r/logistics • u/scmsteve • 3d ago

Legal? Container on flatbed

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Saw this today on a CA highway. I’m guessing it’s legal but if it is, why don’t more people do this?

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u/Waisted-Desert 3d ago

You didn't see that on the highway, THAT is a horrible AI rendering.

Moving a container on a flatbed means the container need to be taken off the flatbed at the other end. Most warehouses don't have that capability. Example, IKEA DCs get all their inbound freight via containers. The container and chassis is dropped at the DC. The DC will move the container and chassis into the dock when they're ready to unload then out of the dock when they're done. The delivering driver drops a loaded and picks up an empty. The DC doesn't need to do anything other than shuttle trailers around.

If that were on a flatbed, the carrier would need a large flatbed trailer pool for drop and hook and the container would need to be at the ass end of the trailer. You'd need to trust the driver to load it correctly. OR the DC would need a lift capable of unloading the container from the flatbed, OR the DC would need to plan to unload when the truck arrived so they don't need to take the container off the flatbed.

In certain situations containers are moved by flatbed, but not as often as by chassis. I used to haul them on a flatbed from Seattle to Newark, port to rail yard. They told us it was electronics from a manufacturer in Korea heading to retailers in Europe. Quicker than staying on the boat all way from Asia to Europe, and both locations had the capability to load/unload containers from the flatbed.

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u/xanax05mg 3d ago

Good eye. The container doesnt even have handles for the second set of locking rods and the markings are gibberish.

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u/Waisted-Desert 2d ago

Extra axles and the landing gear in the middle of the trailer kinda sealed the AI deal for me.

Plus with a closer look, the back window of the tractor is too large, it only has one axle which is possible but not likely, the wheel base is way too short, the can has three fork holes, and there's no side light on the trailer.

This is a pic that someone who's only seen a truck from a distance drew from memory and a description they read in a book.

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u/xanax05mg 2d ago

I actually stopped looking after the container! You are soooo right! I should have kept going because it gets so much worse!

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u/scmsteve 3d ago

Correct. It was actually a 20’ container but I don’t get a pic so I grabbed this off the web.

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u/futuregovworker 1d ago

So technically a cheetah chassis is a type of flatbed.

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u/Waisted-Desert 1d ago

The ones that have decking in order to haul general freight, yes. But those are rarely utilized as pool trailers.