Tips for Heavy Equipment Transport – How to Prepare Your Equipment and Find Good Shippers

There’s no denying that transporting heavy equipment is far more demanding than shipping passenger cars or furniture. It’s more expensive, requires different equipment and specialized drivers, and can take much longer to organize due to permit requirements.

But since you can’t drive cranes, forklifts, and combines for hundreds or thousands of miles, you must do your best to find the right equipment transporter for the job.

Before you start comparing the best shippers, there’s a lot more you need to know involving the prep work that goes into getting heavy equipment ready for a long-haul drive. The following tips will help you stick to the best industry practices, avoid common mistakes, and collaborate better with your shipping company.

Check the Manufacturer’s Guidelines

Every heavy equipment and machinery manufacturer will create detailed guidelines or safety tips on how to handle heavy equipment transport. Usually, you can find this information in the owner’s manual. If not, contact the manufacturer.

The guidelines may contain everything from how to secure the equipment to a trailer to what parts need to be removed and shipped separately. Of course, heavy equipment shippers with enough experience know how to transport a wide range of large, oversized machinery.

They say there’s more than one way to peel an onion. While that may be true of shipping heavy machinery, it isn’t always the case. Some machines won’t have unique securement recommendations. For that reason, it’s best to double-check the manual before making any assumptions.

Another reason to check the manual and coordinate with the equipment transporters is the warranty. If your heavy equipment transport involves machines still in warranty, improper securement and shipping can void the warranty. Be sure your top shippers can transport your cargo as intended by the manufacturer.

Inspect the Heavy Equipment’s Condition

Heavy equipment is more difficult to load, secure, ship, and unload safely. That’s one of the reasons why heavy equipment transportation requires the cargo to be in good condition. Before heavy equipment shippers arrive to pick up the machinery, it’s best to do a thorough inspection.

One of the things to look for is the condition of the securement points. Almost all heavy equipment has dedicated securement points. They should be strong and uncompromised in any way to keep the vehicle stable and safe during transport.

Another important aspect is the tire pressure. Low tire pressure isn’t suitable for transporting oversized machinery on any type of trailer or shipping container.

Lastly, make sure you clean the equipment. Almost all heavy machinery can accumulate dirt and debris. This can fly into oncoming traffic during transport, causing issues for other drivers. In addition, they can cause unnecessary friction during loading and unloading procedures, making it harder to safely secure the machinery. Thorough cleaning is mandatory before shipping.

Secure Vulnerable Parts

If you’re working with a heavy equipment transport company to move large machinery from point A to B, you may not have to worry as much about securing oversized vehicles and equipment safely. However, you should still have a basic understanding of preparing and securing the more vulnerable components prior to the pickup.

For example, components vulnerable to weather exposure should be covered beforehand. That’s particularly important because most heavy equipment shipping involves open trailers.

Levers and similar elements can be wrapped to prevent exposure or unnecessary movement during transport. The same goes for doors and windows, which you can zip-tie shut to prevent swinging.

Lastly, inspect the heavy equipment again before the driver leaves to make the delivery. It doesn’t take much for something minor to cause a severe safety hazard.

Carefully Plan the Loading and Unloading Procedures

Equipment shipping can take longer than shipping one or two vehicles. Drivers must adhere to specific schedules and routes and aren’t always able to drive freely wherever and whenever they want. Although this can make the delivery time estimate more accurate, much can still go wrong.

Bad weather and poor traffic or road conditions can delay shipments, especially those carrying oversized heavy loads.

That doesn’t mean you can’t plan ahead to ensure everything goes smoothly. First, you should plan for the pickup by coordinating with the heavy equipment haulers. Ideally, you’ll want to clear the area before their arrival and create enough space to maneuver the large trailer, load the equipment, and take it out on the road.

Likewise, you must have a plan of action in place for the unloading procedure. If you’re selling your heavy equipment, you can coordinate with the buyer and have them handle everything. But if you need heavy equipment transport between work sites, it’s best to have someone be there in person on the delivery date.

Again, you need to ensure there’s enough clearance for the trailer to safely maneuver and unload the machinery. It’s best to load and unload equipment on flat and stable terrain. Sloped ground has been linked to overturning and fatal accidents.

Know When to Make the Equipment Inoperable

Many equipment transporters will tell you the same thing. Shipping vehicles on the road often requires them to be drained of fluids and have their electrical systems disconnected. In addition, you may want to remove sensitive accessories or unnecessary accessories that can be damaged during loading and unloading procedures.

However, you shouldn’t always rush to make your heavy equipment inoperable. RO/RO shipping or using roll-on/roll-off containers needs functioning heavy equipment. Lots of machinery is easier to load onto pallets and into shipping containers. It’s easier to drive them because there’s not enough room to use complex pulley systems.

Make sure you know what your heavy equipment haulers will use to take your cargo to its destination.

Get Your Paperwork in Order

Heavy equipment shipping can be a nightmarish logistics experience. Sometimes you have to prepare mountains of paperwork, shipping documents, and papers to be allowed to legally transport heavy machinery.

