Almost every machinery export quote contains a number that buyers barely look at and then argue about later, which is the cost of getting the machine from where it sits to the port. It is rarely the largest line on the invoice, but it is reliably the one that moves most between a rough estimate and a real booking, because it depends on the exact dimensions of your machine and on the laws of every state it has to cross. This guide explains how that leg actually works, so that when you compare two quotes you can see which one has been priced honestly.
The short version
A machine travels to the port on one of three kinds of trailer, and which one it needs is decided almost entirely by how tall it is once it is sitting on a deck. The taller the machine, the lower the deck has to be, and the lower the deck, the heavier and more specialized the trailer. That is the whole logic in one sentence, and everything below is detail hanging off it.
- Flatbed, with a deck about 60 inches off the ground, for machines short enough that the combined height still clears the limit.
- Stepdeck or dropdeck, with a lower deck roughly 34 to 42 inches up, which buys you around two more feet of machine.
- Double drop, lowboy or RGN, with a well only 18 to 24 inches off the road, which is what the genuinely tall machines need.
RGN stands for removable gooseneck, which simply means the front of the trailer detaches so the machine can be driven up into the well from the front instead of being craned on. For a self-propelled machine that still runs, this is usually the cheapest way to load it.
The one number that decides everything: your machine's height. Add it to the deck height and compare the total against 13 feet 6 inches. Clear that and you have an ordinary trucking job. Exceed it and you are in permit territory, which costs money and, more importantly, costs days.
What is legal without any permit
These are the United States federal limits that apply on the Interstate System and the National Network. Stay inside all of them and the move is routine.
- Gross weight: 80,000 lb (36,287 kg) for the whole combination, truck and trailer and machine together.
- Single axle: 20,000 lb (9,072 kg).
- Tandem axle: 34,000 lb (15,422 kg).
- Width: 102 inches (2.59 m) exactly. States are not permitted to set a figure above or below this. Mirrors and handholds do not count toward it.
- Length: there is no federal overall length limit for most tractor and semitrailer combinations on the National Network.
Height is the one people get wrong, so it is worth stating plainly. There is no federal height limit at all. Height is set by each individual state, and the Federal Highway Administration gives the range of state standards as 13 feet 6 inches to 14 feet 6 inches (4.11 to 4.42 m). In practice you plan every multi-state move to 13 feet 6 inches, because a route is only as generous as the strictest state on it.
The bridge formula, in plain words
There is a further rule that catches people out, because two trucks can both weigh exactly 80,000 lb and only one of them be legal. The federal bridge formula says that the more axles you have, and the further apart they are spread, the more weight that group of axles is allowed to carry. It exists so that a short, heavy cluster of wheels does not put all its load on one bridge span at once. Written out, it is:
W = 500 x ( (L x N) / (N - 1) + 12N + 36 ), where W is the allowable weight in pounds on a group of axles, L is the distance in feet from the first to the last axle in that group, and N is how many axles are in it.
The practical consequence is that spreading the load is sometimes cheaper than reducing it. The regulation also contains the exception that makes ordinary trucking possible at all: two consecutive sets of tandem axles may each carry 34,000 lb provided the distance from the first to the last axle of those two sets is 36 feet or more. That is precisely why a standard five-axle tractor and semitrailer can run at 80,000 lb.
Trailers, decks and what each one can really carry
The figures below are typical ranges rather than fixed numbers, because deck height varies with the specific trailer, its suspension, its tires and its ride height. Treat them as planning figures and confirm against the actual trailer on the job.
Flatbed, 48 and 53 foot
- Deck height about 60 inches (1.52 m), width 102 inches (2.59 m).
- Typical payload around 48,000 lb (21,770 kg).
- Maximum machine height on the deck about 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) against a 13 foot 6 inch limit.
This is the trailer for skid steers, compact track loaders, mini excavators and small telehandlers. If your machine fits here, the road leg is simply trucking and should be priced like trucking.
