A Salinas family. Behind every wheel.
We started Villicana Transportation in 2010 with a small yard, a few trusted drivers, and the kind of work ethic you learn growing up in the Salinas Valley. Today we move refrigerated freight up and down California and across the border, and we still answer the phone like family.
How we started.
It began in 2010, in a town that feeds half the country. The Villicana family had spent years around produce coolers, loading docks, and the back roads between Salinas and the rest of the West Coast. When they started the company, the plan was simple. Haul cold freight on time, treat drivers right, and keep the office close enough to the fields that you could smell the lettuce on a warm afternoon.
The early days were lean. One office, a handful of reefers, and a phone that rang at 3 a.m. when a grower needed a last-minute pull. Mistakes were paid for personally. Wins were shared the same way. Customers learned that when a Villicana truck was on the load, it would show up, and the temperature would be exactly where it was supposed to be.
Fifteen years later, the company is bigger but the rules are the same. We grew from a few trucks to a 17-truck modern fleet. We earned our CTPAT certification and built a cross-border arm, Earthwise Transportation INC, to move freight into Mexico. None of it changed the way we answer the phone.
Four lines we don't cross.
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01
Cold means cold.
A 36-degree pickup means the trailer reads 36 when the doors open, not close. Produce is unforgiving, and so is our pre-trip.
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02
The phone rings, somebody answers.
Dispatch is 24/7 by phone and email. The office runs 8 to 4, but freight does not keep banker's hours, and neither do we.
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03
Drivers are not numbers.
Every name on our roster is somebody we know by face, family, and how they take their coffee. We pay on time, we plan the routes honest, and we listen when a driver tells us something is off.
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04
Salinas first, always.
We were raised in this valley and we work for the growers, packers, and shippers who built it. Somos de aquí, y eso se nota en cómo trabajamos.
Run by family. Backed by crew.
Villicana is run by the Villicana family, and that is not a marketing line. The same people who started the company in 2010 are still in the office today, still walking the yard, still riding along on a load when something needs a closer look. Decisions get made over coffee, not in a boardroom.
Around them is a crew that has been with us for years. Drivers who know the difference between a Castroville pickup and a Hollister one without asking. Dispatchers who can find a truck in the rain at 2 a.m. Mechanics who would rather catch a problem in the shop than on the 5. The crew is small enough that everyone knows each other and big enough to move 17 trucks across two countries.
We do not run the biggest carrier in California, and that is on purpose. Stay close to the work, stay close to the people, and the rest takes care of itself.
If you have produce that has to be cold, on time, and across the border by morning, give us a call.
+1 831 998 7832 635 Sanborn Pl, Salinas, CA 93901 . Dispatch 24/7