Dry Van

ALS provides dry van and climate control service. Enclosed vans, as you know, are those 48ft and 53ft boxes. We also provide a number of services that you may require to satisfy your shipping needs such as air-ride trailers, team or co-driver service and trailers specially outfitted with straps, pads and/or cargo decking bars should you request that for either type of enclosed trailer service.

BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR FINAL DECISION ON WHICH EQUIPMENT AND SERVICE BEST FITS YOUR SHIPPING NEEDS YOU NEED TO CONSIDER BOTH ORIGIN AND DESTINATION.

Often is the case that when you select the equipment for nonstandard items that are bulky and/or heavy you need to make sure that both origin and destination can accommodate the safe loading and unloading of the item being shipped.

EXAMPLE:

1.) You are going to have an item shipped that might be 10 feet long and 6 feet wide and 7 feet high and weighs 5,000 lbs or more. You may have a forklift and platform dock that can accommodate the safe loading and unloading in or out of an enclosed trailer. THE OTHER PARTY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE THIS.

Helpful Tips:

1.) Most forklifts and tow motors in use today have a lift capacity ranging from 3,500 lbs to 5,000 lbs and have 4-foot tongues to lift with. This means they can usually safely handle items that have footprints no longer or wider than 5 - 6 feet depending on the weight as you near the lift capacity.

2.) If you're shipping a nonstandard, bulky or heavy item as described in tip #1 it is recommended that you call the other party and be sure they can handle this item upon arrival in the trailer you select or without outside assistance.

What can happen if these details are overlooked? Aside from the obvious it usually means having to divert the trailer to another location for delivery, if one can be located. Then you have to get it redelivered which requires multiple handling of the shipment (added risk for damage) and the accompanying additional cost for that. The truck is usually detained for a few hours as a result. Your customer is upset because no one notified them of the arrival of the item. Or, if you are requesting it be picked up from afar and brought to you and no one checked with the shipper to see if they could handle the item for shipping with your selection of service the shipper is upset because they probably prepared to ship it differently, and now it will be in their way at their location for another day or two. The trucking company will likely incur costs associated with the attempted pick up. And, needless to say it will delay its arrival at your location for however long it may take to get the proper equipment in place to transport the item. It is always an ugly situation in which you, your customer and the carrier winds up greatly disappointed with the whole mess. All from the lack of 30-second phone call.

Determining Which Service You Need.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Because price matters to everyone and assuring you that we can provide you an accurate price and quality service, you should read up on the items below. The amount of trailer space you occupy and the type of service you require goes a long way to determining the proper balance of price and service. If you are shipping bulky items, or items that typically exceed 48" x 48" x 48", it is even more important.

Dimensions: Enclosed trailers have pretty much standardized in container size. Most today are either 48 feet or 53 feet long.

Dry Van Length - Almost all trailers are either 48 feet long or 53 feet long. That is the outside dimension, though, and 53-foot vans is the maximum allowed by law. The inside shipping platform is actually 1 foot shorter than advertised. You must take that into consideration when tallying up your dimensions. Obviously, if you require more room than provided by one trailer you will need the use of a second trailer. If your single unit shipping requirements exceed these dimensions See our section flatbed and specialized length.

Dry Van Height - Most have an outside height of 110" with an inside height of 108". You should always measure your goods for shipping height with the skid or unit-shipping platform included in your shipping measurement. Sometimes people measure their item and determine that it is 107" tall and forget to take into consideration the skid or unit-shipping platform and request a van trailer. Upon arrival of the van trailer to pick up your item, your item does not fit into the trailer because the item was then placed atop a 4 inch-high pallet and no one is happy. If you will require climate control service most of these trailers are shorter so you should read about climate control trailers (SEE Climate Control - Height). If your single unit shipping requirements exceed these dimensions see our section flatbed and specialized height.

Dry Van Width - Most have an outside width of 102" (that is the maximum allowed by law) with an inside width of 98"-100". Why is that? Well, for some reason everyone uses the trailer manufacturer dimensions. I don't know how or why this got started some years ago, but I'd sure like to find the person that started it. Anyway, for obvious reasons the inside width is narrower than the outside width because, well, you have to take into account the thickness of the walls of the trailer and that us usually 1" - 2" for each wall or 2" - 4" narrower than that pesky 102" dimension everyone speaks of. If you will require climate control service some of these trailers are even narrower because of the insulation adding to the thickness of the walls. (SEE Climate Control - Width)

Again, it is very important to measure your items for width taking into consideration the skid or unit-shipping platform. Some items people ship have pallets that are larger than the actual item. And, just as important, some items people ship exceed the width of the pallet. It is very important to accurately determine the shipping width of the item. If you are shipping items that you expect to fit side-by-side in the trailer so as to use as little room as possible and keep your shipping cost down we both need to be sure that this is possible. If your single unit item exceeds 98" in width then it won't fit through the door opening of a van trailer and you should see our section flatbed and specialized width.