Crated freight
How to Ship Crated Freight
Enter each crate’s outside dimensions, its weight and whether anything can go on top. The Load Planner compares the crates against the equipment in our library and shows which options physically fit.
Crate details
Freight Command Center Freight load report
Jay Rock Freight Broker · UCW Logistics 520-394-7400 · jrock@ucwlogistics.com FreightCommandCenter.com
Your load
Correct anything in the shipment and rebuild the answer. Nothing else you entered is lost.
Use this load
The measurement behind the answer: the shipment as FCC read it, every check, every option in full and why some were ruled out.
What was checked
Everything the planner could settle from what you entered is marked as checked. Everything it could not is listed as requiring confirmation rather than assumed, and the two are never mixed.
Space used
A possible arrangement, not an instruction. It shows that the freight can be placed inside the published floor dimensions; the driver and carrier decide the actual load order, weight distribution and securement.
Equipment fit details
Every trailer in the library measured against this shipment, and what each one said about the freight physically. These are fit answers, not a second set of recommendations.
Requires confirmation
Where a figure is marked as requiring confirmation, it is because this site does not publish that measurement for that equipment -- most often the rear-door opening, which is a different measurement from the interior width.
Recommended planning fit, based on the information entered and the equipment figures this site publishes. Actual equipment specifications vary. Final loading, weight distribution, securement and legal compliance remain subject to the carrier, the driver and the actual equipment.
Your stops are already in it. Nothing you do in here changes the shipment above.
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How crated freight is planned
A crate’s shipping size is its outside dimensions, including skids, runners and any lifting frame — not the size of what is inside it. Crates are often built around one item, so sizes vary from crate to crate. Enter each different size as its own freight item.
A crate that looks solid is not necessarily stackable. The lid may take weight when the product inside will not, so the planner plans crates with nothing on top unless you say otherwise.
How a crate is lifted matters as much as its size. A crate that has to be forked from the side, has a heavy end, or stands taller than a van’s door opening may belong on open-deck equipment loaded from the side or from above.
What we need to plan it
- How many crates of each size
- Outside length × width × height, including skids and runners
- The weight of each crate
- Whether another crate can safely sit on top
- Whether the crate can be turned 90° to fit
- How it is lifted at each end: forklift from the sides or ends, or a crane
- Whether it has to stay out of the weather
Equipment to consider
Crates that fit through the doors usually ride in an enclosed van. Tall, heavy or side-loaded crates go on open-deck equipment, with a Conestoga or curtain side when they also need cover.
53' Dry Van
Palletized freight, boxed goods, packaged products, consumer goods and most general freight.
48' Flatbed
Steel, lumber, construction materials, pipe, machinery and general open-deck freight.
Step Deck / Drop Deck
Machinery, equipment and freight that is too tall for a standard flatbed.
Conestoga
Machinery, steel and sensitive industrial freight needing open-deck loading access with weather protection.
Curtain Side
Palletized products, building materials, lumber, beverages and freight that benefits from side access.
The planner compares your shipment against every equipment type in our library that carries this kind of freight. The result it gives you, not this list, is the answer — and actual equipment specifications vary by carrier.
What affects the price
- Outside dimensions and weight — the crate, not the product
- Whether the crates can be stacked
- Enclosed or open-deck equipment, and tarping if the crates need cover
- The loading method at each end
- Distance, the lane, appointments and lead time
- Current market conditions
Common mistakes
- Sending the product’s size instead of the crate’s outside size.
- Leaving skids and runners out of the height.
- Assuming a crate can take weight on top because it looks strong.
- Giving one size for crates that are actually different.
- Not saying how the crate is lifted at pickup and delivery.
Common questions
Should I ship in a crate or on a pallet?
Crates protect fragile, heavy or high-value freight better and cost more to build and ship; pallets are cheaper and easier to handle. Crate or pallet compares the two in detail.
Can crates be stacked on a truck?
Only when both the crate and what is inside it can take the weight. Tell the planner Yes only if you know that; No or Not sure plans the crates with nothing on top.
What if my crates are all different sizes?
Add each size as its own freight item with its own count. The planner keeps them apart and plans the shipment as a whole.
Will my crate fit in a dry van?
That depends on its outside size against the van’s door opening and interior, and on how it has to be loaded. The planner checks each trailer in our library and says which ones the crate physically fits.
Does crated freight need a flatbed?
Not usually. Most crates ride in enclosed vans. Open-deck equipment comes in when a crate is too tall or wide for a van, too heavy to fork from the rear, or has to be loaded by crane.
Related tools and guides
Ready to price this crate shipment?
Use the planner above, then send the shipment to us for an actual freight price. Once you have run a report, this button opens the quote with the shipment already filled in, so nothing is typed twice.