Freight
Flatbed & Open-Deck Freight
Twenty-six feet of open deck for the loads that will never fit through a roll-up door.
Cargo Taxi Deliveries runs a 26ft flatbed with a sleeper cab for open-deck freight out of Los Angeles, carrying up to roughly 14,000 lbs. Open-deck is used for machinery, steel, lumber, building materials, equipment and any load that must be craned or forklifted from the side or the top rather than through a rear door.
Some freight simply cannot go in a box. A piece of machinery that has to be craned, a bundle of steel that loads from the side, a stack of lumber longer than a dock door is tall, a generator on a skid — all of it needs an open deck and somewhere to put straps and chains. That is what the flatbed is for.
The deck is 26 feet with a payload of roughly 14,000 lbs, which covers the large majority of construction, fabrication and equipment moves inside and out of the LA basin. Loads are secured to the standard the commodity requires — straps, chains and binders, edge protection on anything that can be crushed, and tarping where weather or dust is a factor.
Open-deck work is also where a shipper is most exposed to a carrier guessing. Legal dimensions, tie-down counts and whether a load needs a permit are not matters of opinion, and a load that is over width or over height on a California route needs the permit arranged before the truck rolls. Dispatch will ask for real dimensions and a real weight, and will tell you plainly when a load needs equipment or authority the fleet does not have.
Specifications
The numbers.
| Deck length | 26 ft |
|---|---|
| Payload | ~14,000 lbs |
| Loading | Side, top, crane or forklift |
| Securement | Straps, chains, binders, edge protection, tarps |
| Typical freight | Machinery, steel, lumber, equipment, skidded goods |
| Oversize | Permits arranged in advance where dimensions require |
Equipment used for this work
26ft Flatbed, Sleeper Cab
Open 26ft deck with a sleeper cab — machinery, steel, building materials, and multi-day long hauls that run without a forced overnight stop.
- Limit: No liftgate — consignee needs a forklift or crane
- Limit: Open deck: weather exposure unless tarped
Questions
Flatbed & Open-Deck, answered.
What size load fits on your flatbed?
The deck is 26 feet long with a payload of roughly 14,000 lbs. Anything longer than the deck, or over legal width or height, becomes an oversize move that needs a permit arranged before the truck rolls — give dispatch real dimensions and a real weight and they will tell you which category the load is in.
Do you tarp loads?
Yes, where the commodity needs it. Tarping is quoted as part of the job rather than discovered at the dock, and it adds time at both ends, so tell dispatch at booking if the load is weather-sensitive so the window reflects the real work.
Can you deliver to a construction site?
Yes — construction sites, fabrication yards and equipment yards are routine flatbed destinations. What matters is whether the site has a way to get the load off: a flatbed has no liftgate, so the consignee needs a forklift, a crane or a telehandler. Confirm that before the truck is scheduled.
Related services
Often booked together.
Dedicated Truckload
Your freight is the only freight on the truck — loaded once, driven straight through, unloaded at the other end.
Long-Haul Trucking
Eleven states, one driver, one truck — from the LA basin to wherever in the West the load has to be.
Automotive & Manufacturing
Inbound supplier runs, line-side replenishment, and the line-down call that has to be answered in minutes.
LTL & Palletized Freight
One to twelve pallets, liftgate and pallet jack on every truck, and no terminal in the middle losing your freight.