The Truck Leg, Planned to the Axle: FTL, LTL and Overweight Road Freight
We arrange cargo movements by road across China, on cross-border routes into Central Asia and Russia, and on the final leg of door-to-door shipments. Full truckload, shared truckload, and specialised inland transportation vehicles for loads a standard trailer cannot legally carry.
What this service covers
Road freight is the mode that touches almost every shipment. Cargo that crosses an ocean or a continent by another mode still begins and ends on a truck — factory to port of loading, port of discharge to delivery bay. We plan that road leg as part of the route rather than bolting it on at the end, and we also arrange full road-only shipments where trucking is the primary mode.
The service splits into two booking models. Full Truckload (FTL) reserves an entire vehicle for one consignment: you pay a rate for the vehicle and the route, the cargo is loaded once and unloaded once, and nothing else travels with it. Less-than-Truckload (LTL) buys space on a vehicle shared with other shippers, priced on the volume and weight your cargo occupies. LTL is usually cheaper for smaller consignments, and usually involves handling at a consolidation terminal — a trade-off between cost on one side and transit predictability and handling exposure on the other. When a shipment sits near the boundary between the two, we price both rather than assume which one you want.
In China we arrange inland trucking to and from all major seaports and airports, with the deepest operational experience at our five gateway ports: Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin and Xiamen. Most of that work is container drayage and pre-carriage — collecting from a supplier's factory, moving to the container yard or CFS, or taking a discharged container inland to the consignee. Outside China, road covers the delivery leg of door-to-door shipments on all four of our lanes, plus cross-border trucking into Central Asia and Russia, where road and rail are usually planned as one route rather than treated as competing options. Dominic Wang is our railway and road service specialist and handles these enquiries.
Overweight and oversized cargo is a core part of what we do by road. When a load exceeds what a standard trailer can take, the job changes shape: the vehicle has to be matched to the individual piece, the route has to be checked for axle-weight limits, bridge and underpass clearance and permitted travel hours, and the permits have to be in place before loading rather than after. We delivered 30 tonnes of overweight cargo to India by road, routed around weight and clearance restrictions using specialised containers and inland transport vehicles. Work like that is planned backwards from the delivery site.
What you get when you book this service
Full Truckload (FTL)
A dedicated vehicle for your consignment alone, loaded once at origin and unloaded once at destination, at a rate for the vehicle and route whether or not you fill the deck. This is what we recommend for cargo that is fragile, high-value, non-stackable, DG, or simply large enough that shared space stops saving money.
Less-than-Truckload (LTL)
Space on a shared vehicle, priced on the chargeable weight or the loading metres your cargo occupies. We tell you how many handling points the consignment will pass through on that routing, so packing and palletising can be specified to survive them rather than discovered at delivery.
Container drayage and port haulage
Collection from supplier premises to the container yard or CFS, and delivery of discharged containers inland. Includes the terminal booking, container weighing where verified gross mass applies, and returning the empty within the free time wherever the schedule allows, so detention charges are avoided where they can be.
Specialised and heavy-haul vehicles
We arrange trucks, trailers and specialised inland transportation vehicles, matched per piece of cargo. Where the height, length, width or weight of a load rules out a standard deck, we specify equipment that will take it and confirm the combination is legal on the actual route before quoting a delivery date.
Permit, axle-weight and clearance planning
A route checked against gross and axle-weight limits, bridge and tunnel headroom, turning circles and site access, plus abnormal-load permits, escort requirements and restricted travel hours where the jurisdiction imposes them. Permits are arranged before the cargo is loaded.
Cross-border road into Central Asia and Russia
Road moves on our Central Asia and Russia lane, including the customs formalities on both sides of the road border crossing, and combined routings where a rail main leg with a road delivery leg beats either mode used alone.
Documentation, customs and insurance
Consignment notes, HS code classification, customs declarations and DG transport documents prepared alongside the booking, with customs clearance and brokerage handled as one of our own service lines rather than passed to a third party. Cargo insurance is available on the road leg as it is on every other mode we handle.
