The Truckers’ Report flatbed Hall of Shame.

The problem is that sometimes the loaders don't push them up against each other, or load them in a two-one-two pattern with the twos up against the sidewalls instead of alternating left/right. The worst is when they put a single in the nose. I don't care how much load securement you put in, if it's loaded poorly it's going to shift if you lock the brakes up.

 

Never loaded them in a van but on a flat unless your split loaded nothing is going in the nose. It's typically center loaded with 10 maybe 12...

 

I saw a flatbed with 15 bunks of particle board. Loaded 4-3-4-4 with the first 4 mostly on the catwalk and where the back 2’ of the sleeper should have been. I don’t know how he did it but that load was still #### near the shape it was when they loaded it. It must have slid twenty some feet, I bet he had time to think about it before it hit the bunk.

looked like everyone was okay, an officer was escorting the truck slowly to the off ramp where a wrecker was waiting with a forklift.

 

MDF, particle board, and even plywood (usually pretty grippy, but all it takes is a little sawdust) gets x-straps on the front and a angled strap over the front of any taller stacks. I had a hard brake with MDF and the whole 48' of load tightened right up, but x-straps did their job and it all stayed where it was supposed to be, just no gaps left between the stacks.

Now if it’s bad enough to rip out my straps, I’ll likely have bigger concerns to deal with.

 

If you load a van like a flat you're screwed. Actual logistics bars might work, but to the best of my knowledge the good ones are rated for 4,000 lbs while etrack straps are 1,800. I don't know many TL van drivers who have logistics bars that clip into the side walls. LTL guys, sure, but OTR van? Loading in the nose and spacing the freight out is going to work a lot better than building a bulkhead.

I'm not sure how this is going to format out, but I usually have 15-20 loaded as:

X X
X
X
XX
X
XX
X
XX
X
XX
X
XX

That distributes the weight, but leaves everything braced all the way up. I actually prefer the last two to be centered left/right so I can get the strap into a solid trapezoid shape pulling everything up and together. Depending on the weight of the product (friggin bleach, I'm looking at you) you'll have fewer totes so there will be a couple more single pallet space.

The problem comes when they load

X
X X
X
X X
X
X X

It's relatively easy for the double slots to move a little left/right; once they do, they pivot. Once they've pivoted, every time the driver taps the brakes they will shift forward. If it's a hard brake, everything is going forward.

It's even worse if the loader hasn't snuggled everything up against each other. I had one load of bleach in totes where the loader left almost two inches between each tote. It quickly became "a thing", with the shipper threatening to complain to my company about me and me saying "go right ahead, I'm calling safety right now and not leaving the dock until this Poopy Poopivich Show is fixed or off my trailer". Once they fixed it the totes ended an entire wall section further forward (about 2.5 feet). It's not all that noticeable unless the driver climbs into the trailer to take a gander and most drivers don't. Then when the driver reacts to the idiots driving idiotically the freight shifts and the driver gets the blame.

 

Dry vans I feel bad for. I’ve seen eye to the sky coils loaded in them. Even train axles and wheels attached. I’ve seen raw steel, and even lumber loaded. Also those IBC totes full. There’s no way to secure them probably.

All to save a buck since it’s cheaper than flatbed.

 

hell they even haul skidsteers and mini ex's and small forklifts in the back of vans.. no securement at all . just close the doors and ride..

 

I Unloaded a van trailer once and found a 3/4 ton pickup truck hidden in the nose.

 

It depends on the shipper (and driver). For a good bit we hauled John Deere Gators - they were braced so well that unless the trailer ended up on it's side they wouldn't move. Then you'd spend an hour trying to get all the nails out of the floor. On the other hand I've hauled axles into John Deere that I had no ability to secure - I could strap the racks the axles are loaded in so they wouldn't move, but the axles themselves? Not a chance because they were just set on the racks so any left/right movement was unrestrained.

Most things I can secure properly - provided they're loaded properly. Wheeled vehicles need wood chocks nailed into the floor, coils need e-bracing for the pallet and straps fore and aft to cradle the coil, totes/gaylords need a good loading plan.

Honestly, I'd rather haul coils, train axles, raw steel, or lumber over 2 liter bottles of soda. Odds are the former are loaded by someone with at least half a brain and I'll have a chance to kibitz with someone about any concerns. Whereas the 2 liter bottles are stacked on a pallet with no 'bonding', the bare minimum wrap, and are often loaded in a pattern that allows the load to be scaled out but is inherently unstable.

Heck, even flour is more dangerous to haul than eye to the sky coils. When they build the pallets the flour bags (or sugar/rice/whatever) tend to overhang the pallet, so even if the loader pushed things together there is still space between the pallets. What happens is the pallets will try to move forward every time the brakes are applied and the bags will shift vertically to allow the movement.

I had one guy who struggled with the concept of pulling into a spot/onto a scale. He was driving the tractor and not the trailer, so to develop his skills I made him put the vehicle on the scale even when not necessary, but to salve his ego we scaled the load "to compare the customer's scale to a Cat Scale" and then to "figure out how much fuel we could add". Yes, I had to invent reasons to do things to train the "gentleman" because if I just told him he sucked at driving and life I would have been sued for ageism. Anywho, we had a flour load that scaled out at the customer's three axle scale, but when we put it on the CAT scale the drives were significantly heavier while the gross weight was the same. A couple hundred miles later we scaled before fueling and the drives were again heavier than before, while gross weight was consistent with the fuel we'd burned off. When we got to the consignee and popped the seal the freight was about a foot further forward than when we loaded. We had no 'significant' braking events, let alone a 'hard brake', but a preloaded/presealed trailer shifted enough that we had to adjust the tandems twice along the way.

 

I've hauled rod coils. Tractors, sweepers, boom lifts, forklifts, etc. it can be done, we did have trailers for this. Not all trailers are equal. No one statement in this industry covers everyone.

Also not saying you made a assumption. But alot do.