It’s a simple fact that if you eat it, wear it, drive it, medicate with it, or shelter in it, then thank a truck driver. It’s a rare day when what we use in our daily lives isn’t delivered by truck. However, there is heavy equipment necessary for a variety of industries needing delivery to said industries.
Even though we see trucks every day, we seldom ask what is heavy hauling? If you’re part of an industry, though, you should know what industries require delivery of their machinery by a heavy haul truck. What kinds of machinery or goods are moved by heavy hauling?
What Is Heavy Hauling?
Sometimes freight is heavier than the truck bed can support or wider than the truck bed. The roads these types of freight navigate might have restrictions. Additionally, special permits by townships, cities, or states through which this heavy freight passes might be necessary.
Thus heavy hauling becomes the only method by which freight can be delivered. You’ll see this on trucks with a “Wide Load” banner carrying manufactured homes, boats, or construction equipment. The trailer is specially made for excessive weights as well as wide or large loads.
Each state dictates the length of the heavy haul truck, but generally, its dimensions are 13’6” high by 8’6” wide. The load must be one piece being moved and it will exceed the legal weight of 80,000 pounds for the tractor, trailer, and the piece being transported.
Which Industries Rely Heavily On Heavy Hauling Their Equipment?
If it’s machinery, pipes, construction materials, or even airplane parts, it generally arrives by truck. Some of the industries using heavy hauling services include:
- Farming– Contrary to the cartoons, farmers don’t drive their tractors home from the John Deere dealership. Nor do the tractors get to the dealership any other way than by truck. Combines, threshers, harvesters, tractors, and other farm machinery all arrive by heavy hauling trucks.
- Medical– Have you ever wondered how those gigantic X-ray machines or MRI machines get to hospitals? They’re both oversized and heavy. Oddly shaped things like operation theater lighting that swings on movable arms and like things are delivered by heavy hauling services.
- Distribution– Big box stores carry items too heavy for regular trailers. Things like raw lumber, trees for the nursery in the big box stores, large orders of heavy HVAC units, and perhaps their ducts, and more are often delivered by heavy hauling trucks.
- Manufacturing– The machines that cut metals, fabricate those huge tubes of concrete you see on heavy haul trucks, and crushing machines among many other machines that manufacture something are usually too heavy for regular trucking. They must arrive by heavy haul trucks.
- Automotive- Car parts are usually not too heavy for a regular truck, but the finished product is. Additionally, crushed cars being transported to junkyards are carried by heavy hauling trucks.
- Construction- If heavy hauling trucks carry the metal girders, I-beams, and lumber used in constructing retail buildings and apartment buildings, then they also carry the backhoes, cranes, and other heavy machinery used to build these structures.
- Aviation- It isn’t uncommon to see an airplane wing or even a whole aircraft being ferried to its buyer via heavy haul trucks. Since that’s a real wide load, don’t be surprised to see multiple trucks moving the aircraft.
What Goods And Types Of Machinery Require Heavy Hauling?
Often called a “superload or “wide load,” heavy hauling trucks carry myriad items not only for business enterprises but for cities and states as well. Transformers and concrete forms for bridges would fall into this category as would metal power poles. Other goods and machinery carried by heavy haul trucks include:
- Generators
- Fixed and mobile cranes (truck, pedestal, ring horse, crawler lift, or tower)
- Mining machines
- Boilers
- Stamping presses
- Compressors
- Beams for bridges
- Pipes
- Hydraulic gantry lifters
- Excavators
- Turbines
- Transformers
- Planes
- Steel drums
- Concrete drainage pipes
- Domes
- Wind energy components
- Air exchangers
- Tractors for construction
What You Should Know Regarding Specialized Services
Heavy hauling services aren’t only about the item being transported. For example, to move a piece of heavy equipment, you need to know if the heavy haul trucking company can get the necessary permits, can go into Canada (if that’s where your client is,) or can even move your entire job site.
You need to know if there will be someone with whom you can be in touch 24/7 should a problem arise. You should know if your heavy haul company can talk to their truck drivers in case plans have changed or something last minute comes up. Does the company even take credit cards, or do they operate with paper checks?
The heavy hauling company you choose should have the latest in communications and logistics technologies. A dispatcher, the ability to track the movement of your shipment, the chance to track how the company manages your shipment, as well as keeping an eye on your driver are all capabilities to which you should have access. After all, this is your business we’re talking about here, and you should have a word to say about how it’s conducted.
If you have heavy machinery or a product not suitable for the trucking industry, then you’ll need heavy haul trucking services. You’ll need a company offering competitive pricing in addition to having the right heavy hauling trucks for your purposes. Call us today, and we’ll work closely with you to fulfill your heavy hauling needs.
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