. ADOT lists $15 for an oversize single-trip permit and $30 for 30 days, $75 for an oversize and overweight single trip or 30 days, and $360 (oversize) or $600 (oversize and overweight) for an annual permit.
• Envelope permits cover repeat moves. For a non-specific, non-reducible load with at least four axles within the same size and weight limits, ADOT lists $150 for 30 days and $750 for a year for oversize, and $500 and $1,500 for oversize and overweight.
• Bigger loads need a Class C permit. Loads over 14 ft wide, 16 ft high, 120 ft long or 250,000 lbs need one. The fee starts at $30 for loads up to 18 ft high and wide and 80,000 lbs and $90 above 80,000 lbs, a permit is valid for four working days, and ADOT says issuing one takes about 48 hours on average, excluding weekends and state holidays.
• Escorts and night moves are route-specific. A Class C permit can require Department of Public Safety escorts, and 3 a.m. or weekend movement is available only when the entire route is designated for it.
• A state permit does not cover city streets. Class A permits are valid only on state routes, so local roads need permission from the city or county, and the City of Phoenix issues its own oversize permits through its Street Transportation Department.
• Out-of-state carriers need credentials. Carriers entering Arizona need valid registration (IRP) and fuel tax (IFTA) credentials or an Arizona fuel tax permit, which ADOT sells at its ports of entry.

Current permit fees and rules are public record:

ADOT Commercial Vehicle Permits →

What affects your Arizona LTL rate

• Freight class — density, handling, and liability determine your NMFC class, the single biggest factor in your rate. See our freight class guide.
• Distance — Arizona is wide: I-10 runs about 392 miles and I-40 about 359 miles across the state, so a lane from Yuma to the New Mexico line or from Kingman to Nogales is a long haul.
• Metro vs. rural — Phoenix and Tucson are well served by carriers, while northern Arizona, the Navajo Nation and the western desert typically see fewer terminals and options.
• Terminal proximity — the more carrier terminals near your pickup or delivery point, the more quotes you see.
• Accessorials — liftgate, residential, or inside delivery add to the base rate, same as anywhere else.

Did you know?From 6 real Arizona lanes and 30 quotes

1. 5× the cost per mile

   A short, light shipment cost more per mile than a long, heavy one

   A 140 lb shipment moving 464 miles (Fullerton, CA to Sedona, AZ) had a lowest quote of $329, or $0.71 a mile. A 424 lb shipment moving 2,483 miles (Lake Havasu City, AZ to Honesdale, PA) had a lowest quote of $388, or $0.16 a mile.

2. $192 to arrive one day sooner

   Saving a day is not free

   On Lake Havasu City, AZ to Honesdale, PA (2,483 miles, 424 lb), the cheapest quote at $388 took 5 days. The fastest, at 4 days, cost $580.

3. 5 carriers had the lowest quote

   Five different carriers won six Arizona lanes

   XPO had the lowest quote on two lanes. AAA Cooper, TForce Freight, Total Transportation & Distribution, and Warp each had the lowest quote on one lane. Across the lowest quotes on every lane, 13 different carriers appeared.

4. $192 from lowest to fifth-lowest

   Same shipment, quotes $192 apart

   For 424 lb from Lake Havasu City, AZ to Honesdale, PA (2,483 miles), the lowest quote was $388 and the fifth-lowest was $580, a 49% gap. On Newark, NJ to Mesa, AZ, all five quotes landed within $32 of each other.

Get quotes for your lane →

Where freight moves in Arizona

Arizona freight follows its interstates, its border and its farm country:

• Phoenix metro — Maricopa County’s freight network of I-10, I-17 and the Loop 101, 202 and 303 freeways, with Phoenix Sky Harbor, a Union Pacific rail yard and large warehouse and distribution areas in the West Valley and around Mesa.
• Tucson & Southern Arizona — I-10 and I-19 link Tucson to Nogales, and Sierra Vista-Douglas recorded $254.4 million of goods exports in 2024, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.
• Nogales & the border — the Mariposa crossing, reached from I-19, is a leading U.S. entry point for fresh produce and other trade with Sonora.
• Yuma — reached by I-8, the winter lettuce capital, supplying about 90% of the nation’s leafy vegetables between November and March, according to the Library of Congress.
• Flagstaff & northern Arizona — I-40 and I-17 run through Flagstaff, and BNSF’s main transcontinental line follows the I-40 corridor.
• Kingman & the northwest — I-40 and US 93, the road to Las Vegas.

Weather and transit reliability

Arizona freight is exposed to summer monsoon storms and border disruptions. The monsoon officially runs from June 15 through September 30, and on August 25, 2025, the National Weather Service says a massive dust storm moved up the I-10 corridor from Pinal County, with visibility falling to near zero around Arizona City, Casa Grande and Florence, then reaching the Phoenix area with visibility under a quarter mile and winds of 50 to 65 mph, before dust was carried as far north as southern Yavapai County along I-17. Dust has also been deadly on the interstate: on October 29, 2013, a 19-vehicle pileup on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson killed three people and injured at least 12, and ten of the vehicles involved were commercial, according to NBC News. The border can stall freight too: in late November 2025, Mexican farmers and truckers blockaded the highway to the Mariposa crossing in Nogales for three days in one week, while the DeConcini crossing stayed open, KJZZ reported. For LTL shippers the practical advice is simple: during monsoon season and any border disruption, build extra transit time into anything headed to or through Arizona.