Stepdeck or dropdeck
- Upper deck 58 to 62 inches (1.47 to 1.57 m); lower deck 34 to 42 inches (0.86 to 1.07 m).
- Lower deck length 35 to 37 feet on a 48 footer, 40 to 42 feet on a 53 footer.
- Payload roughly 43,000 to 48,000 lb (19,500 to 21,770 kg).
- Maximum machine height on the lower deck about 10 feet 0 inches with a 42 inch deck, rising to about 10 feet 8 inches with a 34 inch deck.
Double drop, lowboy and RGN
- Well height 18 to 24 inches (0.46 to 0.61 m). Air ride drops it another inch or two under load.
- Well length 24 to 29 feet on a fixed gooseneck, 29 to 35 feet on a removable gooseneck, and up to 53 feet on stretch models. Usable flat deck is often two to four feet shorter than the advertised well.
- Maximum machine height roughly 11 feet 2 inches to 11 feet 10 inches depending on the deck, once you allow for securement.
- Trailer tare 15,000 to 20,000 lb for a fixed gooseneck and 18,000 to 26,000 lb for an RGN. The removable gooseneck adds 3,000 to 6,000 lb of its own, which comes straight off what you can carry.
Axle count is what changes the capacity. Two axles carry roughly 40,000 lb, three carry roughly 60,000 lb, and four or more carry 80,000 lb and upward.
Read this before you quote your own job. Those 60,000 lb and 80,000 lb figures are what the trailer is built to carry, not what the road will let you carry. Once the machine is much over 45,000 to 48,000 lb on a standard tractor and trailer you are over the 80,000 lb gross limit and you are buying permits. A trailer's structural rating and a highway's legal rating are two completely different things, and confusing them is the single most common reason a cheap quote turns expensive.
Permits: the cost is the calendar, not the fee
You need an oversize or overweight permit the moment the loaded combination exceeds any one of the limits above. One dimension over is enough. The fee itself is usually modest. What actually costs you is everything attached to it.
Permits are issued per state, and there is no national permit. A machine moving from a Midwest auction yard to a Gulf or East Coast port crosses three to six states, which means three to six separate applications, each with its own fee, its own conditions, and its own idea of which roads you may use. The permitted route is frequently not the shortest route.
Lead times vary widely. Oregon states that an over-dimension permit could take up to ten days and may require a route survey first. Washington requires a written request at least thirty days ahead for anything over 200,000 lb, and at least seven calendar days for anything over sixteen feet wide or high.
The restrictions that come with the permit
- Daylight only on most oversize moves, usually with a half hour either side of sunrise and sunset.
- Weekend limits. Saturday is commonly sunrise to noon. Sunday is often barred outright.
- Holidays. Between six and eleven holidays are restricted depending on the state.
- Urban curfews, typically around 6am to 9am and 3:30pm to 6pm in the larger metropolitan areas.
None of this is unusual or a sign that something has gone wrong. It is simply why an oversize move takes days rather than hours, and why anyone promising you a tall machine across four states by the weekend has not applied for the permits yet.
Moving a machine to the port?
Give us the make, model and where it sits. We will tell you which trailer it needs and what the road leg really costs.
Get a QuoteEscorts and pilot cars
This varies by state more than almost anything else in heavy haul, so the only honest general answer is a range that gets confirmed state by state once the route is set.
- A pilot car is generally expected above roughly 12 feet wide, above roughly 14 feet 6 inches high, or above roughly 90 feet long.
- A second escort typically appears somewhere around 14 to 16 feet wide.
- A high-pole car, which runs ahead measuring overhead clearances, is usually required somewhere above 14 feet 6 inches to 15 feet 9 inches of height.
- Police escorts are most commonly required for travel through a city, or once a load is edging past about 15 feet wide.
