Finding The Right Carrier For Oversized Shipments
When it comes to moving your products around, if what you want to deliver is either larger than normal trailer dimensions or if there is a weight discrepancy, you will want to have a shipping partner that is used to coordinating and fulfilling customized shipments.
Known as heavy haul trucking companies, a customer’s options usually boil down to calling a carrier that is local to that area that you are sending or receiving from, or using a broker like Landstar.com that aggregates data and gives you the best resources for your shipment from among their global network.
Here are some tips on what to look for when you make your heavy haul shipping arrangements:
Are the paperwork requirements built in?: One of the more time consuming parts of booking a delivery is ensuring that the paperwork and permitting portion of the journey are taken care of for the jurisdictions that you will transit through. If your transportation partner is good, the specifics on what you need will be provided to you up front so everyone saves time. This is normally a strength of companies that broker and pass bookings to trailer operators. It isn’t always that easy to find the right documents for every type of shipment anywhere in the world, so finding companies that have spent the time to set up a network of knowledgeable partners is a good idea.
If you will require connections, compare services: Looking at a company that will make a one time arrangement to share your load with a company that will take it the last mile may a good way to choose a partner for this trip. On the other hand, if a company is used to having their partners deliver heavy haul loads that are being passed on, it is pretty likely that you will get standardized service and better quality.
Check prices: The quality of the service for some carriers is not always tied to the price. By the same token, it is possible to have an operator that charges more money provide you with poor service. So do check prices, especially because it is important to established a fixed rate in advance the first time you send something.
Heavy haul loads are the type of customer experience that you will want to plan for. Because the number of competent carriers that can handle every request is lower, it is a good idea to look at a broker that works with a strong global network of operators.