Sample Arizona LTL rates by route

Real quotes pulled from our platform for six different Arizona lanes — same process, different carriers each time, spanning a range of weights and distances. Rates shift with capacity and fuel costs, so treat these as a snapshot rather than a guarantee for your shipment; get an instant quote for your exact route.

Rate, transit, and price-per-mile summary

Pulling the six lanes above together, a short 680 lb move inside the Phoenix metro stands out from everything else in the data:

Route	Distance	Weight	Price range	Transit range	Price per mile
Phoenix, AZ → Scottsdale, AZ	35 mi	680 lb	$309–$443	1 day	$8.84–$12.67
Fullerton, CA → Sedona, AZ	464 mi	140 lb	$329–$378	1–3 days	$0.71–$0.81
Ogden, UT → Phoenix, AZ	703 mi	500 lb	$313–$361	2 days	$0.44–$0.51
La Grange, IL → Paradise Valley, AZ	1,734 mi	200 lb	$374–$436	3–5 days	$0.22–$0.25
Newark, NJ → Mesa, AZ	2,381 mi	101 lb	$493–$525	2–7 days	$0.21–$0.22
Lake Havasu City, AZ → Honesdale, PA	2,483 mi	424 lb	$388–$580	4–7 days	$0.16–$0.23

Phoenix to Scottsdale (35 miles, 680 lb) is the outlier. Its five quotes run $309.34–$443.44, or $8.84–$12.67 per mile, a 43% spread, and Warp’s $309.34 on 1-day service costs about the same as the cheapest quote on Ogden to Phoenix ($312.51), a 703-mile lane with a lighter 500 lb shipment. AAA Cooper’s $443.44 was $134.10 more than Warp’s for the same 1 day. Newark to Mesa (2,381 miles, 101 lb) was the tightest lane, with all five quotes within $31.99 ($493.20–$525.19), and Forward Air’s 2-day $497.40 cost just $4.20 more than XPO’s 5-day $493.20, so speed was nearly free there. Lake Havasu City to Honesdale, Pennsylvania (2,483 miles, 424 lb), the only lane that starts in Arizona, was the cheapest per mile, at $0.16–$0.23, but it also had the widest spread of the long lanes: TForce Freight’s 5-day $387.80 was the lowest, Old Dominion’s 4-day $579.71 cost $191.91 (49%) more to save a day, and FedEx Freight Economy’s 7-day $513.59 was the slowest and cost $125.79 more than TForce. On Fullerton, California to Sedona, XPO’s 1-day $373.51 cost $44.07 more than Total Transportation & Distribution’s 2-day $329.44. Weight did not set the price. The 140 lb shipment from Fullerton to Sedona ($329.44–$377.73) cost more than the 500 lb shipment from Ogden to Phoenix ($312.51–$361.17), though the Ogden lane is 239 miles longer. On La Grange, Illinois to Paradise Valley, Roadrunner’s 3-day $388.58 was $14.58 more than XPO’s 4-day $374.00. The lesson is the same on every lane: compare several carriers before you book.

Major shipping hubs in Arizona

Arizona’s freight moves through an airport, a border crossing and a growing rail network:

• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport — handled 322,741 tons of cargo and 35,685 tons of mail in 2025, the airport reports, processing nearly 1,000 tons of cargo a day and ranking 24th in North America for cargo.
• Nogales (Mariposa) — the state’s main land port for trade with Mexico. Published estimates put it at close to 300,000 trucks a year, and industry sources describe it as a leading U.S. entry point for fresh produce.
• Union Pacific’s Phoenix intermodal terminal — announced in November 2023 for UP’s rail yard in Phoenix, with a planned opening in early 2024, to give Southwest shippers a rail link to the ports of the Los Angeles Basin.
• BNSF’s planned hub near Wittmann — a large intermodal and logistics center in northwest Maricopa County, which Trains magazine reported is targeting a 2028 opening.
• Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport — home to SkyBridge Arizona, described as the only joint U.S.-Mexico customs facility for air cargo in the country.

Highway corridors serving Arizona

I-10 (about 392 miles in Arizona) runs from the California line at Ehrenberg through Phoenix and Tucson to the New Mexico line. I-40 (about 359 miles) crosses the north through Kingman and Flagstaff. I-8 (about 178 miles) links Yuma to I-10 near Casa Grande, I-17 (about 146 miles) connects Phoenix to Flagstaff, and I-19 (about 63 miles) runs from Tucson to Nogales and is signed in kilometers, the only interstate in the country that is.

Nogales, I-19 and the border

Most truck freight from Sonora crosses at Mariposa and moves north on I-19 to Tucson and I-10, so a delay at the border or a closure on I-19 can ripple through Southern Arizona’s freight network. The November 2025 blockade showed how quickly the crossing can stop.

What Arizona shippers move

Arizona’s freight is shaped by electronics, aerospace and trade with Mexico. The state exported a record $44.4 billion of goods in 2025, the 14th most of any state, led by $19.6 billion of computer and electronic products, $6.7 billion of transportation equipment, $2.7 billion of machinery, $2.2 billion of fabricated metal products and $2.2 billion of electrical equipment. Mexico took $14.6 billion, or 33% of the total, followed by Taiwan at $4.5 billion and Canada at $2.8 billion, according to the U.S. Trade Representative. The Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler area alone recorded $22.1 billion of goods exports in 2024, and Yuma recorded $772.3 million. Much of this moves in full truckloads, by air or by rail, but the parts, tools, supplies and finished goods around these industries are where LTL fits.

Arizona LTL freight: frequently asked questions

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