As examples of how much the detail moves: Florida requires one escort above 12 feet wide and two above 14 feet, while Texas does not require the first until 14 feet and the second until 18 feet. New York wants one at 12 feet, two at 14 feet and three above 16 feet. Utah distinguishes between secondary highways and freeways, requiring an escort above 12 feet wide on the former but not until 14 feet on the latter.
A single move can need both private pilot cars and police escorts at different points on the route, and each is a separate cost with its own availability.
Superloads, and why your machine probably is not one
A superload is a move so far beyond legal that it leaves the routine permit system entirely and goes to individual engineering review. The thresholds are set by each state and they vary enormously. Washington, Florida and Minnesota all start at about 200,000 lb, Oklahoma at 120,000 lb, Texas not until 254,300 lb, and Alaska at 250,000 lb. The width and height triggers scatter just as widely.
Being classified a superload means the state will analyze the bridges and the pavement along your proposed route and will only issue the permit if it judges the structures adequate. You may be asked to contribute to the cost of that engineering work, a route survey may be required before approval, and escorts and movement hours are then negotiated rather than issued as standard. Lead times run from ten to thirty days.
Useful perspective. Very few used construction machines reach superload thresholds once they have been properly dismantled. A dismantled large excavator or a D8-class dozer is a heavy permitted move, which is a normal and manageable thing. Superload territory is really assembled mining excavators and three hundred tonne cranes. If someone is quoting you superload lead times for a 30 tonne excavator, ask why nothing is coming off it.
Collecting from the auction yard
If the machine is sitting at a machinery auction, there are some practical realities worth knowing before you arrange the truck, because they catch out first-time exporters regularly. Ritchie Bros. publishes its policy clearly and the other major yards work in much the same way.
- The yard does not load as a standard service. Staff may help with stationary equipment where a loader or forklift is needed, at their discretion and first come first served.
- They will not load a self-propelled machine that can reasonably be driven. The expectation is that your driver drives it onto the trailer, which means the machine needs to actually run.
- Anything beyond the capacity of the yard's own forklifts and loaders is yours to arrange.
- Loading is daylight only, by appointment, within site hours, and the last truck is usually admitted well before closing.
- Nothing leaves until it is paid for in full, and a release ticket has to be presented before loading.
One detail that matters specifically to exporters: the yard will require a bill of lading for equipment going to a foreign country. This is exactly the document we issue as the ocean carrier, so if we are handling your shipment it is already in hand rather than something you have to go and find on collection day.
Auction yards also charge storage once their removal window closes, and on machinery those charges are heavier than on cars because the footprint is larger. The windows and the rates differ by auctioneer and by site, so check the terms of sale for the specific yard. The reliable advice is simply to arrange collection at the same moment you arrange payment, because this is the most avoidable cost on the entire shipment.
How the road leg fits into the whole price
The road leg is one of several moving parts, and the reason we quote it together with the ocean freight rather than separately is that the two interact. A machine that is dismantled to fit a container is also, very often, a machine that no longer needs an oversize permit to reach the port. The dismantling that saves you money on the ocean leg can save you money on the road leg at the same time, and a quote that prices the two in isolation will miss that entirely.
If you want to see how the ocean side of that decision works, our guide to what it costs to ship heavy equipment covers the container against flat rack question in detail, and the excavator guide walks through what actually comes off a machine and what it saves.
Heavy haulage questions
What kind of trailer does my machine need to get to the port?
It is decided by height more than by weight. Short machines such as skid steers, compact track loaders and mini excavators go on a flatbed with a deck around 60 inches. Taller machines go on a stepdeck with a lower deck of 34 to 42 inches, which buys roughly two more feet. The tallest go on a double drop or RGN with a well only 18 to 24 inches off the road. Send us the make and model and we will tell you which one yours needs rather than guessing.
What does RGN mean?
Removable gooseneck. The front section of the trailer detaches so the machine can be driven up into the well from the front rather than lifted on by crane. For a self-propelled machine that still runs under its own power, this is normally the cheapest way to load.
