Flatbed Hauling Trucking Companies, Flatbed Freight Shipping Rates, Transportation Quotes
Handling heavy haul freight needs a lot of planning and care. It’s not like you can shift industrial equipment, mobile homes, or heavy machinery without a plan. However, some enterprises are very careless and perfunctory with their processes.
To avoid accidents, mishaps, and general inefficiency, there are certain best practices that they need to adhere to. Here are 5 best practices that all trucking companies should follow when handling heavy haul freight.
Shipping heavy haul freight requires permits for several things. With the exception of hazardous materials, no other shipping industry has as many restrictions. Hence, there is a huge margin for paperwork errors. This proves to make work arduous in the long run. Hence, to efficiently move heavy haul equipment, it’s pertinent to take care of paperwork thoroughly. A single wrong dimension or a number out of place can prove disastrous.
Every heavy haul freight shipping company has different methods to measure commodity dimensions. Someplace emphasis on the weight, while others measure the height and length. Some shippers, however, make sure that many different parties take measurements independently.
This assures that the measurement of all the dimensions will be free of any error. A single measurement done by the company is often inaccurate, especially when they’ve been doing it for very long. Measurement is repetitive work and requires precision. Human error is bound to creep in some time. Getting multiple measurements weeds it out.
Once a shipment is at its destination, receiving it is often a problem. This is usually due to poor communication between shippers and receivers. The main issue occurs when the shipper assumes that the recipient has planned to offload the equipment. However, more often than not thee receiver hasn’t planned anything. This miscommunication leads to delays in delivery and additional charges for handling.
Hence, the more communication the better. You need to plan out all the offloading and hire the right equipment for the offloading.
Regardless of the best-made plans, unexpected things can occur. These include accidents, repairs, natural disasters, etc. In every case except the last, you need to have a contingency plan. You need to be aware that these things repeatedly happen.
Prepare for the most common eventualities that can occur on your trip. Have the trucks examined, have the loads secured, and the briefing revised, etc. Also, make sure that tools are available in the truck so small repairs can be managed individually. Heavy haul freight shipping involves close to half a million accidents every year. You have to be prepared otherwise one of those could be you.
The more permits, or special handling required for a heavy haul freight shipment, the more restricted its movement. Routes have to be planned out in advance that don’t present clearance issues, etc. The issue that many heavy trucking companies usually have is reliability. Carriers tend to back out at the last moment. Hence, a backup is necessary. Professional shippers always have one. That’s what you need to do.
Following these best practices will lead to great efficiency and accuracy in heavy haul shipment operations.
