Everyone who has ever faced the necessity to transport cargo from one place to another knows for sure that freight forwarding is a rather complicated and effort-consuming process. If you have no idea how to make up proper routes, pick up the needed packing materials, and what types of trucks to rent, you are going to face serious problems.
Thus, one of the most challenging issues is the right choice of vehicles. When it comes to ground shipping, the number of available trucks can astonish you. It’s important to understand all the peculiarities of different models in order to organize effective transportation of goods. One of the most popular types of shipping trucks is a dry van. You can hardly find a logistics company that doesn’t have the model. Let’s figure out what are the main peculiarities of the model, its main pluses, and minuses.
Dry Van Peculiarities
The greater part of people knows this truck. It’s a traditional semi-trailer that’s fully enclosed to protect content from outside elements. It comes in several variations. The most popular of them include the following:
- Straight ones. The variant is widely used when it comes to various city deliveries. The sizes of the most common variation are 24′ x 8′ x 8′ 6 inches;
- 28-foot trailers. It’s a perfect solution for you if your cargo is up to 22,500 pounds. This variant is often used for LTL orders;
- 53-foot trailers. It’s an awesome solution for interstate shipments. It may carry up to 45,000 pounds.
It’s only a few of the available options. When you hire a freight forwarder, it’s necessary to clarify which vans are used by the firm.
Pros and Cons
Like any other truck, a dry van has its pluses and minuses. There are several reasons why you should choose this variant for the transportation of your freight. They are the following:
- Van carefully protects your goods from bad weather conditions and thefts.
The construction of the truck is rather reliable. The risks of getting your items damaged or spoiled are minimal. At the same time, it doesn’t matter that you may ignore other precautions.
- You save money.
It’s possible to transport bulky products as well as small parcels. It’s a good idea to place cargo on pallets in order to avoid possible shifts or damages;
- You save time.
It’s easy to download and upload goods from the trailer. You need a minimum of additional tools or equipment to fill the trailer.
No wonder, many companies choose this option when organizing shipping. The representatives of such industries as electronics, healthcare, and the beauty industry are frequent orderers of this option.
One of the most disadvantages of the model is the absence of the possibility to transport perishable foods. The model is not temperature-controlled. Thus, it’s not the best solution when it comes to shipping time-sensitive freight.
So, when it comes to shipping standard cargo which doesn’t require any special treatment, you can hardly find a better variant. A dry van is rather capacious to transport many items at one time. Moreover, it’s good for a wide range of products.