Is a lowboy the same thing as a double drop?
In everyday use, yes. Both describe a trailer with a low well between the gooseneck and the rear axles, built so that tall cargo can sit close to the road. The useful distinction in practice is between a fixed gooseneck and a removable one, because that changes how the machine gets on and off.
How tall can my machine be before it needs a permit?
Add the machine height to the deck height and compare against 13 feet 6 inches, which is the figure you plan to on any multi-state move. On a 60 inch flatbed that leaves roughly 8 feet 6 inches of machine. On a 38 inch stepdeck, roughly 10 feet 4 inches. On a 20 inch lowboy well, roughly 11 feet 6 inches once securement is allowed for.
What is the legal weight limit for a truck in the USA?
On the Interstate System and the National Network the federal limits are 80,000 lb gross for the whole combination, 20,000 lb on a single axle and 34,000 lb on a tandem. Some states allow more under grandfather rights that predate the federal law. Where two limits give different answers, the lower one applies.
What is the legal height limit for a truck in the USA?
There is no federal height limit. Height is set by each state, and the published range of state standards runs from 13 feet 6 inches to 14 feet 6 inches. Because a route is only as generous as its strictest state, 13 feet 6 inches is the planning figure for anything crossing state lines.
What is the legal width limit?
A flat 102 inches, or 2.59 metres. This one is genuinely uniform, because states are not permitted to set a figure either above or below it. Mirrors and other safety devices are not counted toward the width.
What is the federal bridge formula and why does it matter to me?
It is a rule that limits the weight on any group of consecutive axles based on how many axles there are and how far apart they sit. The more axles and the wider the spread, the more weight that group may carry. It exists so a short heavy cluster of wheels does not concentrate its load on a single bridge span. It matters to you because two trucks can both weigh 80,000 lb and only one be legal, which means spreading a load is sometimes cheaper than reducing it.
My trailer says it carries 60,000 lb. Why can I not load 60,000 lb?
Because the trailer rating and the road rating are different things. The trailer is built to carry that much, but the highway caps the whole combination at 80,000 lb gross, and the truck and trailer themselves account for a large share of that. On a standard tractor and trailer you are generally over the legal gross somewhere past 45,000 to 48,000 lb of machine. Beyond that you are into permits and extra axles, which is a legitimate option but a different price.
Do I need one permit or several?
Several. Permits are issued by each state individually and there is no national permit. A machine travelling from a Midwest auction yard to a Gulf or East Coast port typically crosses three to six states and needs a permit from each one, with its own fee, its own route and its own conditions.
How long does an oversize permit take?
It depends enormously on the state and on how far over legal you are. Oregon states that an over-dimension permit could take up to ten days and may require a route survey. Washington requires thirty days notice for anything over 200,000 lb and seven days for anything over sixteen feet wide or high. Modest over-dimension moves are considerably quicker in most states, but the honest answer is to allow days rather than hours and to start early.
Why can the truck only move during the day?
Most oversize permits restrict travel to daylight hours, generally with about thirty minutes either side of sunrise and sunset. There are usually weekend limits as well, with Saturday often restricted to sunrise until noon and Sunday frequently barred, plus holiday restrictions and rush-hour curfews in major cities. This is normal and it is the main reason an oversize move takes days.
When do I need a pilot car?
As a general guide, above roughly 12 feet wide, above roughly 14 feet 6 inches high, or above roughly 90 feet long, with a second escort appearing somewhere between 14 and 16 feet wide. The precise triggers differ sharply between states. Florida wants an escort above 12 feet wide while Texas does not until 14 feet, so the route determines the answer as much as the machine does.
What is a high-pole escort?
A pilot car carrying an adjustable pole set to the height of your load, running ahead of the truck to find overhead obstructions such as low bridges, signs and power lines before the machine reaches them. It is usually required somewhere above 14 feet 6 inches of load height, depending on the state.
