Here's one we can all relate to.

[MikeJr]

So, esteemed ladies and gents, I ask you this:

Who is responsible for ensuring that a Dry Van load is correctly weight distributed in the trailer? We could go into lengthy discussions about maximum drive axle weights, trailer axle weights, moving the bogie as much as possible depending on what state/provinces you are driving in, etc.

I feel like two intelligent parties (shipper and driver) should discuss loading freight as a shipper who has worked really hard on making widgets is loading them into a trailer owned by the employer of the driver accepting the goods (or the driver owns the trailer), but what if the driver and shipper are not willing or able to communicate and 90 miles from pickup, the truck is 2000 lbs heavy on the drive axles but not on the gross? Yes, the driver should return to the shipper to be reworked. What if the shipper is closed and now the driver has to wait until the morning? Now costs are increasing.

Back to the original question: Who is responsible for ensuring that a Dry Van load is correctly weight distributed in the trailer?

I have my opinion on this but am curious about yours. I'm looking forward to reading the replies honestly.

Keep well,
Mike

 

[BPOVFB]

I think I'd want to know more on the "not willing or able to communicate" portion of the transaction..

 

[Mellaw]

While on site, it should be split responsibility on the Shipper and Driver. As soon as the driver departs after signing the paperwork, that means the freight has been loaded and secured to the drivers satisfaction.

Obviously thats pretty black and white, and with all things, can change with each scenario. Some Shippers don't let the drivers into the loading area - how is a driver supposed to ensure the freight is loaded and secured correctly? Some drivers dont come inside until the end, if at all. How is the shipper supposed to confirm with the driver?

If the Shipper and Driver both agree, and it ends up being over weight, cost should be shared 50/50. If the Shipper does not consult the driver, then 100% on the shipper. If the driver fails to ensure their truck is loaded properly, 100% on the driver. I'm sure I'm wrong somewhere in there, but thats my general rule of thumb.

I've also covered 100% of the costs, despite being the only party that was never physically there.

 

[imx_kang]

I would say it's shippers responsibility to load correctly. Shipper is more familiar with the product and knows how much their product weighs, so they should be trained to load accurately. Driver can only make an educated guess and most of the time they end up being wrong, if they're new to the industry.

 

[Freight Broker]

Where the trailer is preloaded in a drop and hook type operation then clearly the driver has no responsibility beyond noting how the vehicle handles after loading. Where its a live load situation both parties are responsible for ensuring the trailer is loaded properly, assuming the driver has free access to the loading area and has input as to how the load is put on the trailer.

 

[Trans]

There is no way a Driver can tell if the load is overweight on drive axle or trailer axle without a certified scale ticket.
this is clearly a shipper's job to load freight correctly as they are the only people familiar with the nature of the product they are loading. how does a driver know if all skids weigh the same? the shipper is the one who loads the same product every day and they have to be good at it.

I have seen probably hundreds of times the actual weight is always different from what's written on the paperwork. Every shipper has its own set of rules like some says we only count the weight of the product and not the skid weight or any packaging weight.

If the Driver found out the overweight situation just by going 30 miles then that is pretty good at least he is not like one of my driver who went to the border and realized the weight is not right...............

The solution to this is most trucks come with drive scale inbuilt they are pretty accurate and for the trailer axle you can get scale installed for about extra $500. it saves you a lot of headache in long run.

Trust me none of the drivers want's to be in this situation purposely. let's says they find out at 4 PM and now the shipper is closed they have to wait roughly 16 hours and that is a very long time for me considering on the road in the small cab of Truck...............

 

[ralphthetrucker]

If the truck was equipped with an air pressure guage plumbed into the airride suspension, the driver would have known he was overweight the moment he pulled ahead to close the trailer doors. Why are fleets so resistant easy fixes like this?

 

[Fr8Guru]

Personally I feel like this should be the solely the shipper's responsibility. As someone stated above, the driver can only make an educated guess where the shipper should have the experience to load correctly.

I have a customer who loads heavy, 44500lbs to be exact, but we never have problems with incorrect weight distribution because they load the same product all day long and have it down to science. This is one of those things that can separate a good shipper from a bad one.

 

[Gord M]

So, esteemed ladies and gents, I ask you this:

Who is responsible for ensuring that a Dry Van load is correctly weight distributed in the trailer? We could go into legnthy discussions about maximum drive axle weights, tariler axle weights, moving the bogie as much as possible depending on what state/provinces you are driving in, etc.

I feel like two intelligent parties (shipper and driver) should discuss loading freight as a shipper who has worked really hard on making widgets is loading them into a traier owned by the employer of the driver accepting the goods (or the driver owns the trailer), but what if the driver and shipepr are not willing or able to communicate and 30 miles from pickup, the truck is 2000 lbs heavy on the drive axles but not on the gross? Yes, the driver should return to the shipper to be reworked. What if the shiper is closed and now the driver has to wait until the morning? Now costs are increasong.

Back to the original question: Who is responsible for ensuring that a Dry Van load is correctly weight distributed in the trailer?

I have my opinion on this but am curious about yours. I'm looking forward to reading the replies honestly.

Keep well,
Mike

This is the plight of our industry, if you have new equipment you can't haul for shippers that want to maximize the payload in the trailer. One company in Montreal ship all over the US, we had to stop dealing with them a few years ago because they wouldn't reduce the weights from 45,600 lbs. Our new tractors at that time with the extra emissions equipment put us over gross no matter which trailer we used. THe shipper could care less, they just got carriers with older equipment, but don't dare be late the loads were critical to be on time. THe ones that were a little lighter still had to be made legal, the drivers got very frustrated playing with bogeys when they only have a 150 lbs to play with at the scale.