From enquiry to delivery
Send the load list, not just the total weight
We need dimensions and weight per piece, not a single gross figure. Stackability, packaging type, centre of gravity and lifting points on heavy pieces, both addresses, the ready date, the Incoterm, and what handling equipment exists at each end. A shipment that looks routine as a total often turns out to need a specific trailer once the individual pieces are listed.
We size the vehicle and price FTL against LTL
We work out the deck space and chargeable weight your cargo actually occupies, then price the options that genuinely apply. Where the consignment sits near the crossover point, you get both numbers and the reasoning, including what the LTL routing would add in handling events.
Route survey, permits and site access
For heavy, oversized and cross-border moves, the route is checked before anything is booked: axle and gross weight limits road by road, bridge and underpass clearance, permitted hours, escort requirements, border crossing formalities, and whether the delivery site can physically receive the vehicle. Permits are applied for at this stage.
Booking, documentation and customs
Vehicle confirmed, collection window agreed, consignment note and customs paperwork prepared. For DG we confirm classification, UN number, packing group, marking and the correct transport document. For cross-border road we confirm the documents the transit and destination countries require before the truck leaves.
Collection, loading and securing
For heavy and oversized pieces we arrange supervised loading, with lashing, chocking and dunnage specified for the cargo rather than left to the driver's discretion. We ask for load photographs and seal numbers to be recorded at departure, which matters if a claim is ever raised.
Transit, border and proof of delivery
You get updates at the milestones that can change the plan — collection, border crossing, customs release, delivery — and proof of delivery at the end. We do not publish fixed road transit times: they depend on distance, border queues, permit conditions and driving-hours rules, so you get a planned schedule for your specific route at quotation and we tell you when it moves.
When this is the right service — and when it is not
Best for
- The final leg of a door-to-door shipment — seaport, rail terminal or airport through to the consignee's bay, on any of our four lanes.
- Container drayage in China between supplier factories and the gateway ports at Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin and Xiamen.
- Overweight and oversized pieces that need specialised vehicles, permits and a route checked in advance, including the kind of load we moved to India.
- Cross-border moves into Central Asia and Russia, run as road throughout or as a road delivery leg behind a rail main leg.
- Consignments too large to make LTL economics work but not large enough to justify a container or wagon of their own.
- Dangerous goods and project cargo where the inland leg has to be planned alongside the main carriage rather than arranged separately.
When another mode fits better
Road is the wrong primary mode over long intercontinental distances. For volume cargo moving from China into Europe, Russia or Central Asia, rail will normally beat road on cost per tonne and on schedule reliability, and road is better used for collection and delivery at either end — that is how we plan those lanes as a matter of course. For anything crossing an ocean, road cannot be the main leg at all: sea freight carries the distance and road takes over at the port. Where the shipment is genuinely urgent and the distance is long, air freight is the honest recommendation even though it costs considerably more. LTL specifically is wrong for cargo that cannot be palletised and wrapped, for fragile or high-value goods that should not be cross-docked, and for most DG classes, which shared networks restrict or refuse outright; in those cases book FTL or reconsider the mode. And if the delivery site cannot take the vehicle the load requires — a weight-restricted access road, no hardstanding, no lifting equipment — the constraint sits at the destination rather than in the transport plan. We would rather tell you that at quotation than have the driver find it out at the gate.
FTL and LTL compared
Industry-general guidance only — vehicle dimensions, weight limits and conversion ratios vary by operator, country and route, and nothing here is a quotation or a TransEasy rate.
