The trucking industry is made up of individual trucking companies who are contracted to haul freight from one place to another. These companies may also be called carriers. Sometimes they haul raw materials to factories or manufacturing plants where they can be manufactured into goods to be sold, other times they haul goods from manufacturing plants or storage facilities to stores to be sold. Almost everything that is bought and sold has been transported on a truck at some point. Even goods that are shipped across the oceans in containers are generally hauled to and from the ports on trucks.
Freight Hauling Contracts
Large trucking companies may have a contract to haul goods from one point to another for specific manufacturers, while small companies often contract loads through a freight forwarder. A freight forwarding service generally receives large orders from specific manufacturers. They contract with carriers to facilitate the loads being moved from one place to another. Sometimes trucking companies are also forwarders, but they are usually a separate company that acts as an intermediary between producers or manufacturers and truckers. A freight forwarder may also work with railroads, airlines and ships to get the goods moved as quickly and cheaply as possible.
Each company either has several manufacturing companies that they haul freight for or contracts with freight forwarding companies that they can call and get loads from. The company’s dispatcher usually calls the forwarding company as soon as they know the location where their trailers will be empty so that they can pick up another load as close to that location as possible. Fuel expenses can really hurt truckers, so they try to find loads as close to their current location as possible to minimize the number of miles they have to drive the truck without a load. Many truck drivers are not paid for miles that they drive the truck when it is not loaded.
Types of Cargo
Almost everything you can buy has been hauled in a truck, from the gas at the station to clothes, groceries, cars, electronics, building materials and more. Most of the things you buy have been hauled several times. Many items are only manufactured at a few select places in the country, so they are hauled in trucks to other parts of the country and may be shipped by plane or boat to locations throughout the world. There are trucks moving freight up and down the highways and freeways at all times of the day and night so that people can easily find the things they need when they visit each store.
Tanker trucks haul gas to the gas stations, dump trucks haul dirt, rocks and other materials to building sites, semi trucks with lowboy trailers haul the machinery needed for building projects, and box trucks haul goods from manufacturing plants and warehouses to stock store shelves.
Types of Trailers
There are many types of trucks that carry goods. Box trailers, also called van trailers, are one of the most common types of semi trailers. They are used to haul almost anything, from shoes to plants to electronics. Van trailers are great for hauling items from warehouses to stores because they don’t allow items inside to be damaged by the weather. Their biggest drawback is that there are many items that don’t fit into the rigid size restrictions of a van trailer and they are more difficult to load than a flatbed trailer. Van trailers with refrigeration units attached are called reefer trailers. They are used to haul groceries and other items that may melt or spoil if they get too warm.
Curtain vans are a compromise between a flatbed trailer and a box trailer. The front and back of these trailers is usually similar to a box trailer, but the sides are made of movable waterproof curtains. They are easier to load than van trailers and protect the cargo from the elements almost as well. Flatbed trailers are one of the easiest types of trailers to load. You can haul almost anything on a flatbed trailer as long as it is not too big or heavy. Truckers use tarps to cover their flatbed loads if the load may be damaged by rain or snow.