Trucker or Air Cargo needed

[Bill Basler]

All:

Wilson Wright and I are trying to coordinate the transportation of the remainder of the club records and archive materials from Tallahassee FL to Cedar Rapids, IA. For the most part, these are paper-based records that are quite heavy. I made one trip down last November to pick up the first load. Du to the weight of paper materials, we met the capacity of the U-Haul on weight long before it was full. In effect, we ended up moving very little volume of material for the money spent to get down to Florida, rent the trailer, etc.

We need a better solution to get this heavy material moved. Are any of you knowledgable about shipping lots of heavy content, half way across the country? Or do any of you work for organizations that specialize in this? Of course, as a non-profit we are trying to be as stingy as possible.

[Wood Commander]

Bill, I'm not sure if this is usefull information or not, but thus is what I have found.

As you know I have made a cross- country move. I have actually made a total of four trips (in 2005) now with more to come. And on most of those trips I needed to move a boat or a car too. After kicking around several strategies and getting various quotes to move boats and cars, here's what I learned-

Budget Truck Rental seemed to have the best deal on a 14-17' Box Van costing in the neighborhood of $1800-2000 for about 2700 miles. Budget would not rent a smaller truck than this for a one way trip of this magnitude. This seemed to be the best deal that I could find and it was done on the internet. If you want a car towing dolly it will probably be about another $300 or so. Get it when you rent the truck or you might be stuck trying to get a rental agent to cough one up later down the line if you decide that you need it.

Budget equips these trucks with a permanently mounted 2" trailer hitch ball. And it rides a little high on the back bumper of this truck. This is workable, but could put smaller trailers in a pretty heaved- up to the front- attitude . Their lighting hookups are pretty decent too. They have good ramps and you can put a pretty good sized padlock on the rear door. And the trucks were in pretty new and decent condition. For this move they gave you eight days of rental.

Gas for the truck pulling a tow cost about $600 at 2005 prices for the 2700 miles.

Overall, if you have the time to invest, this was the cheapest alternative that I could find to fit my needs.

I wish that I didn't have to do anymore of this! Maybe we'll here from some other folks with some different experiences.

I don't know if that helps with what you actually need, but there you are!

Bret

[flicka]

Hi Bill,

How much volume are you talking, cubic feet, etc ? Have you considered crating it all, in a wooden box and ship it Yellow Freight/Roadway ? Another option, what about those cubes you see advertised on TV, they are dropped off, you load and they pick them up with a big truck when you call them back and transport to a terminal for shipping. Or call some of the local movers, they have 'big storage units' that you pack up and they ship off. I think that would be the least expensive.

Last and final thought, is there a CC member here who is a delivery agent for one of the big trucking companies ?

I have to tell you, Bill, these people here are very quite. They read the posts but very few replies. Hmm, I guess everyone's busy doing boat work and the keyboard won't reach.


flicka

[flicka]

Me, again. Another thought, after being knee deep here trying to find a hauler for our boat . . many of these companies haul everything from household to airplanes. Try www.uship.com for example.

Enjoy your 4th,
flicka

[bangsidad]

I am a new member, however , not new in the shipping business. I have been in trucking for over forty years, and know most of the ways to " get it done".
If you can 'containerize" the product in a crate, keep it dry while doing so ( wrap the inside of the plywood crate with plastic before putting in the contents), and put 2 skid runners under the crate, so it can be handled with a fork lift. This is not a big deal, I ship old car parts , etc. and have built many crates in less than a day. I once shipped my hood and radiator from the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Great Falls, Mt., by browing the tools from the matainance guy at the hotel , and going to Home depot for lumber.
So, when done, call a transportation broker and he will find a trucker that has room left in his trailer. It could take a few days to get a good rate. I could do this if you wish as well. Let me know the weight and dems of the ctate or crates, and I can get a rate. Darvin
e depot for lumber.

[THE RAZZ]

Bill,
Try "https://www.freight101.com/default.php?target=ot_rate". I've used SBT/freight101.com several times. Recently they hauled the derelict KB engine (750lbs) OK to CA for under $300.00.
If the material can be boxed per "bagsidad's" suggestions, SBT then bids the job through their network for near instant price from a hauler. SBT was the cheapest quickest way i could find to haul a large load. Good luck. JerryT

[bangsidad]

As"The Rass" stated, the use of a broker can be a good one. I do not know "101", but from their web site, they are clearly a "one call does all" type broker.
I have a problem with this type company, and that is, often they do not know who the actual trucker is.You are just a number , and that could be a problem , sometimes. The use of a truck-load type broker/carrier is much more personal, and secure. The broker often knows the actual driver, and at least the dispatcher. many t/l Brokers actualy dispatch the driver for the trucking company on "back-hauls". The real feat here is putting together several shipments on one trailer, this could take a few days , depending on whats moving at the time, however , the freight will usualy stay on the trailer it is picked up on, and be delivered by the same driver that picked it up. We do this all the time with 500,000 value machinery, as well as engines, raw materials, lumber,steel, what have you.
If you do not have a dock, the use of a roll back wrecker works well for winching on the crate, then backing up to the big truck and pushing the crate into the trailer Darvin