It normally takes 1~3days for most truck freight to ship domestically. It might take 4~10 days if the cargo is cross-country long haulage or cross board service going to Mexico or Canada.
What is truck freight?
Truck freight is cargo transferred by truck. The majority of truck freight is domestic, but there are some cross-border truck freights that is going to Canada and Mexico.
3 major truck freights
90% of truck freight is shipped by regular truck. There are different sizes of truck to use based on the size and weight of cargo
Regualr truck freight
- Cargo van
- Weight capacity is around 2000 lbs
- About 2 skids
- Sprinter van
- Weight capacity is around 3250 lbs
- About 3 skids
- Straight trucks
- Weight capacity is around 12,500 lbs
- About 10 skids
- Dry van
- 53′ dry van is a typical dry van to haul cargo
- Weight capacity is around 43,000 lbs
- About 26 skids
Flat bed truck freight
- Standar 48′ or 53′ flat bed
- weight capacity is around 44,000 lbs
- can load 24 skids approximately
- Drop deck flat bed
- Same weight and load capacity as standard flat bed
- Deck is lower than regular flat bed for easy loading and unloading
- Expandable flat bed
- Same weight and load capacity as standard flat bed
- The loading bed can expand up to 90′
Reefer truck freight
Carry refrigerated loads. normally Reefer truck equipped with metal floor and cooling system.
Transit time of truck freight
Because the majority of truck freight is domestic, so average transit time of truck freight is between 1~3 days.
Exceptions such as long-distance cross the whole country haulage, picking up from the west coast like California then delivering to the east coast at New York, the transit time will take roughly 6 days.
The other exception is crossing board truck freight. There is a lot of freight back and forth to Mexico or Canada. Because of custom, and permit requests for truckers, so the transit time varies greatly depending on border traffic.
How to calculate truckload transit time
DOT (United States Department of Transportation) Hours of service
DOT regulates that commercial truck drivers may work no than 60 hours per week or 70 hours over eight days. All commercial truck drivers need to maintain a driver’s log. Nowadays most truck drivers use electronic logging devices (ELD) to keep their records of duty.
After 60 hours of drive that truck driver need 34 hours rest time to restart their work.
when a driver needs to restart his clock means they already took their 34 hours rest and ready to start work week.
How to calculate transit time
A truck driver normally drives at a speed of 47mph. Generally speaking, Truck drivers can drive 550 miles per day.
For example there are roughly 1246 miles from Los Angeles to Texas, so it will take about 2.5 days transit time
Canculation: 1246 miles / 550 miles per day = 2.5 days
This is a rough calculation, transit time varies based on types of truck and types of cargo
SOLO or TEAM
Solo means one driver, team means two drivers.
If you want a truck to deliver cargo fast, you will need to hire team drivers, but of course, a team driver will cost much more than a solo.
Because of DOT regulations, every 8 hours a truck driver needs to rest 30 min, and their maximized driving hours per day is about 11 hours. Team drivers will greatly shorten the transit time. when one driver is resting and the other one can drive.
Weekend or after hour service
Normally truckers do not work on weekend or after work hours, but they can provide these speical service when requested.
Truckers will charge extra money for weekend or after hour service. weekend delivery is about $300 more. after hours service is $100~$500 extra.
Final Thought
U.S. Department of energy declaimed that the truck industry is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy because the U.S. truck industry moves roughly 72.5% of the nation’s freight and hired millions of people.
The American trucks also transported 70.9% of the goods between the U.S. and Canada, and 83.8% between the U.S. and Mexico in 2020. (based on American truck association)
It doesn’t matter if your cargo is shipped by ocean or air, you still need truck service on last-mile delivery- deliver products to your customers.
Amazon is a pioneer to provide 2-day delivery. Right now more and more retailers such as Walmart, target to follow Amazon to provide 2-day delivery or even same-day delivery. . Same-day transit time is a new nom in e-commence.
Although the truck is the main transportation mode for last-mile delivery right now, we already see new tools used for local delivery such as a drone. People expect fast and fast transit time. I believe there will be more ways to deliver cargo locally or even nationwide with the development of technology.
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