Trailer equipment rental is broken down into three main categories. Dry transport vehicles are usually flatbed or van style, commonly called box trailers. Liquid transport, often called bottles, usually carry liquefied gases, acids and petroleum products. Refrigerated trailers carry perishable goods. These trailers have a single setting for the whole truck or are broken into smaller sections, each with their own thermostat.
Most trailer leasing companies have three basic options. Rental trailers are for short-term use, such as single trip or season. You can lease a trailer for a longer term, often a year or more. Lease-to-own allows the option to purchase a trailer at the end of the lease; these leases often cost more but carry other benefits. Consider the following when leasing a trailer:
1. Dry transport trailers ship any standard goods, often without special equipment or preparations.
2. Refrigerated trucks are a specialized trailer lease service.
3. Liquid transport requires specialized equipment based on what product you need to ship.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Ship dry goods without specialized trailer equipment leasing
Overland shipment of dry goods is the broadest category of trailer leasing. A single flatbed or box-style trailer can carry an endless variety of goods. Specialized equipment is rarely necessary beyond standard packing processes.
I recommend: Xtra Lease is one of the largest companies of its kind. It provides a large selection of trailer lease services and options, as well as several web applications for clients. Another industry leader,
National Semi, specializes in dry goods trailers in the eastern part of the United States.
Find a trailer leasing company that specializes in refrigerated trucks
It's possible to modify a standard dry goods trailer into a refrigerated unit, but trucks built with refrigeration in mind often have more and better features. Multi-compartment, multi-temp trailers are just some of the options you can find in dedicated refrigerated trailers.
I recommend: PLM Trailer Leasing provides a large number of different sizes and styles of refrigerated trailers and has customization options so your trailer is perfect for your cargo.
PTR Rentals specializes in insulated trailers. In addition to normal refrigeration options, they carry trailers for things that need to remain hot.
Locate a trailer equipment rental company for a specific liquid cargo
Liquid transport is often the most hazardous type of overland transport. The chemicals are often poisonous, flammable or harmful and sometimes all three. Because of this, suppliers will specialize liquid transport trailers for one type of liquid cargo only.
I recommend: For compressed gas shipment,
STL has a large variety of options available. For a wider selection of trailers that you can view right from their webpage, check out
Global Tank Leasing.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- Many trailer leasing companies also provide storage containers. These containers are similar to ones used for waterborne shipping and can greatly increase your on-site storage capacity.
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