Oversize load dispatch that lines up the permit window with your legal hours
Heavy haul runs on more clocks than any other freight. The permit decides the route, the travel hours, the days you can't move and whether you need escorts. Hours of service decide how long you can drive inside all of that. A plan that ignores either one ends with a load parked on a shoulder at sunset or a driver out of hours 40 miles from the delivery. Our heavy haul dispatchers plan the legs so both clocks agree, and every load still reaches you as a rate confirmation for your yes or no.
RATE CON · 07:00
PERMIT TX + OK · 12' WIDE
2 LEGAL DAYS
PLANNED
How far can you legally move today? The permit day calculator
Set an EXAMPLE permit travel window, the route miles, the average speed the permit and the escorts will realistically allow, your daily setup time and the hours left on your 11. The calculator splits the trip into legal days: each day's driving fits inside the permit window, the 11-hour limit and the 14-hour window, with a 30-minute break when the day runs past 8 hours of driving.
PERMIT DAY CALCULATOREXAMPLE PERMIT
- LEGAL MILES TODAY
- 495
- DRIVING TODAY
- 11:00
- DAYS NEEDED
- 2
- DAY 1495 mi
- DAY 2285 mi
Day 1 ends about 495 miles in. Each state permit sets its own travel hours, routes and escort rules; check yours. HOS per 49 CFR 395.3.
Two lessons usually jump out. First, heavy haul speeds are slower than freeway freight, so the same miles take more days. Second, when the permit window is shorter than your 14, the permit is the real limit, and part of your legal driving time simply goes unused. That's why we quote heavy haul in days, not just miles.
What the permit controls
Oversize and overweight permits are issued by each state you cross. The federal government doesn't issue them. A permit usually spells out the exact route you must follow, the dimensions and weight it covers, the hours you may travel, and any days you may not move, such as weekends or holidays. Many states limit oversize travel to daylight hours, and some restrict travel in city areas during rush hours.
Permits also set the safety equipment and escorts the load needs: oversize load signs, flags, warning lights, and one or more pilot or escort vehicles once a load passes certain width, length or height limits. Those thresholds differ from state to state, so a load that runs with one escort in one state may need two in the next.
Some loads are big enough to be called superloads. The definition varies by state, but it generally means a load beyond the routine permit limits, which can require route surveys, engineering reviews of bridges, police escorts and longer approval times. Superloads take weeks of planning, and their schedules are set as much by the permit office as by the shipper.
REAR ESCORT
LEAD PILOT
- fixed by the permit
- Route
- often daylight only
- Hours
- weekends, holidays
- Days
- by width, length, height
- Escorts
What we coordinate, and what stays yours
On request, we coordinate the parts of a heavy haul move that eat your time. You stay the carrier, and compliance with every permit condition stays your responsibility on the road.
Permit ordering, on request
Escort scheduling, on request
Travel-day planning
Shipper and receiver timing
Cost on the rate con
What we don't do: tell you a permit condition doesn't matter, or plan a leg that only works by moving outside the permit hours or past your hours of service.
Heavy haul and lowboy trailers we dispatch, and what each is for
Lowboys and RGNs
Double drops
Stretch trailers
Multi-axle heavy haul
Hours of service don't pause for the permit
A permit can stop the truck, but it doesn't stop your clock. If you come on duty at 05:00 to meet an escort at 06:30 and the permit lets you move at 07:00, your 14-hour window started at 05:00 (49 CFR 395.3(a)(2)). If a weekend restriction parks the load on Friday afternoon, you're off duty until it can move again, which can work in your favor for a restart, but only if it's planned that way.
That's why we plan the start of each heavy haul day around the permit opening, schedule escort meetings close to it, and line up restricted days with your rest. A permitted trip where the waits fall on your 10-hour breaks and your 34-hour restart is a trip where very little legal time goes to waste.
WHO IT FITS
Heavy haul dispatch fits owner-operators and small fleets running lowboys, RGNs, double drops and stretch trailers who want permitted trips planned in legal days, with permit and escort costs priced before they say yes. Every permitted load still reaches you as a rate confirmation first, and you can turn it down.
Who pays for permits and escorts
It depends on the deal, so it belongs on the rate confirmation. Often the carrier pays for permits and escorts and builds the cost into the rate, and sometimes the shipper or broker pays or reimburses them. Either way, we price them before you say yes: a heavy haul rate that looks strong per mile can be thin once three states of permits, two escorts and an extra travel day are paid. We negotiate the full trip cost, not just the linehaul.
The extra days matter as much as the fees. A two-day permitted trip with a weekend restriction in the middle can tie up your truck for four days. If the rate only pays for two, the load is worse than it looks, no matter how good the per-mile number is. We count the calendar days the truck is committed and ask for a rate that covers them, or a layover payment when a restriction or a late permit holds the load. When a broker won't move, we tell you plainly and you decide.
A heavy haul week, in legal days
EXAMPLE, one owner-operator with a lowboy based in Houston, hauling an excavator to a job in Oklahoma. Monday: permits ordered for Texas and Oklahoma, escorts booked for the Oklahoma leg where the width required one. Tuesday: loaded at 07:00 and moved inside the daylight window, stopping 40 miles short of the state line when the window closed, with hours still left on the clock. Wednesday: met the escort at the line at sunrise and delivered by early afternoon. Thursday: a legal-size backhaul toward Dallas. Friday: home. The trip took two travel days because the permit window, not the driver's hours, set the limit.
What a heavy haul dispatcher handles
Load and trailer match
Days, not just miles
Weekend and holiday calendar
Escort and permit coordination
The return trip
What heavy haul dispatch costs
The same fee as every truck we dispatch: 5% of gross for one truck with authority older than 6 months, 7% while your MC is under 6 months, and 4% for fleets of 2 or more trucks while the fleet rate lasts. No setup fee, no minimums, month to month, and nothing on a week you don't haul. Full pricing
- one truck, authority 6+ months
- 5%
- new MC, first 6 months
- 7%
- fleets of 2+ (limited time)
- 4%
- setup fee or minimums
- $0
Taller but legal freight? Step deck dispatch
Heavy loads, legal days, no surprises at sunset
Apply in about 2 minutes. Every load waits for your yes.
Start heavy haul dispatch