Overweight??

You definetly came to the right place to get help, I applaud you for that.

SheepDog

 

Your drivers need to have scales available to them. You also need to set up requirement for the tractors hauling your containers. Weight wise. If a driver is in a volvo and the container will not axle out, he needs to be able to have the container pulled and set on the other direction. If it still will not scale out he si,ply can not take it.

Put it on a Freightliner Columbia (lighter weight tractor). Sliding 5th wheels help but too heavy is to heavy it has to be pulled and put on a lighter tractor.

Im a Bulk Hauler, My tare is 23900 t0 24100 depending on the scales, thats full of fuel with empty trailers. A Volvo would be 26500 or more.

WHom ever is responsible for allocating the loads has to consider the tractor weight, trailer frame weight and the container weight. Not just the destination.

 

Most containers that I have dealt with have sliders and that has been the case for a long time, in my experience. I like the blanket overweight permit idea and Rollover brought up some very valid points. I can agree with what whoever wrote about the "drivers not being very happy" but they are the ones that rolled with the load, if they are pulling out of the port then my bet is they have a scale available to them and they are supposed to make it legal before they toot on down the highway, or dont take it. And I also applaud you for trying to make this right

 

I was under the impression that Overweight Blanket Permits were for non-divisible loads only ?????

 

You really can not do the drivers job for them.

 

More than likely they have scales available to them at the rail yard, or very nearby. If they scale at the rail yard there is probably no charge for using it but if there is it would be minimal, as would a nearby scale. Are you able to get the loads scaled on your end then there would be no problems? Tractor weights would not be the same probably but you could certainly get the weights in the ball park of where they need to be.

Chicago to Indy is about 200 miles so depending on the unload time they can do that and return to Chicago in a day cab, with time to spare. Depends on what is happening with the container after it's unloaded. Or is it being dropped? Maybe they are dropping the container and moving on to another project? Maybe whoever you are using are giving these loads to the drivers at the end of their day and they cant make it back to Chicago without taking a break. Anyway, if they are leaving and returning to Chicago with the same can and dont have to take a 10 hour break they dont need a sleeper.

I think what Powder Joints was saying is at the railyard they can flip the container and put it back on the chassis backwards so the doors are facing the rear of the truck, I've always wondered about that and have seen it before but not sure how they unload it unless they have an outside portable dock. I dont really know nothing about "blanket permits" so cant help you there.

You might want to check into who you are using over here to haul your freight. Granted it is best if you have the weight distributed in the can before it comes over here but from your posts it kinda sounds like who you are using might be a cheesy outfit ie: drivers are not happy because they cant scale the loads, have to use a sleeper to do a 400 mile round trip.

Best of luck

 

the problem with trying to move the weight in most container loads is twofold 1. as said here not all (not many really) container chassis have sliding tandems, and 2. most container loads I have had over the years are loaded floor to roof nose to tail with identical boxes on occasion might have different set up but many are completely full with no place to move the load to also since many come from China ETC they don't pay attention to weight if it fit's it ships.

 

Maybe this isn't an option, but what about using a 10' split or a tridem instead of a normal tandem trailer? Also, are the containers being loaded on the rearmost pins? Shorter containers that are loaded too far forward would be an issue. One other thing, is the drivers are ultimately responsible. It's always their drives that are heavy, and they SHOULD know their gauges well enough to know they're heavy. So, they know they're overweight on their drives, and as such should be refusing to go with the load as it is.

 

For Illinois Overweight Permits call 217-785-1477 for Chicago Steets call: 312-744-4696.
Indiana Call: 317-486-5500 hope this helps.