You may have a successful and growing business in an industrial sector, and you're getting ready to open another facility in an adjoining state. In order to facilitate this expansion, you will need to transport some raw materials and other equipment between these two facilities on a regular basis. Is this something that you should take on yourselves, with an eye towards budget and efficiency, or do you have other matters to think about before you make your decision?

Understanding the Challenge

Much will depend on the nature of the equipment or materials that you intend to move and don't be surprised if some of these are governed by regulation at the federal or state level. It's not unusual for industrial elements to be considered dangerous or hazardous and if your loads are particularly large, then they may present a challenge to other road users in their own right. In certain circumstances, you may have to get specially-configured vehicles or trailers that are oversized and you need plenty of time to plan this type of move if you're going to do it properly.

Permissions

Firstly, you need to reach out to the local authorities to see how you can deal with this challenge. They may determine that your movements can only be made at a certain time of day, when you're least likely to disrupt other road users. You'll typically have to follow a process as you seek this type of permission and will need to generate the right documentation, or you may fall foul of the regulators.

Equipment Upgrade

Turning to the equipment, will conventional tractors and trailers be sufficient, or will you need to tow something that is overly heavy or long? You may be able to find a trailer with this capacity, but can you use your standard towing vehicles, or will you need to get an upgrade here, as well?

Skill Set

As you can see, there's already plenty of talk of "upgrade," and this may call for a driver who has a higher skill set. If you don't have these people on hand as it is, you may have to allocate an additional budget for training or bring in new people specifically.

Hazardous Material

If you are going to be transporting any type of gas, liquid or chemical as part of your movement, you can be sure that this will need to be carefully logged at each point. The vehicle will have to be identified with a special code, and the driver will need to keep paperwork on hand in the cab.

Responsibility

Finally, remember that one individual on your staff has to be responsible for this potentially hazardous movement and is this going to be you, or do you have somebody else who you can rely on, given the potential repercussions?

The Better Approach

Let's face it; your organisation is good at what it does for a reason. It's better if you focus on that and outsource the heavy haulage requirements as and when needed. These experts will have done this before and will be fully ready for the challenge.

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