Which Trailer Is Best for Your Shipping Needs?

Choosing the wrong trailer is like showing up to a construction site in flip-flops. Not wise, and definitely not safe.

If you’ve ever looked at a freight quote and thought, “What exact­ly is a reefer?” (nope, not that one), or fig­ured flatbed sounds sim­pler — you’re in the right spot.

Let’s cut to the chase and fig­ure out which one suits your freight.

There’s no one-size-fits-all in freight. That’s why we’ve got:

• Dry Van – The work­horse.
• Flatbed – The mus­cle.
• Reefer – The cool oper­a­tor.

Pick the right one for your load, and you save time, mon­ey, and headaches.

Dry Van: Everyday Hero

You’ve seen them every­where. Closed in, secure, and per­fect for stan­dard ship­ping.

Best For:

• Pack­aged goods
• Retail prod­ucts
• Elec­tron­ics
• Food that doesn’t need refrig­er­a­tion

Pros:

• Weath­er and theft pro­tec­tion
• Low cost
• Wide­ly avail­able

Cons:

• No tem­per­a­ture con­trol
• Rear-only load­ing
• Not ide­al for over­sized or awk­ward car­go

Think of it like a standard sedan — simple, reliable, gets the job done.

But here’s a kick­er. Dry vans are not always the cheap­est when ship­ping light­weight but bulky car­go. You’re pay­ing for vol­ume, not just weight. In some cas­es, LTL ship­ping in a reefer or even a small­er flatbed sec­tion can save you costs. Don’t assume. Con­firm.

Also, dou­ble-stacked pal­lets? Most dry vans don’t sup­port that safe­ly. You could end up with crushed goods if your pack­ag­ing isn’t sol­id.

Flatbed: Heavy Haul Champion

No walls, no roof — just a sol­id plat­form.

Best For:

• Machin­ery
• Steel beams
• Lum­ber or pipes
• Vehi­cles

Pros:

• Easy load­ing from sides or top
• Han­dles large or odd­ly-shaped car­go
• Doesn’t require a dock

Cons:

• Exposed to weath­er
• Requires more effort to secure car­go
• Takes longer to load

Flatbeds are often your only option for ship­ments that are clas­si­fied as over-dimen­sion­al or over-weight. That means extra per­mits, escorts, and route plan­ning. But it also means flex­i­bil­i­ty. If you can secure it and bal­ance the weight, you can like­ly move it.

One thing to keep in mind? Tarps. You might assume tarps are stan­dard. They’re not. Some car­ri­ers charge extra. Some don’t even tarp. Make sure that’s dis­cussed upfront.

Flatbeds also need expe­ri­enced dri­vers. The tie-down process isn’t just about strength — it’s about tech­nique. The Amer­i­can Truck Inc, for exam­ple, has ded­i­cat­ed teams trained specif­i­cal­ly for flatbed oper­a­tions. That means bet­ter load safe­ty and few­er insur­ance claims.

No, not that reefer. This one keeps things cold.

Best For:

• Frozen food
• Fresh pro­duce
• Med­i­cine
• Cos­met­ics

Pros:

• Main­tains tem­per­a­ture
• Pre­vents spoilage
• Some mod­els con­trol humid­i­ty too

Cons:

• High­er cost
• Needs con­stant fuel or pow­er
• Needs ongo­ing mon­i­tor­ing

Reefers aren’t just about cold. Some are also used to keep prod­ucts warm in freez­ing weath­er. Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, cer­tain paints, even bat­ter­ies can all be ruined by cold just as much as by heat.

And let’s not for­get the com­pli­ance side. With FSMA (Food Safe­ty Mod­ern­iza­tion Act) in the U.S., you’re legal­ly required to ensure tem­per­a­ture track­ing and record-keep­ing for food and med­ical ship­ments. Make sure your car­ri­er pro­vides tem­per­a­ture logs or live data access.

Side-by-Side Comparison: Dry Van vs Flatbed vs Reefer

Best Trailer for Different Situations

Ship­ping wash­ing machines? Dry van is your bud­dy.

Mov­ing a bull­doz­er from Texas to Ohio? Go with a flatbed.

Fresh berries in July? Reefer or bust.

Got a mix of sen­si­tive elec­tron­ics and card­board box­es? You might need to split the load.

Real Case: How Flatbed Saved Thousands

Our part­ner, The Amer­i­can Truck Inc, had to move an indus­tri­al HVAC sys­tem. It was huge, heavy, and awk­ward. No way it would fit in a dry van.

They chose flatbeds, used cranes to load from the side, and cal­cu­lat­ed wind pres­sure for prop­er tie-downs.

Result? Ship­ment arrived safe­ly, on time, and intact. One bad deci­sion could’ve ruined every­thing.

This wasn’t just a ship­ment — it was their rep­u­ta­tion.

(See more at The Amer­i­can Truck Inc)

Questions to Ask Before You Choose:

1. Is your car­go sen­si­tive to tem­per­a­ture?
2. Can it be exposed to weath­er?
3. Is the shape or size unusu­al?
4. How will it be loaded — dock or crane?
5. How far is it going?
6. Are there com­pli­ance require­ments for track­ing or report­ing?
7. Is your ship­ment LTL or FTL?

Mixed Loading? It’s Possible

Some­times, com­bin­ing trail­ers is the smart move.

Start with a reefer, switch to a dry van lat­er — if only part of the trip needs cool­ing.

Oth­ers mix flatbeds and dry vans with­in the same route when car­go types dif­fer.

Hybrid logis­tics is grow­ing. Think of it as build­ing your own trail­er strat­e­gy, not set­tling for some­one else’s.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Send­ing per­ish­able items on a flatbed
• For­get­ting height lim­its and hit­ting over­pass­es
• Think­ing dry vans pro­tect from humid­i­ty (they don’t)
• Assum­ing all reefers are cal­i­brat­ed cor­rect­ly
• Using the wrong type of tie-down for flatbed freight

Shipping Planning Tips

1. Con­firm trail­er dimen­sions with your car­ri­er.
2. Avoid last-minute trail­er switch­es.
3. Know the load­ing con­di­tions at pick­up and deliv­ery.
4. Ask for pho­tos of pre­vi­ous loads (espe­cial­ly with spe­cial­ty car­ri­ers).
5. Get tem­per­a­ture logs if ship­ping per­ish­ables.
6. Read the insur­ance terms — most car­ri­ers don’t cov­er your full car­go val­ue by default.

Good plan­ning = safe deliv­ery.

SEO Notes

Search­ing for Best Trail­er Freight? This guide cov­ers it.

Heavy Haul Trail­er? That’s your flatbed.

Tem­per­a­ture Con­trolled Freight? Say hel­lo to the reefer.

Dry Van vs Flatbed vs Reefer — now you know what fits.

Final Thoughts:

Pick­ing the right trail­er depends on your car­go, route, bud­get, and risk tol­er­ance.

Dry vans are great for gen­er­al items. Flatbeds han­dle the over­sized and heavy. Reefers pro­tect the per­ish­able.

Don’t just look for avail­abil­i­ty. Look for com­pat­i­bil­i­ty.

Talk to your car­ri­er. Ask smart ques­tions. Or part­ner with some­one who already has the answers.

Need help? The Amer­i­can Truck Inc has years of expe­ri­ence pair­ing the right trail­er with the right job.