Where to Find the Best Farm Equipment Shipping Rates
Inside this article:
- Options for shipping farm equipment
- What it costs to ship farm equipment with a professional transport company
- The benefits of shipping with a company that specializes in heavy-haul transport
- How load boards work and the shipping process
- How Trusted Dispatch’s referral program earns you money
Agriculture has long been an industry backbone of Canada’s economy and culture. To this day, farmland covers 6.3% of Canada’s land mass, with 189,874 registered farms. While farming remains an essential industry, each year, the number of individual farms shrinks as land is consolidated. Agriculture has become a large-scale enterprise resulting in larger machines needing transport over longer distances to accommodate these large-scale areas.
During the start of the farming season, it’s common to see large pieces of farm machinery driving down range roads between parcels of farmland. It’s not uncommon to see a tractor driving down a secondary highway if the distance it needs to travel is relatively short. But when it comes to transporting large farm equipment over longer distances, across provinces, or even across the country, it’s necessary to ship it on a truck and trailer.
Farm Equipment Transporting Options
Transporting farm equipment requires a semi-truck and the right trailer to accommodate the machinery. If you’re a large-scale farming operation, you may have your own equipment and drivers that take care of the regular moving of tractors and combines between fields. And if you’re a smaller-scale farmer, you may know a guy locally who can pick up and transport your tractor for you for a fee. But for farmers who don’t have a shipping option readily available, require extra capacity, or need a machine shipped from a different location, there are heavy haul companies that can move your equipment for you.
How Much Does It Cost To Ship Your Farm Equipment With a Shipping Company?
The cost to transport agricultural equipment depends on two primary factors: where you are shipping and what size of load you are shipping. In general, the further your machine needs to move, the more it’s going to cost to move it. Other variables will apply, such as whether your load is considered oversized, needs pilot cars, or is going to cross the border into or from the United States.
There’s no need to stress over the details when you hire a reputed company such as Trusted Dispatch. Our easy-to-use heavy equipment shipping calculator provides you with the free, instant quote you need to plan your transport costs, and we’re here to answer your questions at every step of the process.
The Benefits of Shipping Your Agricultural Machinery With Trusted Dispatch
There are many reasons why Trusted Dispatch ranks at 4.9 stars out of 5 on Google reviews. Our customers appreciate our straightforward system that brings together shippers and experienced, professional drivers. Other reasons why our customers ship with Trusted Dispatch time and time again include:
- Our free, instant quote service
- The network of experienced drivers
- Secure transport of equipment
- Fair prices across the board
- Helpful service team
- Local company with international reach
Free Quotes
The first stage to deciding which company to ship with is to get a quote for your shipment. With Trusted Dispatch, you’ll have a free quote instantly when you enter the details of your shipping location and destination, along with the dimensions of your machine.
Once you have your free quote, you can save it by locking in your quoted price and publishing later as you finalize your shipping details, or you can post your requested shipment right away. Once your shipment is published to our load board, our network of drivers gets an automatic alert to review and claim it if it’s in their route area and is suited to their truck and trailer.
Vetted, Experienced Drivers
It’s beneficial to use a shipping company that offers fair rates both for the customer and for the driver. An experienced, professional driver who knows how to securely transport a harvester combine will require a fair rate to make the delivery. Companies that advertise extremely low rates are likely not working with experienced heavy-haul professionals.
Your farm equipment is valuable and requires precision and know-how to transport safely and securely. Every driver in our network is fully-vetted, and many of them have worked in agriculture prior to their driving careers. They know which trailer to use for oversized pieces of machinery, how to safely load and secure your equipment to the trailer, and will obey the rules and regulations of each region they’ll transport your load through.
With over 1600 drivers across North America, we can help you get your equipment shipped wherever you need it for a fair price.
Secure Transport
We prioritize secure transport of your valuable farm equipment and large machinery during every shipment; it’s why we require all drivers to cover windshields on your machines to protect the glass during the haul. Our drivers will also double-check each tie-down and latch point to ensure your machine is in position before pulling away. Once your equipment is loaded onto the trailer and is ready to go, your driver will start slowly, checking for any shifting of the load before driving away or speeding up.
If your load involves more than one machine, it may require more than one shipment or multiple trucks to ensure that the load is not over the weight restrictions of the trailer or road. The driver that claims your post on our load board will reach out if they have any specific questions about what you need to have shipped or if they have any advice to offer in preparation for the pick-up day.
Fair Prices
At Trusted Dispatch, our mission is to offer fair prices to both our customers and our drivers. We don’t increase costs to pay middlemen or brokers. Instead, our drivers ship for fair rates based on their available trailer space on return routes. This ensures fewer empty loads for drivers and more affordable rates for customers.
Helpful Service
Your time is valuable, which is why we created a heavy equipment shipping app and calculator that is easy to use whether you’re on your computer at home or on the go.