| Factor | FTL — Full Truckload | LTL — Less-than-Truckload |
|---|---|---|
| What you book | The whole vehicle, reserved for your cargo alone | Space on a vehicle shared with other shippers' consignments |
| How it is priced | A flat rate for the vehicle and the route, whatever you load onto it | Chargeable weight or loading metres. Road networks commonly convert volume at roughly 333 kg per cubic metre, or charge per loading metre of deck — the conversion ratio differs between operators and countries |
| Rough volume guide | Usually worth pricing once the cargo fills more than about half a trailer | Usually the cheaper option below roughly a third of a trailer |
| Handling events | Loaded once, unloaded once | Loaded, cross-docked at one or more terminals, then delivered — each transfer is a handling event |
| Transit predictability | Direct, single vehicle, fewer variables between collection and delivery | Tied to consolidation and terminal schedules, so less predictable |
| Damage exposure | Lower, as the cargo is not moved between vehicles in transit | Higher. Palletise, wrap, edge-protect and label for stacking accordingly |
| Oversized or overweight cargo | The only practical route. Specialised trailers, permits, possible escorts and a surveyed route apply | Not accepted. Shared networks handle standard, stackable, palletised freight |
| Dangerous goods | Possible with a compliant vehicle, a qualified driver and the correct transport document | Restricted. Many networks refuse or limit specific classes |
| Capacity reference point | A standard curtainside semi-trailer is typically quoted by its deck length, pallet capacity and payload, all of which vary with tractor weight and national gross-weight limits — confirm the figures for your route before planning to them | Quoted per pallet, per cubic metre or per loading metre rather than per vehicle |
A shipment we have already run
Road transport of a 30-tonne consignment exceeding standard freight weight limits, using specialised containers and inland transport vehicles, routed around axle-weight and clearance restrictions.
Read the full case studyRoad Freight (FTL & LTL) — common questions
Volume first, cargo character second. As a rough industry guide, once a consignment fills more than about half a trailer, FTL is usually worth pricing even when LTL looks cheaper per unit, because a dedicated vehicle removes the terminal handling and the intermediate stops. Below roughly a third of a trailer, LTL is normally cheaper. Between those points it depends on density, packing and how much handling the cargo tolerates. Send dimensions and weight per piece and we will price both and show the difference.
Yes, and it is one of our specialisms. We delivered 30 tonnes of overweight cargo to India by road, routed around weight and clearance restrictions using specialised containers and inland transport vehicles. Planning for a load like that starts with per-piece dimensions, weight, centre of gravity and lifting points, and with what the delivery site can physically accept. Tell us those at enquiry stage rather than after booking, because they determine the vehicle, the permits and the route.
Yes. Central Asia and Russia is one of our four lanes and road is one of the ways we serve it. Rail is a core strength of ours on the China–Central Asia and China–Russia corridors, so in practice many of these shipments move best as a rail main leg with road at one or both ends. We will quote road-throughout and combined road-rail routings side by side so you can see what each costs and what each commits you to.
Collection and delivery addresses including postcodes, dimensions and weight per piece rather than totals alone, whether pieces are palletised and stackable, whether any cargo is dangerous goods, the Incoterm, the cargo ready date, and the handling equipment available at both ends. If any single piece exceeds a standard trailer's envelope in height, length, width or weight, flag it up front. We answer quote requests within one business day.
FTL is a rate for the vehicle and the route — you pay for the truck whether you fill it or not. LTL is priced on chargeable weight or loading metres, with road networks commonly converting volume to weight at around 333 kg per cubic metre, or charging by the metre of deck used; the exact ratio varies by operator and country. Heavy and oversized loads are priced on the specific vehicle, permits, escorts and surveyed route, which is why they are always quoted individually rather than from a tariff.
We do, as part of the routing rather than as an afterthought. Permitted dimensions and weights differ by country and often road by road, so the route is checked against gross and axle-weight limits, bridge and tunnel clearance, and any restriction on travel hours or requirement for escort vehicles. Permits are arranged before the cargo is loaded. If a route cannot legally take the load, we say so and propose an alternative rather than discovering it at a weighbridge.
Yes. We can take over at the port of discharge, the rail terminal or the airport, handle customs clearance, and deliver to the final address on any of our four lanes. Inside China we do the same in reverse, collecting at the supplier and delivering into the terminal at Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin or Xiamen.
Yes. Dangerous goods is one of our specialisms across modes. DG by road needs correct classification and UN number, compliant packaging, marking and placarding, the transport document for the class, a suitably equipped vehicle and a qualified driver. Shared LTL networks restrict many classes, so DG generally moves as FTL. Give us the UN number and packing group with your enquiry and we will confirm what is workable on your route.
Guides related to this service
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Read MoreExternal standards bodies and government sources, linked for reference. Transeasy is not affiliated with these organisations.