The good news is that experienced heavy equipment shippers can help you get everything ready. Shippers know where to apply for permits, how much they cost, and what they need based on the destination, route, and cargo type.

Clear communication and good coordination are necessary. Heavy equipment transport companies can handle the permits on your behalf, but they still need your papers and information to do it.

Remember that this takes time, and your shipment can be delayed if you don’t share the requested information on time.

The same thing applies to importing and exporting heavy equipment. International equipment shipping requires extensive paperwork and permits. Heavy equipment shippers know how to navigate the bureaucracy. But you must be responsive and provide the requested documents on time for shippers to act on your behalf.

Find the Best Route

The shortest route from point A to B won’t always be the best route for heavy equipment transport. As mentioned, equipment shipping for anything over 5,000 pounds is heavily regulated. Certain roads or times of day won’t be accessible to shipping companies.

Other areas don’t support oversized and overweight vehicles. Therefore, you must coordinate with a shipping company to find the best route.

Why is this important? Not adhering to state or federal regulations may delay your permits or require you to pay additional shipping fees.

You should be able to strategize different solutions for your problem if you work with experienced shippers. For example, you can opt for a step-deck, lowboy, or gooseneck trailer to ship your cargo to meet the height restrictions.

Other obstacles you can encounter involve the equipment’s width. Many machines go beyond the 8.5-foot federally-imposed standard. Cranes, large excavators, large bulldozers, and other machinery fit this category.

However, there are tricks you can use to accommodate them. Removing the tires, tracks, and other components can help you reduce the width and make them viable for heavy equipment transportation.

But all of this depends on finding the right shipping company with a wide selection of trailers and the know-how to handle massive machinery.

How to Find the Best Heavy Equipment Shipping Company

The first thing many customers look at is the heavy equipment shipping quote. Naturally, that’s an important aspect and plays a significant role in choosing your favorite shipper. But it shouldn’t be the determining factor.

Due to the complexity of transportation logistics and potential rigging challenges, your shipper must tick other boxes first.

Proper Qualifications

Every shipping company operating legally must be able to provide you with a real registration number and other qualifications. You can use them to do a background check and look for past incidents and complaints.

Furthermore, qualifications offer insight into what type of shipping a company usually does. Perhaps the one with the most attractive price doesn’t have the most experience handling heavy loads.

Good Insurance Plan

What do all heavy equipment have in common besides complicated shipping procedures? They’re often costly. You never want to risk shipping your heavy cargo with equipment transporters that can’t cover potential damages.

Every reputable shipping company specializing in heavy equipment shipping should have at least the minimum insurance coverage as mandated at a federal level. Naturally, those that offer extra protection have the added benefit of working with them.

Depending on the condition of your equipment and its value, you may want to consider extra protection. Some shipping companies can sell a more comprehensive insurance policy for your order if you want to feel extra safe.

Experience Working With Your Type of Equipment

Not all equipment transporters ship everything. There are big differences between agricultural, construction, and industrial machinery. Each piece of heavy equipment may have specific handling demands, weight and size specifications, and other requirements.

You must also consider the fact that the driver could have to drive the equipment onto an ocean freight container. Safe handling takes experience. If you want to choose the best equipment transporters, you should ensure the company has successfully fulfilled similar orders in the past.

Multiple Heavy Equipment Haulers

Equipment haulers come in many sizes and are rated for various weight capacities. For instance, you can ship up to 48,000 pounds on the right open trailer. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best option because its high ground clearance limits the height of the equipment you can ship.

Moreover, your cargo could weigh more than 48,000 pounds. In that case, you could need something like a gooseneck or reverse gooseneck trailer. Those equipment haulers allow towing multiple trailers in series and carrying up to 150,000 pounds or more.

Finding the best shipper means looking for the optimum heavy equipment transport conditions. Trailer availability plays a vital role in ensuring safe transport, easy permit releases, and proper securement for any road and weather conditions.

Customer Service and Other Perks

Since coordination is crucial to make safe shipping arrangements, you want a shipping company with an active and responsive customer service department.

You should be able to get any information you need, from the heavy equipment shipping quote breakdown to possible routes to instructions on how to prepare heavy machinery for transport. Additionally, you may want other perks like real-time tracking, a complete service package that includes prepping the vehicles, paperwork management, international shipping, storage, etc.

But most importantly, you’re looking for transparency. Reputable equipment transporters don’t offer evasive answers or outrageous quotes and don’t try to lock you into a contract before inspecting and giving a quote.

Entrust Your Equipment to the Right People for the Job

Many companies operate illegally, and others actively try to scam customers out of their money. But a bit of research goes a long way toward weeding out the bad apples of the vehicle shipping industry.

Remember to take your time and ask the right questions and avoid getting locked into a contract without getting enough information. Transparency is perhaps just as important as finding shippers with the best equipment and ample expertise.

But if heavy equipment transportation still seems intimidating, A-1 Auto Transport is here to help. Feel free to contact us for more information on the best shipping methods for your needs internally and internationally, or schedule a quote with one of our heavy equipment haulers representatives.