Getting your free, instant shipping quote is easy to do, no matter where you are.
There will be times when you have questions or need assistance planning for a complicated load, or need advice on shipping requirements. Our customer support is available to answer your questions and offer guidance on finding solutions to most shipping scenarios. We can help by the chat window on our website, over the phone, or by email.
Canada-Based With Cross-Border Routes
Trusted Dispatch is proudly based in Calgary, Alberta, but our outlook has always been geared towards serving customers across North America. Our network of experienced heavy haul drivers is located across Canada and the United States. Making shipping your machines any distance straightforward. Whether you need a long haul from Texas to Alberta or a short distance from North Dakota to Southern Manitoba, our drivers can make it happen.
How Does Shipping On a Load Board Work?
A load board is a platform that allows shippers and drivers to connect. The Trusted Dispatch platform is an easy-to-use tool that brings together experienced, professional drivers and customers that require heavy equipment shipping. You can use our platform through the website or by downloading our app on the Apple Store or Google Play.
Post Your Load
Once you get your free shipping quote, you can publish your load details to the load board. It’s free to post your shipment to the board. Once it’s visible on the board, our database of professional owner-operator drivers will be notified that a new load is available.
The next step is to wait for a driver to claim your shipment. One of the first details a driver will look at on new posts is the description of the equipment needing shipping. These details tell them whether their trailer and location are a good match for what you need to be shipped and where.
Get Matched With a Driver
You can help a driver claim your load faster by providing as much detail as possible. If you’re shipping a large machine with a removable part, you can share those details in the notes. If you are available to provide a load assist, especially for tractors and their attachments, that may motivate a driver to pick up your load.
Photos also help drivers pre-plan how they will load and arrange your equipment on their trailer. In some instances, a driver may have another, smaller shipment to haul. If they can confirm that your equipment will fit nicely on the trailer along with their other load, they will be more likely to claim your shipment.
Our pricing system calculates fair rates for drivers and shippers. However, there may be circumstances where you’d want to offer a higher rate to have your shipment claimed faster. In a scenario where you need your heavy load transported on a tight deadline, we do have an option to “boost your load,” which allows you to offer a percentage increase in price to entice drivers sooner. This strategy can also work in times when hauls are in great demand and drivers are booked quickly. A higher price can encourage a driver to make an extra run or choose your load over others that are less urgent.
Communication With Drivers
Once a driver has claimed your load, you will be able to communicate with them through messages on the app to discuss additional details, such as pick-up times and loading requirements.
In some cases, when a load has not been claimed in 24-48 hours, a driver may reach out and give you an offer for a shipment that is more than your quote. There is no obligation to accept an offer from a driver; it’s completely optional. The platform is designed to find you a driver at your calculated fair rate. However, if you need your shipment hauled sooner than later, a driver’s offer may be exactly what you’re looking for.
What Are the Exceptions
It’s not often, but there are always some exceptions that happen. Occasionally a customer may need a specific type of heavy equipment shipped over a distance where we currently don’t have an available driver within the necessary time frame. It has also happened where a customer has required a specific heavy haul that required such expertise and time that required a dedicated team of drivers, rather than the owner-operators that use our load board.
In these exceptional circumstances, our customer support team will reach out to you to discuss your needs in further detail and offer the best solution we can. In many cases, we can find a solution that circumvents the typical quote system to accommodate an all-in price that includes the cost of pilot vehicles or long-haul expenses.
How Do Drivers Get Paid
We hold your deposit until the driver has successfully picked up and completed your shipment. That means your equipment arrives at the drop-off location. Once the haul is complete, you can then give your driver the “Delivery Completion Cod.” This code is sent to you by email. Once the driver gets your code, they enter it on our platform to confirm the delivery. We then transfer the payment to the driver. You’ll also receive a confirmation receipt from us once the payment is made.
In the event that you misplace your code, you can reach out to us. As long as we receive your authorization, we can provide the payment to the driver.
Know Someone Who Needs Heavy Equipment Hauling?
We know that much of our business comes from customers talking about us, which is why we wanted to show our gratitude not only for satisfied customers but for anyone who helps our drivers connect with loads that need shipping. We created our referral program so that whether or not you’ve shipped with us in the past or plan to in the future, you can still earn a bit of cash now by referring your friends and colleagues to us. You may not need to ship anything yet, but you probably know someone who does. Tell them about us, and when our drivers successfully haul their equipment, you’ll get a cash bonus for the referral. You can learn more about it on our referral page.
Fair Farm Equipment Shipping Rates in Canada and the United States
Whether you’re shipping combine harvesters or need tractor transport, Trusted Dispatch can offer you secure, fair shipping rates anywhere in North America. Get started with your free, instant quote to get a match with a driver.
