Booking a truck, low-loader or long-load trailer: size, weight and papers
Choose transport by the size of the load
A covered semi-trailer truck suits pallets and boxes, a refrigerated truck is needed where temperature matters, and a long-load trailer is for pipes, beams, rebar and other long cargo. Tracked or wheeled machinery, such as an excavator, needs a low-loader. If you only write “I need a truck”, the transporter cannot give an exact price.
Weight and dimensions are the key. An oversized load, one that goes beyond the standard width, height or length, needs a special permit and often an escort, and that adds both cost and time.
What forms the price of a trip
- Distance and direction: an empty return trip may be built into the price.
- Type of transport: a low-loader and a refrigerated truck cost more than an ordinary covered truck.
- Weight and dimensions: an oversized load needs permits.
- Loading: from the top, side or rear; difficulty and time of the operations.
- Papers: with or without a tax invoice, a consignment note for longer hauls.
What to put in your request
- Type of transport — covered, refrigerated, low-loader, long-load trailer.
- Load — exactly what you are moving.
- Weight — in tonnes.
- Dimensions — length, width, height.
- Route — from where to where.
- Loading date.
- Method of loading — top, side, rear.
- Temperature, if the load needs cold.
- Papers — tax invoice, consignment note, permit for an oversized load.
- Budget per trip.
Example: “I need a low-loader to move a 22-tonne excavator, 9 m long, from Central to Kowloon on 10 October. Rear loading, a permit for an oversized load is needed, and payment against a tax invoice. Budget up to HK$5,500 per trip.”
How to compare offers on BlaBlaPrice
Create one request, and transporters who work on your route reply in the chat: which vehicle they offer, the price per trip, the date they can arrive, the papers. Each of them sees where their offer stands and can improve their terms. BlaBlaPrice shows the best-fitting offer first, with reviews of the transporter next to each. Your contacts stay hidden until you choose.
Compare on the same requirements: whether loading and unloading are counted, waiting time, permits, and insurance of the goods. Make sure the stated weight and size fit the vehicle, and ask what happens in case of damage and who prepares the papers. For valuable loads, ask for the terms in writing. For a refrigerated truck, ask whether the vehicle records the temperature during the trip and whether the compartment is pre-cooled before loading. For long loads, ask about the lashing and the warning markers at the ends of the load, because without them it is dangerous on the road.
For shorter local hauls, see a tipper or grain truck, and for small loads see a trailer. More is on the “How it works” page.
