Boxes by rail
Containers moving off the ramp at Donna
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics places the Donna, TX - Rio Valley intermodal ramp 3.4 miles west of town. Day cabs that shuttle boxes between that ramp and Valley warehouses are tractors we buy, and we collect them from the yard where they are parked. Send us the VIN, the odometer reading and a few photos of the cab and frame so we know which tractor we are collecting.
Farther east, the North American Rail Network, kept by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, records two Harlingen rail yards at 20.7 and 20.8 miles. If your tractor is sitting near one of those yards instead of in Donna, give us the street address and the name of whoever holds the gate key; the pickup is planned around where it sits, not around where you live.
Reefer freight
Produce, meat and cold loads out of Hidalgo County
Among Donna’s 326 carriers, FMCSA’s carrier census shows 130 listing fresh produce, 98 listing refrigerated food and 98 listing meat as cargo, beside 196 hauling general freight. A reefer tractor and its trailer can be sold together or apart; tell us the trailer’s make and length and whether the reefer unit’s service records are on hand.
Around Donna, the cotton fields, corn rows and cattle pastures behind Hidalgo County’s 2,045 farms show up in USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture as the county’s leading products. A cattle pot, grain hopper or module truck that works those fields is often parked at a farm yard rather than in town, so share the gate directions and a phone number for someone on the property when you reach out.
Dump trucks and tankers north-west of town
The Mine Safety and Health Administration lists La Havana Pit, a crushed-stone quarry, 12.4 miles north-west of Donna, and the Texan Pit sand and gravel operation 16.8 miles out in the same direction. Portable Crusher #2, another crushed-stone site on that federal register, lies 22.2 miles north. If your dump truck or end-dump trailer is parked at one of these pits, ask the site operator whether a collection needs an escort, and pass that on with your title photo.
A petroleum product terminal at Edinburg sits 16.5 miles north-west, according to the Energy Information Administration. Owners of fuel tankers that load there should keep the trailer’s tank test certificates with the title and list them when they contact us.
County Business Patterns from the Census Bureau records 33 construction establishments in Donna, and the Census Bureau’s LEHD job counts put 67 of the town’s 7,001 jobs in construction for 2023. Whether your truck belongs to one of those small outfits or to an owner-operator who subcontracts to them, have the registration and the name on the title match before we schedule the collection.
Short Valley runs and long interstate legs
Of the active carriers here, 236 operate intrastate only and 89 cross state lines, according to the FMCSA census, with 46 operating private fleets that carry their own goods. An intrastate tractor plated in Texas only needs its Texas title and registration; an interstate unit should come with its apportioned cab card as well.
Driver counts filed with FMCSA show 203 drivers working within 100 miles of base and 504 going beyond that radius. For the 111 carriers that reported annual miles, the federal carrier census puts the median at 50,000 miles per truck. Give us the current odometer figure in your first message so the paperwork lines up with the truck in the photos.
Inspected model years and Donna’s bigger fleets
Roadside inspection records kept by FMCSA cover 425 trucks from Donna carriers between August 2024 and August 2026, with a median model year of 2018 and 43.5 percent at ten years old or more. Whichever model year yours is, read the full VIN off the door jamb and send it with a photo of the dash.
Donna’s top three fleets on FMCSA’s register field 51, 34 and 29 power units, with 50, 29 and 29 drivers. A fleet owner selling several tractors at once can send one list with each VIN, model year and the lot where it is parked, and we will work through them together.
Twenty new carriers registered in Donna in 2024 and another twenty in 2025, on FMCSA’s census. If you started up recently and are now selling the truck, bring the title as well as any lienholder release, since a newer loan often still shows on the title.
Open bridges and a clean title out of Donna
A tractor hauling a lowboy out of Donna crosses 9 bridges recorded by the National Bridge Inventory, and not one is load-posted or lower than 14 feet. So tell us only about gate width, soft ground or anything else at the lot itself.
If the title has gone missing, the state’s title agency issues a certified copy to the owner named on it, and that copy is what we need before collection. Start that request first, then send us photos, the VIN and the registration while it is being processed.
The questions we get asked in Donna
- My reefer tractor sits at a yard by the Rio Valley intermodal ramp west of town; must I move it?That ramp sits 3.4 miles west of town on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics list, and we collect the tractor where it is parked. Send the yard’s street address plus whoever can unlock the gate there.
- Can I sell a dump truck that is still at La Havana Pit?La Havana Pit is 12.4 miles north-west of Donna on the Mine Safety and Health Administration register, and a truck there can be collected on site. Check with the quarry operator about access and send us that name with your VIN.
- Will you take a Donna truck older than the 2018 median FMCSA inspectors logged?Across 425 trucks inspected roadside, FMCSA records show 43.5 percent of Donna’s trucks are ten or more model years old, against a median model year of 2018. Whatever the year on your title, send it with the VIN and photos of the cab and frame.