Advice about what truck and trailer for trucking ocean containers and flatbed

Hi there I’m new to the forum and need advice on starting to haul sea containers and flatbed loads of steel sheets. So here’s the deal;First off I have 20 years experience driving Dumptrucks and a bobtail with a 5th wheel tilt deck equipment trailer locally in southern California. I have had my class A and medical for 20 years. That’s the extent of my trucking experience. I have an opportunity to haul steel for a local company and would like to give it a try but have no knowledge of container “chassis” trailers or flatbed trailers. I also am out of the loop on what trucks have this emissions deal worked out and are not going to be a lemon. I want to start as cheap as possible but don’t want a turd of a truck either. Can anyone offer advice on this? I know there’s some gray knowledge on this form, thanks in advance for any help!

 

Thanks for the reply, a step deck that could also have container locks sounds great.do you have any trailer brands you would recommend or ones to stay away from? I’ll look into that. Do you have a truck recommendation?

 

Thanks for your help. So Long Beach or any port for that matter will only load containers on a chassis? I have to figure out a cheap way to get started here and I don’t feel good about buying a used truck but it is the only way I can afford it

 

Thanks for the link, I really had no clue how bad the container haulers had it. I have no experience in full time trucking but I live two hours from the ports in Southern California and have a line on steady work from a metal importer/ sales company dealing in sheet steel and aluminum. It sounds like I should stay away from the ports and just try to do their flatbed work, but I was just trying to see how I can be a full serve type of an asset to them. They have