It’s one thing to ship consumer goods or products from place to place. It’s quite another to send heavy, essential industry equipment across long distances, both on land and over the ocean.
When you need door-to-door shipping for heavy equipment, you must know who to contact and what regulations may affect your shipping costs and timeline.
Equipment shipping companies are an excellent option for heavy machinery shipping and other heavy-haul freight shipping needs, but not all shippers are created equal. Regarding transport solutions and trucking companies, you need to ensure you’re getting adequate services and a competitive shipping quote.
Let us break down heavy equipment shipping in detail.
What Is Heavy Equipment Shipping?
Heavy equipment shipping (or heavy haul transport) is the art and science of moving heavy industrial equipment from one place, a pickup location, to another, the drop-off.
"Heavy equipment" refers to oversized or heavy machinery or devices used for business purposes. Some examples of heavy equipment include:
Vehicles such as cars and trucks.
- Forklifts and other construction-specific vehicles
- Equipment and machinery for making products
- Heavy tools and farm equipment
- Cranes and excavators
- The parts and pieces needed to make heavy equipment
“Heavy” is somewhat subjective. However, the US Department of Transportation typically qualifies a heavy load as any equipment weighing more than 10,000 pounds (though there is some wiggle room depending on the exact equipment being shipped).
Heavy equipment transport companies often have individual policies, procedures, and practices. Many heavy equipment pieces are critical to their end-users or recipients,
Losing heavy equipment or having it damaged in transit can result in significant financial losses and other downsides.
Why Is Heavy Equipment Shipping Important?
Heavy equipment shipping is crucial because heavy equipment cargo is also usually essential for end recipients.
For example, a business may require a specialized machine that can make products it uses to service its customers. Only one type of equipment can do this job, so the company orders the heavy equipment to be shipped from the manufacturer to its facility.
If the heavy equipment were lost in transit, the business would be out of luck and a lot of money. Heavy equipment shipping ensures that this doesn’t happen and that specific policies and procedures are followed, so the heavy equipment is not damaged in transit.
On a broad scale, heavy equipment shipping is important since:
- It allows businesses and transportation carriers to plan their loads for maximum efficiency (and space usage)
- It will enable businesses and transportation carriers to plan out costs accurately
- It ensures shipping loads with heavy equipment follow DOT guidelines and regulations (see more below)
It's not enough to order a standard carrier to transport heavy equipment from one place to another. You need trained heavy equipment shipment specialists who can get heavy equipment to its final destination in one piece and on time.
Shipping Methods for Heavy Equipment Shipping
A carrier may use several standard shipping methods for transporting heavy machinery. These include container shipping, flat rack shipping, LoLo shipping, and RoRo shipping.
Each of these transportation methods can work, but you may prefer one or the other depending on the following:
- How do you want your equipment to arrive?
- Does your equipment need specialized shipping accommodations due to abnormal size or shape?
In many cases, several of these shipping techniques may need to be used in conjunction with others. For instance, flatbed trucking is usually used to transport heavy equipment cargo to its intended destination for at least one leg of the journey.
Let’s take a closer look at these heavy equipment shipping methods.
1. Container Shipping
Container shipping is standard and self-explanatory: it involves packaging cargo in large, standardized containers placed on flatbed trucks or cargo ships for efficient transport across large distances.
Container shipping is advantageous because it benefits from economies of scale and flexibility.
Furthermore, containerized shipping, by definition, is standardized. That means all container shipping uses "standard size" containers ranging from 20 feet to 53 feet long.
As a result, your equipment can be stacked or packaged alongside other equipment on the same ship for lower per-mile costs. Standardized containers are built to international standards, enabling fast and efficient international transport.
You can use several different container types for your heavy equipment, such as flat rack containers, open-end containers, half-height containers, open-top containers, and refrigerated containers.
Regardless, shipping containers are frequently used to transport heavy and standard cargo worldwide due to safety and large-volume capacity.
2. Flat Rack Transportation
Then there’s flat rack transportation. Flat rack transportation is excellent for shipping heavy machinery and other equipment that may need to be loaded from the top or the sides due to irregular shapes.
Flat rack shipping containers only have sides on the bulkheads, enabling cargo to stick out from the sides during transportation. Flat rack containers are available in collapsible and non-collapsible variations; most are in 20 feet or 40-foot-long sizes.
Many flat-rack transportation containers have forklift pockets for easy lifting or moving. Flat rack containers are manufactured using strengthened steel, durable and rigid throughout transit.
Shippers sometimes may use heavy-duty tarps to protect sensitive cargo while in transit. Flat rack transportation is usually only advantageous if the equipment can be exposed to the elements without worrying about damage.
3. The LoLo Method
The LoLo shipping method means loading and unloading containerized cargo over the top side of the shipping vessel using derricks or cranes. “LoLo” is short for lift-on/lift-off, referring to how cargo is loaded or unloaded on a shipping vessel.
