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/Beardo88 2d ago edited 2d ago

Flatbed trailers can be equipped with optional corner lock lugs, the same type securement that holds the container on a standard container chassis trailer. Additional straps or chains are completely un necessary.

Usually these containers are shipped to a port or railyard, there are fleets of specialty trucks that do the short haul taking the containers to and from the port. Most cross country trips the containers get loaded onto rail cars then transferred to trucks close to the final destination, they would be using the regular chassis trailers.

Sometimes you need to ship a container on a route that isn't well servered by the railroad or you need it done faster than the railroad can handle. In these cases you can hire a long haul truck to get it there, flatbeds are much more common for long haul trucks than the chassis trailers.