Have you ever considered how much goes into managing a specialized or oversized freight transport? It’s pretty amazing watching a tank, crane, bulldozer, combine, windmill, or any other massive piece of steel being transferred over the road.

Semi-trucks weigh anywhere from 35k lbs to a max of 80k lbs. Everything above this in weight is considered “oversize” and requires special permits and extreme care. The width of a load is what most often makes it oversize, as anything wider than 8.5 feet is considered oversized.

Our experience with heavy haul loads has been anywhere from 80k to 350k lbs, utilizing 4 axle systems up to 19 axle systems. These moves can get tricky and the level of danger increases tremendously if the right expertise isn’t utilized, see for yourself below!

The heavy haul transporter needs to know exactly what routes to take to get to a specific destination. Different states have different laws for bridges, different laws for trailer configurations, etc.

Making a minor mistake when it comes to spacing out the trailer setup, planning securement, or not having a correct understanding of the state to state laws for axle configurations can be a very costly mistake.  Most loads require a team of experts from procurement to route planning to arrival and unloading.

Once an order comes in, the planning process starts. The permits are ordered based on dimensions, the route is planned and cannot be deviated from once the permits are issued, and then the fun of actually transporting can begin.  There are also times that escorts are required during transit, as is the case in most states if a load is over 12 feet wide. These types of loads also require special driving times in most states (30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset).

All of these requirements and meticulous details for specialized heavy haul transportation may be one of the reasons why there are over 1.2 million trucking companies, but less than 10% of them have a heavy haul division.

Below are some examples of some recent shipments done by our heavy haul connections: