Shipping New Construction Equipment? Let Us Transport It

Acquiring new construction machines and implements is no small feat in the construction industry. But now that you have finalized the purchase, how will the equipment be transported from the dealer to your location? Better yet, how will it be shipped?

More often than not, construction equipment will be wider, more massive and taller than the standard load. So your average trucking service provider may not be cut out for the job. Who you need to transport your construction equipment is an experienced heavy haul trucking service provider, just like us at Great Western Transportation.

With over 100 years of combined experience in the trucking business, we guarantee we have the resources, and our team is capable of handling all freight needs for your construction equipment.

Depending on the accurate weight and measurements of your construction equipment, our team of heavy machinery handlers will determine the best way to ship your machinery and select the most appropriate trailer to be used for transportation.

Furthermore, our team will secure all the necessary permits required to transport your equipment as long as it is within Canada and the USA. Lastly, we will map out the most suitable route to get your construction equipment from its pickup station to your desired destination. At the end of the day, our goal is to deliver your construction equipment in the shortest time possible and get you working on the next job in good time.

Because of the extreme caution needed when transporting construction equipment and the time-consuming nature of the process, it is in your best interest to not only outsource expert heavy haul trucking service providers but also reliable ones.

A reliable team will always have the resources needed to ship your construction whenever and wherever you need them to. And this our customer guarantee here at Great Western Transportation. So, if you need to ship or transport construction equipment, from excavators to dozers, contact us today to make arrangements on how they’ll get to your location soonest and safest.

October 4, 2019 | | Category: Flatbed, Heavy Haul

Flatbed Trucking for Heavy Equipment

Flatbed Trucking for Heavy Equipment at Great Western Transportation

Flatbeds are the best way, and sometimes the only way, to transport heavy equipment like bulldozers and excavators. This is because a flatbed trailer allows for dimensional flexibility, and also because some loads just won’t fit in box truck or standard trailer. They can also be loaded from any side, not just the back, which can be a huge advantage when shipping heavy construction machinery to and from jobsites.

Flatbeds Defined

Flatbeds are just basic open trailers. Per Great Western Leasing “Most flatbed trailers are between 45′ to 53′ long and 96″ to 102″ wide. Flatbed Trailers are made of Steel, Aluminum or a combination of Steel and Aluminum. Generally, a flatbed trailer weighs 8,500 to 12,000 pounds.” You might hear them called:

  • Floats
  • Flats
  • Highboys
  • Flatdecks

Flatbed Trailer Arch

When unloaded a flatbed trailer actually arches A LOT!  Take a look at an unloaded flatbed trailer next time you’re on the highway. You’ll notice a significant arch. Compare that to a loaded flatbed and you’ll see less arch. The heavier the load, the flatter the trailer. Even consumer level flatbeds like 18′ car haulers will arch quite a bit once loaded.

Metal Fatigue

Del Williams of Feedlot Magazine writes “The repeated loading and unloading of heavy items, such as tractors, pipe, and farm implements, can strain a trailer’s frame and supports.  So can loads brought in from the side…” Heavy machinery puts quite a lot of weight on our flatbeds, our drivers are trained to inspect their rig and load correctly and often.

Heavy Equipment / Oversize Loads on Flatbeds

Flatbed trailers are almost always used to move oversized, over dimensional and overweight heavy machinery shipments. Loads greater than 8’6” wide is considered over width, and will need special permits from most of the states you travel through. Freight over 11’6″ wide will also require a Pilot Vehicle in most States.

Don’t trust just anyone to haul your heavy equipment! We are heavy load / oversize / overweight experts here at Great Western Transportation. Contact us today for a quote!

September 23, 2019 | | Category: Flatbed

An Overview of Our Flatbed Trailers

When it comes to hauling things that just won’t fit inside a van, flatbed trailers are the best transportation solution for you. At Great Western Transportation, we have many different flatbed trailers that can accommodate many different loads that you’d want to move across the country.

Our drivers and our trailers can handle all the hauling needs of your company. Our flatbed trailers comes in all shapes and sizes and can accommodate things ranging from excavators and forklifts to cranes and generators. For example, our Step Deck Trailers are the best when it comes to hauling any equipment that can be driven. We also offer flatbed trailers that are suitable for loads that are either too wide, too long, or too tall for a trailer van.

In addition to that, our staff and our drivers will ensure that your load is safely secured onto the flatbed trailer and that nothing happens to it when it’s traveling to its destination. If your company needs to haul something that won’t fit in a trailer van, then Great Western Transportation is your best bet as we will provide our decades of experience and knowledge to each and every haul.

If your load meets the requirements of being an oversized load, our drivers and our staff can accommodate that easily as well. With our Removable Gooseneck trailer, we can easily handle any oversized load. We’ll also do all the paperwork that’s necessary when it comes to moving big loads across the country. We’ll also provide the escort vehicle that will follow the truck and its load and ensure that they get to their destination safe and sound.

So long as your destination is in the continental United States and Canada, our trucks and our drivers can do the job. Hauling big things is no easy feat, but our drivers make it seem like it is. With Great Western Transportation, hauling anything across the country is a safe and routine job.

If you want more information about which flatbed trailers to choose or if you want to get a quote today, please contact us.

September 10, 2019 | | Category: Flatbed

The Basics of Our LTL Trucking Service

Less-Than-Truckload trucking (or LTL Trucking for short) is a great service that Great Western Transportation offers. In a nutshell, like the name implies, LTL Trucking is when you have to move something or somethings across the continental United States or Canada and it won’t fill up the entirety of our trailer. Rather than pay to haul a mostly empty trailer, LTL Trucking is therefore a more economical option for hauling goods across the country. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what our LTL Trucking service offers.

Great Western Transportation offers many services when it comes to LTL Trucking that other transportation services may not offer. Great Western Transportation can also do the sorting and segregating of the goods you want to transport on our LTL trucks. We can also do the palletizing and shrink wrapping of those goods if you want us to. On top of that, we also offer distribution and warehousing services for the goods in our LTL trucks. Not many other transportation services offer these perks, but Great Western Transportation does.

Our LTL Trucking services can haul several types of trailers too, and they each can accommodate different types of products and goods. Our refrigerated LTL Trucking service for example can handle the transportation of things that need to be kept cool across the country. So long as your load weighs less than 30,000 pounds, the knowledgeable and experienced staff and drivers of Great Western Transportation can help you put your goods on our trucks and haul them across the country to wherever you so choose. If you’re not sure what type of service you’ll need, Great Western Transportation can help you figure that out too.

So if you’re looking for a great and economical option to haul some goods across the country, be sure to contact Great Western Transportation today to learn more about what services we offer.

September 4, 2019 | | Category: LTL

Building a Bridge? No Problem!

Whether you’re constructing a bridge in Miami, Florida or Sacramento, California, you’ll need a company like Great Western Transportation to haul your bridge beams from wherever they’re manufactured all the way to the build site of the bridge itself. Our expert truckers have years of experience in Heavy Haul Trucking and they will work with you and your company to efficiently and economically haul your construction material to wherever in the continental United States or Canada that you need it to go.

Our knowledgeable and veteran truckers will effortlessly set up and haul your oversized loads in no time. Whether it’s bridge beams or the construction equipment that you need on the build site, our truckers have the skill and ability to do the job. Our truckers also have the equipment necessary to move your bridge construction equipment in a safe and timely manner, no matter the distance, so long as it’s in the continental United States and Canada.

Great Western Transportation will also provide all the other legally required assets necessary to haul a overweight or oversized load across the country. Many states and many counties have their own permit requirements for hauling such loads and so our trucks and our drivers will handle such paperwork as well as get the best route possible to move your bridge building equipment as fast and as safely as possible.

Many places will also require an escort vehicle to accompany the truck as it’s hauling the oversized load and we’ll provide that as well. So if your company is building a bridge in the continental United States or Canada, be sure to use Great Western Transportation to ensure a fast and safe logistics chain for your operation.

Be sure to contact us today for a quote or if you have any other questions about our Heavy Haul Trucking service.

August 28, 2019 | | Category: Heavy Haul

How to Solve the Logistical Headaches of Heavy Haul Trucking

Heavy Haul Trucking, or trucking that involves the hauling of loads that meet the definition of being an oversized load, is no easy feat. Getting the load onto the trailer may be the easiest part of the whole journey, as legally speaking, there are many other considerations when it comes to hauling heavy loads. However, all that headache and stress can be avoided simply by hiring Great Western Transportation.