Will I need a police escort?
Sometimes, and most commonly when the load has to travel through a city or when it is pushing past about 15 feet wide. A single move can need both private pilot cars and police escorts at different stages, each arranged separately and each carrying its own cost and availability.
What makes a load a superload?
Exceeding a state threshold so far above legal that the move goes to individual engineering review rather than a routine permit. The thresholds vary widely. Washington, Florida and Minnesota start at around 200,000 lb, Oklahoma at 120,000 lb, Texas not until 254,300 lb. Width and height triggers scatter similarly.
Is my excavator going to be a superload?
Almost certainly not, once it is properly dismantled. Superload territory is really assembled mining equipment and very large cranes. A dismantled large excavator or a big dozer is a heavy permitted move, which is routine work. If someone is quoting superload lead times for a 30 tonne machine, the question to ask is why nothing is being taken off it.
What actually happens on a superload move?
The state analyzes the bridges and pavement along your proposed route and issues the permit only if the structures are judged adequate. You may be asked to contribute to the cost of that engineering work, a route survey may be required first, and the escorts and movement hours are negotiated rather than standard. Allow ten to thirty days.
Will the auction yard load the machine onto the truck for me?
Not as a standard service. Yard staff may assist with stationary equipment where a loader or forklift is needed, at their discretion and on a first come first served basis, but they will not load a self-propelled machine that can reasonably be driven. Anything beyond the capacity of their own equipment is yours to arrange.
Does the machine need to run to be collected?
It helps a great deal. A machine that drives can be taken onto an RGN under its own power, which is the cheapest loading method there is. A machine that does not run needs lifting or winching, which means different equipment and a higher price. Tell us at quoting stage whether it runs, because it genuinely changes the number.
Do I need a bill of lading to get equipment out of the auction yard?
For equipment going to a foreign country, yes, the yard will require one. As the ocean carrier we issue that document, so when we are handling the shipment it is already in place rather than something you have to chase on collection day.
How long can the machine sit at the yard before charges start?
Each auctioneer sets its own removal window and its own storage rates, and they differ by site as well, so check the terms of sale for the specific yard. What is consistent is that machinery accrues storage faster than cars because it occupies more ground. Arrange collection at the same time you arrange payment and the question never arises.
Do you handle the road leg as well as the ocean freight?
Yes, and we prefer to, because the two decisions affect each other. A machine dismantled to fit a container is frequently also a machine that no longer needs an oversize permit to reach the port. Pricing the road leg and the ocean leg together is the only way to see that saving.
Can you collect from anywhere in the USA?
Yes. We arrange collection nationwide, from auction yards, dealers and private sellers in any state, to our warehouses and onward to the port. Give us the pickup zip code and the machine details and we will price it.
Why is one quote for the road leg so much cheaper than another?
Usually because it assumes a trailer the machine will not actually fit on, or because it leaves out the permits, the escorts or the loading. Ask what trailer the quote assumes, whether permits are included, and what happens to the price if the machine turns out taller than the listing says. The answers separate a real quote from a placeholder quickly.
Are you a broker or the carrier?
We are the ocean carrier. Cassandra Logistics is a federally licensed Ocean Transportation Intermediary under FMC license OTI No. 025125NF, legally Royal Port Container Lines, Inc. DBA Cassandra Logistics. The license is public and verifiable with the Federal Maritime Commission, and on cargo this valuable it is worth verifying whoever you are dealing with.
Import rules change. The customs information on this page comes from official government sources and was accurate when published, but duties, age limits, inspection regimes and eligibility requirements are set by the destination country and can change without notice. Cassandra Logistics is a licensed ocean carrier, not a customs authority or a legal adviser. We are not responsible for changes to foreign import law, or for decisions made by customs at destination. Always confirm current requirements with a licensed customs agent in the destination country before you buy a machine.