Modes of Transport

Atlas Dunnage is your optimal solution when it comes to cargo securement in all transportation modes. Whether you ship your products via truck, ocean container, railcar or vessels, Atlas Dunnage has the products and experience to meet your unique needs.

Truck / Over the road (OTR)

Truck shipments refers to the transportation of goods loaded in closed truck trailers that are hauled by truck tractors across roads, highways and freeways. This also refers to goods transported in LTL (Less than Truckload) carriers, which are transportation services over the road of partial shipments grouped together in full loads. Truck shipments can take place in variety of trailer lengths. The most common sizes being 28’, 40’, 48’ and 53’ long. These trailers also come in refrigerated or dry van configurations. Goods transported in trucks are exposed to significant front-to-back forces due to acceleration and breaking, and less severe side-to-side forces due to cornering. Gross weight on over the road shipments are generally limited to below 44,000lbs or 20 Tons.

Please view our 4Trans and Level 1 product categories as suitable for this mode of transportation.

Ocean Containers

Ocean containers refer to metal containers in 20’ and 40’ standard and high cube lengths. These containers are used to transport goods for export shipments and can be moved over the road on a truck chassis, or on a flat rail car when transported by rail to and from ports. They stack on top of one another on ocean container ships and are subjected to severe forces in all directions.

Gross weight on over the ocean containers are generally limited to below 44,000lbs or 20 Tons.

Please view our 4Trans, Level 1 and Level 2 product categories as suitable for this mode of transportation.

Intermodal

The term intermodal refers to a transport container or trailer that is used in multiple modes of transportation. Intermodal trailers or containers can be moved over the road, on rail or on ocean. A typical flow of an intermodal container on a journey from an inland location to an international destination would be that it departs its original point of loading on a truck trailer chassis and travels over the road to a rail yard. At the rail yard the container is loaded onto a flat railcar and is transported to the port from which it is destined to be shipped overseas. Quite often it will be unloaded at the port city and travel by road to the port where it is ultimately hoisted by a crane and loaded onto the ship. Gross weight on intermodal shipments are generally limited to below 44,000lbs or 20 Tons. Due to the different modes of transportation of intermodal containers, they are exposed to significant load forces in all directions throughout their journey.

Please view our 4Trans, Level 1 and Level 2 product categories as suitable for this mode of transportation.

Rail

In the cargo securement industry, the term Rail shipments generally refers to the shipment of goods in railcars. These railcars can be closed boxcars that come in a variety of configurations and sizes, or open top railcars, which also come in a variety of configurations and are generally used for the transportation of heavy bulky products such as building materials. The biggest advantage of shipping by rail is that one can ship tremendous volume and weight at a much lower cost. Gross weight on rail shipments is generally limited to below 216,000lbs or 100 Tons. Front to back load forces on rail shipments are extreme due to the heavy weights and the excessive force exerted on the products when the rail cars are humped together.

It is critical to differentiate between lateral and lengthwise applications of dunnage airbags in rail shipments. Please review our 4Trans and Level 1 categories of lateral voids and our Level 2,3,4 and 5 categories for lengthwise voids.

Vessel Shipments

Vessel shipments refers to the loading of goods in the hull of an ocean-going vessel. Generally speaking, these loads are lowered into the cavity in a ship’s hull by crane and are secured to prevent shifting.

Cargo loaded in vessel shipments are subjected to extreme forces in all directions. A variety of factors may determine what the most suitable solution for your application may be.

For more information on which products to use on your shipments, please contact us so that one of service representatives can provide you with the appropriate recommendations and load diagrams.