Getting Plant Transport Quotes is Easy on Shiply

How To Make Plant Transport An Easier Task

While most transportation services are fairly straightforward to organise, there are some instances where it takes more than simply loading some boxes or containers onto a lorry and carrying them off again at the other end.

Heavy plant haulage and machinery transport are two of the areas where specialist services are required. By nature, these kinds of transport tend to involve very heavy and often complex pieces of machinery, and therefore have to be handled with expert care and attention.

Very often, the machinery or cargo being transported is in itself hazardous, and the process of transporting it increases the risk involved. In addition, the objects involved are usually very high-value items, so even the slightest amount of damage could incur significant costs.

For these reasons, it is absolutely imperative to engage the services of a reputable and experienced transport company when undertaking plant transport or machinery haulage.

A quick internet search for plant haulage companies will return many results, some with websites that look more professional than others, but all promising a high level of service for various machinery haulage needs. Even if you’re used to organising transport for large, bulky loads, it can be tricky to differentiate between the various companies offering their services and determine which will best be able to meet your requirements.

The term machinery transport covers a very broad spectrum, ranging from agricultural equipment to industrial-scale kitchens, so finding a company who you know will have the required experience, capacity and equipment to transport exactly what it is you need to ship can take time.

You will need to provide accurate details of your machinery to any transport provider in order for them to be able to give you an accurate estimate. You’ll probably want to get several quotes before making a decision on who to contract for the job, and this can be quite time-consuming if you have to repeat yourself over the phone to several different companies.

This is where Shiply can help save you both time and money – by listing the items you need to ship and including your pickup and delivery points, as well as timescale, you can expect to get several quotes back from transport companies within a short period of time.

Safety Concerns

The advantage of listing a plant transport job on Shiply is that you only have to provide all the details of your shipment once, as all our registered transport providers will be able to view the listing and quote on it according to their capabilities and capacity.

With the quotes coming in after just a few minutes spent describing your machinery transport requirements, you will have more time to focus on the other important aspects of the job to be organised.

The first thing to do is to write an accurate and detailed inventory of all the items to be transported. This should include details of the make and model of any item of machinery as well as the state it is in. It is highly recommended to include a picture alongside the description of every item. This not only allows you and the transport provider to easily identify each item on the list at a glance but will also provide a record of any scuffs or damage that may or may not be present on the items before transportation.

If the shipment is to include any hazardous materials, this needs to be recorded and declared well in advance. Depending on the material involved, the transport company involved may need to hold a special licence to carry out the work, or they may charge extra if any added risk is involved.

Most plant haulage companies will expect all machinery to be acceptably clean before transportation, so make sure that any necessary cleaning is carried out well in advance of the pickup date. This not only reduces the risk of contamination between plant materials but also helps to prevent scratches and other damage during transit.

If any of the machinery needs to be dismantled for transit, make sure that you keep a record of which parts belong together and if possible try to ensure that they are not separated during the plant transport. This is especially important if the haulage is going to involve several vehicles, as reassembly will be delayed if several parts of the same machine arrive at different times to each other.

Creating an Inventory

Machinery haulage can be a long and laborious process, and even the most thoroughly planned schedules can get derailed. Ensure that you plan for possible delays, and keep the lines of communication open between you and the plant haulage company so that you’re kept in the loop about any setbacks.

With a bit of luck, everything will run according to plan and your machinery will arrive at its destination on time. It is important to be as meticulous with the unloading process as you were preparing your load for its journey.

This is where your carefully detailed inventory will come in handy. Make sure you tick off every item as it is unloaded, checking carefully for any damage. You can use the pictures you took before the machinery was loaded to determine if it has sustained any damage during transit. In the unlikely event that it has, your pictures will also serve as proof that the damage was caused during the transportation, so you can use them to put in an insurance claim.

If you used Shiply to find your machinery haulage company, then please remember to leave them some feedback when your plant transport has been completed. It is especially important for specialist transport providers on Shiply to build up feedback, as this allows other users of the site to understand the level of service and expertise that they are able to provide.