Flatbed Loads
With The Rate On The Board

What fits on a standard deck, legally

The number that governs flatbed work is 13 ft 6 in, the maximum overall vehicle height allowed without a permit in the great majority of states. A standard flatbed deck sits around 5 ft off the ground, which leaves roughly 8 ft 6 in of usable height for the freight. Width is 8 ft 6 in before an oversize permit, and length is the deck.

Everything else about flatbed follows from that. Freight taller than about 8 ft 6 in does not go on a standard flatbed, it goes on a step deck, which drops the deck by roughly 20 inches and buys back the height. Freight wider than 8 ft 6 in is oversize and needs permits, and often escorts, in every state it crosses. Knowing where those lines are is the difference between quoting a load correctly and discovering the problem at the shipper.

What flatbeds actually haul

• Steel, coils, plate, beams, rebar, tubing. Heavy, dense, and frequently the reason a load weighs out long before it cubes out.
• Lumber, plywood and engineered wood, usually tarped, and heavily tied to construction demand.
• Pipe and OCTG for energy and utility work.
• Construction and agricultural machinery, driven or craned on, secured with chains rather than straps.
• Precast concrete, roofing, brick, block and other building products.
• Wind, solar and utility components, increasingly common, frequently oversize.

This mix is why flatbed demand is seasonal and regional in a way dry van is not. Construction and steel follow the building season, and a hard winter in the Midwest shows up in flatbed volumes within weeks. Southern and Gulf lanes stay steadier through it.

Securement and tarping are the job

On a dry van the trailer protects the freight. On a flatbed the driver does. The federal cargo securement rules set out minimum working load limits, the number of tiedowns by cargo length and weight, and specific rules for metal coils, concrete pipe, logs, lumber and machinery. A load that shifts is a citation at best, and the responsibility sits with the driver at the roadside regardless of who loaded it.

Tarping is the other half. Lumber, steel and most building products move tarped, and tarps are heavy, awkward and slow, an hour or more of physical work at each end, in whatever weather there is. Tarped loads pay a premium for exactly that reason, and the premium is quoted separately from the linehaul. If a posting does not say whether it tarps, ask before you accept.

Flatbed against the alternatives

Flatbed rates per mile generally run above dry van, and the gap is not free money, it is paid for in securement time, tarping, weather exposure and a higher physical demand. Whether that trade is worth making depends on the operator more than on the market.

The comparison is worked through properly in flatbed vs dry van vs reefer: what actually pays best. If your freight keeps running tall, the answer is usually a step deck rather than a permit.

Every flatbed load on this board shows its rate before you call, and posting is free for brokers and shippers, which is why the freight is here. See how it works for carriers.