 

[MikeJr]

Regarding the not willing or able to communicate, perhaps a driver would not be allowed on the dock, perhaps there was a language barrier. In my case currently, those details have yet to come to light. They will.

The short version is as stated: driver got 90 miles away from the shipper (the closest CAT scale on route) and determined they were over weight on the drives. We sent them back and agreed to a sum of funds to do so. Now we're trying to recoup those funds and the shipper is pointing at the driver. Good times.

I see a mix of responses to this question. Is there any legislation? Would it differ if it was an international shipment from the USA to Canada.

Keep well,
Mike

 

[loaders]

Just a couple of questions MikeJr that may (or may not) shed a bit more light on this.First, have you ever had this problem with this shipper before? In other words, is there a history here. Second, have other carriers been able to legally scale theses shipments? Obviously, if this shipment is a “one of”, then those questions are irrelevant.

 

[NotForHire]

100% shipper responsibility

 

[MikeJr]

We've picked up at the shipper only twice before. Previous loads were FB (wit A-Frame), were loaded correctly with 45 000 lbs. This was a palletized dry van load. Firat it was loaded in about 40' of trailer, the rework ended up being about 48'. Oh, driver arrived 30 minutes before closing (1.5 hours late for pikup apt). Perhaps everyone was in a rush to get the job done no one bothered to do it correctly.

Shipper is claiming that they would need the driver to verify the load was distributed correctly but we still haven't learned if they consulted the driver for advice on how to load the trailer.

Thanks for your future opinion on this,
Mike

 

[lowmiler88]

So we are on both sides of the equation, call me old school but it is the drivers responsibility to make sure the load is loaded properly. The questions need to be asked - how many skids? Are they all the same weight? What configuration are you loading? and if the driver does not know he needs to call dispatch who needs to know. If you think a forklift driver making half of what a truck driver makes really cares about weight distribution you are kidding yourself. It always amazes me that drivers seem so eager to wash their hands of responsibility and yet complain when it goes wrong, they are just messing with their own time. Also there is never only 1 scale 90 miles away and if that is truly the only one then it is even more important for the driver to be involved.

 

[Jim L]

This scenario will cost both the carrier and the shipper money if not handled properly and it is on both parties to make sure that it is done properly. Nobody wants to reload the freight because of the time it consumes so it makes sense that it is done right the first time.
The shipper is the only person who is aware of their freight and the weights along with it. The shipper is in the best position to make sure that it is loaded properly. As a general rule, load the freight to an average of 935lbs/foot and check it every 8 feet. (see below for an example). This will also ensure that you are not stressing the trailer over its limits.
The driver can then adjust about 1000 lbs forward or back on a simple dry van trailer by adjusting the trailer axle but is limited by the bridge law. This also depends if it is loaded somewhat evenly.

In your example @MikeJr , if the carrier was told or made aware that the load was >40000 lbs, or that the freight was uneven in weights, they should have scaled it much earlier. I would hope the carrier would at least acknowledge that fact. If the shipper has freight that comes close to the maximum limit the shipper has a responsibility to train their staff to load it properly - even if it is to avoid the hassle of reworking the trailer. They should also advise the driver of the closest scale and give them a procedure to contact the shipper should they need to return.(maybe that's you).

This scenario plays out many times per year and expecting the carrier and or the driver to advise the shipper is pointless because it is becoming more and more prevalent that there is no conversation between them except for maybe a pickup number/info. Forklift drivers don't want to be told what to do, drivers expect them to know their stuff.

 

[Igor Galanter]

I would say both.
Just yesterday had a similar situation myself.
Shipper does different projects so not so many loads a similar..
The loader is a very accurate and quick person, so when my 53' van was loaded evenly to the doors, I asked him what is a total load weight..
He didn't know, eh..
Phone call to a "friend" gave him a magic number per piece, and I was loaded 52000 lbs ( tandem, highway truck)
After "alteration" 42,000 and change... Extra time and calculation...
Hopefully was resolved on the spot...
So, Mike J, good luck with that...

 

[NotForHire]

Sorry but loading over weight is the shipper fault/ problem. They should be charged detention time, scaling and freight re work.

 

[lowmiler88]

I agree that the shipper should know but it is the driver who is driving it down the road and is responsible once he/she drives off the property. I have yet to hear a shipper being charged for improper loading.

 

[Nawk]

I agree that the shipper should know but it is the driver who is driving it down the road and is responsible once he/she drives off the property. I have yet to hear a shipper being charged for improper loading.

Back in the day when we used to fill out the Inward Cargo Manifest there was a box for "Master Person in Charge" which was the driver. While we're not being told to 'press hard you're making 5 copies' anymore... once the drive moves that loaded truck he/she is on the hook for ensuring that it's moving within the laws of the land. You can't roll in to a scale 5000 Lbs overweight shrug your shoulders and say that's how the shipper loaded it. While the DOT may (or may not) listen to the drivers story... the citation will still be made out to the driver and/or carrier.

 

[Millennial]

No more than 10,000 lbs. in the first 10 feet is a good rule to go by to prevent this type situation (at least from my van experience), and also 8-12 feet open on the back of the trailer too when loading close to max weights. Not all vans are built the same; I spec'd a fleet in the past and had a variance of almost 2000 lbs. from the lightest to the heaviest trailer in the fleet (new versus old technologies), Tractors today also can be much heavier unintentionally too.

This is 100% the shippers fault...the driver is responsible to secure the load during transport from A to B, but if your shipper is loading enough weight to be 2000# over on an axle, that is their fault. They need to decide either to ship less of their product or know how to distribute the weight correctly (...and/or maybe move closer to a certified scale location?!)