Heavy haulage or transport covers a large spectrum of services and can be found in just about every industry in Australia. Heavy transport hauliers are largely used by industry for cargo transport, freight shipping or freight transport but individual consumers can hire heavy transport if they have the need.

What is heavy transport?

The definition for heavy transport will vary from state to state but for our purposes in this article I will separate heavy transport into two categories, industrial heavy transport and heavy transport. For the sake of this article, industrial heavy transport is used by heavy industries in mines and manufacturing to move large items of plant from one location to another or to a customer. These are the trucks that you see in transit that have pilot vehicles and carry signage such as “Wide Load” or “Heavy Load”. They are often moving items such as buildings or large plant and are used by industry and rarely by the general public. Heavy transport will be defined as transport that requires more than a normal driver’s licence to operate the truck. A small rental truck is able to be driven by anyone with a driver’s licence but anything with a gross vehicle mass of over 4.5 tonnes, or a bus that can seat more than 12 people, needs special licencing and will be considered heavy transport for this exercise.

So what would I use heavy transport for?

You may use heavy transport for things such as moving house or getting materials delivered if you are building a house or having a pool installed. You may also use heavy transport if you own your own business and are transporting goods to your customers, or receiving goods from your suppliers. If you require a crane onsite at your home or business it will probably be transported to site by heavy transport and in many cases, is operated from heavy transport.

So how would I find a reliable heavy transport company?

• Ask around – first and easiest step. Any contractors that you are using should be able to refer you to transport companies that they use and that they find reliable.
• Insurances – before you engage a transport company make sure you check that they have the proper business insurances in place.
• Quality Assurance – most companies will have an internal quality assurance system that monitors their systems and maintenance schedules, this will add to their reliability.
• Website – check a company’s website to see if the service that you are after is one that they normally deliver. If they are familiar with the job it may affect their reliability.
• Location Location – a company’s location should be a big factor in your decision. Hiring a company based in WA to pick up goods from Queensland for delivery in Victoria is just asking for trouble.

What may affect a company’s reliability?

• Timing – if you need something delivered during the Christmas period or other peak times you may experience longer waits.
• Weather – getting something into a region that is experiencing a wet season or is snowed in will have an obvious effect on reliability.
• Malfunctions – vehicle and plant troubles is a huge risk factor in the transport industry which is why it is so important to engage a company that regularly services and maintains its vehicles.

When you look at engaging a heavy transport company, remember that you only get what you pay for, so if the quoted price seems too good to believe then start to think about what compromises have been made by the company to keep the cost so low. With that said, don’t presume that a low quote means that the service won’t be reliable, they may just have great systems in place.