Most LoLo-capable ships already have onboard cranes for this shipping technique. As a result, they can accommodate a much larger container capacity since they don't need as much legroom or space for vehicles like forklifts to move around when loading or unloading cargo.
Shipping heavy equipment with the LoLo system is often advantageous because it takes less of a toll on the environment and is often cheaper. Thus, it's an excellent cost-effective, and eco-friendly method of heavy equipment shipping.
4. Roll-On/Roll-Off Shipping
Last is RoRo or roll-on/roll-off shipping. This means driving vehicles onto a shipping vessel and maneuvering containers instead of lifting them into their spots by crane.
This shipping method also has to-be-shipped tractors and cars drive onto the vessel using their wheels and engines without relying on other equipment.
RoRo shipping always requires using more than one of the above heavy equipment transportation methods. Vehicles must be loaded onto lorries or trains to get to the shipping vessel’s departure port.
This heavy equipment shipping method is mainly used for heavy equipment vehicles like trucks.
How To Calculate Heavy Equipment Shipping Costs
Given the increased care and attention that heavy equipment shipping often demands, it’s important to know how to calculate heavy equipment shipping costs so you know what you can afford to move.
Several significant factors can impact standard heavy shipping costs throughout the year.
Density of Freight
For starters, the density of a freight load will impact shipping costs across the board. Counterintuitively, the denser your freight is, the less it will cost to ship because it will take less space on the truck or transportation vessel you contract.
Shipping Route
Naturally, the shipping route you choose or that is most efficient will also impact your shipping costs. More efficient shipping routes may cost more (since they are in higher demand).
However, in some cases, more roundabout shipping routes could cost more due to fuel and other costs.
Priority of Shipment
The higher your shipment's priority, the more it will cost because it requires carriers and transportation companies to bump other loads down the list. Thus, if you need an emergency shipment ASAP, you can expect to pay more for expedited heavy equipment shipping.
Insurance Costs
Lastly, if you need comprehensive insurance policies on a heavy equipment shipment, you can expect to pay more for the overall journey. Still, insurance policies could be wise, given the potential value of heavy equipment.
Heavy Equipment Shipping Regulations
When shipping heavy equipment from one place to another, you must keep shipping regulations from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration/FMCSA.
For example, the FMCSA has specific performance requirements for acceleration and deceleration rates for shipped vehicles or other types of heavy equipment hauling.
Those performance requirements must be within the security load limits for vehicle structures (i.e., tire ties or locks) to prevent vehicles from moving around in transit by accident.
Furthermore, all vehicular cargo has to be restrained and tied down using at least four tie-downs. Each restraint has to have a working load limit of 5000 pounds or more, and it must be attached to the front or rear of the vehicle load or at appropriate mounting points.
More broadly, all heavy equipment cargo has to be solidly secured and immobilized. Any cargo items that may roll while in transit must be restrained using cradles, wedges, or other tools. The FMCSA has further rules and requirements for certain cargo types, like:
- Firewood and log debris
- Heavy vehicles
- Heavy equipment and machinery
- Flattened and crushed vehicles
- Concrete pipes
Failing to abide by FMCSA shipping regulations could see your business fined heavily.
Using a Transportation Provider for Shipping Heavy Equipment
Given the importance of adhering to shipping regulations for heavy equipment, it’s a good idea to use a trusted heavy equipment transport service for all your heavy equipment shipping needs. Specifically, you should find a shipping company that:
- Has experience shipping heavy equipment from place to place. This ensures that the provider knows how to handle heavy equipment shipping and what rules to follow.
- Has an extensive and trusted carrier network. The larger a transportation provider’s carrier network is, the more carriers they’ll be able to contact at reasonable shipping rates to move your cargo from place to place.
- Has tools to track your shipment so you know it gets to where it needs to be on time.
Ideally, a knowledgeable and efficient transportation provider will streamline the heavy equipment shipping process from start to finish.
Heavy haul trucking or equipment shipping services will allow your business to get the oversized load it needs at the earliest possible opportunity without breaking the bank.
The Bottom Line
In the end, there’s only one shipping solution you can rely on for peace of mind when your business needs heavy equipment shipped from one place to the other. Whether you are opening up a new branch or facility or are trying to rebalance equipment stocks between multiple facilities, RPM can help.
As trusted and experienced heavy equipment transport specialists, our logistics team removes complexity from heavy equipment shipping for your brand. We offer end-to-end transportation services for vehicles, freight, and heavy business equipment.
With one-to-one support, an integrated and intuitive technology platform, and other benefits, we're the best choice for getting your equipment where it needs to go on time and within budget.
Contact us today to learn more and get a free quote.
Sources:
What types of equipment are included in the category of off-road motorized construction equipment? | FMCSA
Cargo Securement Rules | FMCSA
Shipping container dimensions | iContainers