The government has a lot of laws and regulations about hauling heavy loads. Most of these laws are actually state and local laws, and so they can change depending on the route that the truck and its load takes. These regulations are related to many aspects of the haul, such as how tall the load is, how wide the load is, how heavy the load is, etc.

At Great Western Transportation, our expert team will handle all of that legal work for you. No matter where in the continental United States or Canada that your load will need a permit, we’ll get one. If the government demands that your load have an escort vehicle follow it around, we’ll provide one too. In addition to that, we’ll also handle everything else in relation to the haul.

We’ll ensure that it’s securely strapped onto the trailer so that it remains safe throughout the journey. We’ll also provide any additional equipment that’s necessary to safely transport your load. Our drivers are professionals and they’ll haul your loads quickly and with the utmost care. When you choose Great Western Transportation to haul your oversized loads, you’ll rest easy as you’re guaranteed that your load will reach its destination safely and on time.

If you or your company needs to move something that’s considered oversized or overweight, please contact us today for a quote. We also offer other hauling services for smaller loads as well!

August 19, 2019 | | Category: Heavy Haul

We’ll Haul Your Construction Equipment

If you’ve just finished a build or a job at a certain location and need to haul your construction equipment elsewhere in the continental United States or Canada, Great Western Transportation is the company for you. Our experienced and knowledgeable drivers will use their expertise to quickly and efficiently haul your construction equipment or other heavy loads across the country.

Our drivers and their trucks can handle a great many heavy or overweight loads. We’ve hauled construction equipment ranging from bulldozers and excavators to crane trucks and crawler lifts. If you have construction equipment, our drivers can safely and securely haul it on their trucks and move it to your desired destination, so long as it’s in the continental United States or Canada.

In addition to that, Great Western Transportation and its drivers are veteran operators in the trucking and transportation business, and we’ll handle all the paperwork associated with moving a heavy load across the country. This paperwork and extra logistical work include the permits necessary to haul heavy loads across various states, which we and our truckers have. It’ll also include having an escort vehicle that will drive along with the truck to ensure the safety of the public and the security of the equipment that’s being hauled, and we’ll provide that escort vehicle and escort driver as well.

No matter the construction equipment you or your company need hauled across the country, Great Western Transportation can accommodate it and haul it in a timely manner. Our drivers have years of experience transporting construction equipment of all shapes and sizes and they can haul almost anything you need them to haul. So if you or your company is interested in our transportation services, please feel free to contact us today if you have a question or for a quote.

August 5, 2019 | | Category: Flatbed, Heavy Haul

The 5 Stages of Transporting Heavy Machinery

Heavy machinery, whether for construction jobs or manufacturing purposes, is delicate and should be handled with extreme care. At Great Western Transportation, we understand how great an investment heavy machinery is. This is why we go the extra mile to keep your investment safe and in good condition during transportation. We do this by adhering to our five stages of transporting heavy machinery

  • Stage 1: Planning

Before we set out to transport any heavy machinery, we like creating a clear picture of what is expected during the process. This is what our planning stage is all about as well as analyzing the heavy machinery requirements and addressing expected transportation challenges.

  • Stage 2: Selecting The Suitable Transport Vehicle

Depending on the characteristics of the heavy machinery being transported, we will find the most suitable vehicle for transportation. Our wide range of flatbed trucks, heavy haul trucks, and special trucks provides us with exactly what we need.

  •  Stage 3: Noting Heavy Machinery’s Important Data

After finding the most suitable vehicle to transport heavy machinery, the next step is to understand the heavy machinery being transported. We note down all crucial data such as the dimensions and weight to ensure that it is handled properly when being transferred onto the transport vehicle.

  •  Stage 4: Securing Cargo

This is the most significant safety precaution we take when it comes to transporting heavy machinery. We ensure that after the cargo is loaded on to the transport vehicle, it is appropriately secured before any journey begins.

  • Stage 5: Legal Requirements Compliance

Before any heavy machinery transportation journey is approved and released, all legal requirements must have been met. We ensure that our transportation process is in line with all requirements, and no laws are violated from the state of origin to destination.

With over 100+ years of combined experience in transporting heavy machinery, we guarantee an exceptional experience. Contact us today to have your heavy machinery transported.

July 25, 2019 | | Category: General, Heavy Haul
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