Haulage
Specialised Transport for Plant, Machinery and Awkward Loads
Some loads are not freight. They are too heavy, too big, too oddly shaped or too valuable to go on a lorry the way a pallet does — plant and machinery, industrial equipment, fabricated steel, tanks and vessels, and the one-off item nobody has moved before. That is the work this page is about.
What counts as specialised
Excavators, dumpers, telehandlers and site plant are the bulk of it. After that come machine tools and production equipment coming out of a factory, fabricated steel and structures, tanks and vessels, portable buildings, and items that are simply longer, wider or taller than a curtain sider will take.
The common thread is that the load decides the vehicle rather than the other way round, and that getting it wrong is expensive. A machine dropped badly is a machine that needs repairing before it earns anything.
Getting it off at the other end
Specialised deliveries go wrong at the destination far more often than at the origin. Something craned on at a depot arrives somewhere with no lifting equipment at all. Our HIAB crane lorries carry their own crane, so the load comes off where it needs to be and is placed rather than dumped.
Where it can be loaded and unloaded by others, a flatbed is usually the cheaper answer. We will tell you which applies once we know the access at both ends.
What we need to know
Weight, dimensions, where the lifting points are and what the access is like at each end. This is work that is unforgiving of a guess — a load 300mm taller than described can turn into a route that no longer works.
We are FORS accredited and an HS2 approved supplier, so plant and equipment going to infrastructure and construction sites can be delivered by a haulier the site will admit through the gate.
Specialised transport questions
What sort of loads do you class as specialised?
Plant and machinery, industrial and production equipment, fabricated steel and structures, tanks and vessels, portable buildings, and anything longer, wider, taller or heavier than a normal trailer will take. If you are not sure, describe it on the phone and we will tell you.
Can you move it if there is nothing to unload it with?
Yes. Our HIAB crane lorries carry their own crane, so the load is lifted off and placed without any lifting equipment on site. Tell us how close we can get the lorry to where it needs to land.
What do you need to know to quote?
Weight, dimensions, where the lifting points are, and what the access is like at both ends. This work is unforgiving of an estimate — a load 300mm taller than described can rule out the route.
Can you deliver to a construction site?
Yes. We are FORS accredited and an HS2 approved supplier, which is what many construction and infrastructure sites require before they will let a haulier through the gate.
Also under haulage
Flatbed transport
Flatbeds are what we run for anything that loads from the side or the top, or that simply will not go through a set of doors — steel, construction materials, machinery and oversized loads.
HIAB crane lorries
A HIAB is a lorry with its own crane, so it loads and unloads itself.
Curtain-side haulage
Curtain siders give you a flatbed you can load from the side and weather protection you cannot get from one.
Vans & pickups
Not everything needs a lorry.
Tell us what you need
Call us on 01527 870400 and we will tell you straight away whether we can help and what it costs.