If you are moving to a nearby location then you can drive your own vehicle. However, you will need to take services of a transport company to ship your vehicle, if you are transporting it to far away destinations.
Not only for an individual, but also for any business or company, there will be a need to hire vehicle transportation services. The bigger your items are the more difficult will it be to transport. You will then look for certain reliable, reputed, and experienced transport companies to get help.
For your heavy equipment transport services, you can always rely on the service of Ship a Car, Inc. as they have necessary facilities to handle any oversized loads and can arrange for you special freight carriers depending upon your type of equipment.
The following are a few steps that you need to take, whenever you are planning to transport any heavy equipment from one place to other place.
Table of Contents
1. Perform a proper risk assessment
To start with, it is necessary to list out all the heavy equipment and collect all the data about their size and weight. Plan for necessary requirement of equipment needed for their safe loading. Assess all the risks associated with the loading activities and address if there are any issues.
2. Check the truck or trailer’s hauling capacities
Next, you must check thoroughly all about your trailer that is going to carry your heavy equipment. Assess the conditions of the following:
- Tires – Check the condition of all the tires and their pressures.
- Lights – Both front lights and brake lights must be working.
- Brakes – Make sure that all brakes are functioning and all associated components are in perfect shape.
- Tie-down points – Most states’ standards directive is there should be a minimum of 4 tie-down points for any loads more than 10,000 lbs. Each tie-down point must have its binder or boomer with individual chains.
- Weight – You must confirm the tie-down limit of the working load to add a maximum up to equal or at least 50% of the load weight.
How to load your heavy equipment safely
1. Form a team of people
You need to create a team of people who will be responsible for the loading of your heavy equipment.
2. Clean the trailer
Make sure that your trailer does not have any debris present, particularly there should not be any metallic debris present.
3. Clear the loading area’s level
You need to place a suitable ramp so that you can load your equipment. Clear the space near the trailer so that you can place your ramp.
4. Line up your equipment
Now line up all your equipment as LIFO (last in first out) way so that it will be convenient to unload at the destination end.
5. Start chaining after loading the heavy equipment
After you load all the equipment you need to chain them so that it remains stable.
Loading heavy equipment can be quite a risky job, hence you must always start the activity with proper planning and ensuring all the safety aspects while loading them.
