Lowbed truck for hire
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Get a written price
- Send the job on WhatsApp: what you are doing, the town and the dates.
- Get your quote: the machine, the operator, transport and the total, in writing.
- Pay to book and the machine arrives on site with its operator.
We reply Monday to Friday 07:00–17:00, Saturday 07:00–13:00.
Lowbed hire with a driver
We move machines on lowbeds anywhere in South Africa: our own machines to your site, and your excavator, dozer, loader or grader from one site, yard or farm to the next. Every lowbed comes with its driver, chains and binders, and the route and any permit are planned before it moves.
A lowbed is a truck tractor (the horse) pulling a semi-trailer with a deck that sits close to the road. The low deck keeps a tall machine under the legal height, and ramps or a breakneck (detachable) neck let a tracked machine drive straight on without a crane.
- 30 t lowbed with a driver: R23–R90 a km, or about R2,500 a day dry for standing work
- Plant delivery for smaller machines: R43–R52 a km, or R650–R4,750 a trip one way
- Abnormal loads: priced per job with the permit and escorts as their own lines
Lowbed hire rates
| Service | Basis | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 30 t lowbed with driver | Per km | R23–R90 |
| 30 t lowbed, standing or on-site work | Per day, dry (you pay the diesel) | about R2,500 * |
| Plant delivery (smaller machines) | Per km | R43–R52 |
| Plant delivery inside a city | Per trip, one way | R650–R4,750 |
* One price point, so treat it as a guide; the exact price comes back on WhatsApp.
What changes a lowbed price
- The machine: its mass, width and height decide the trailer and whether it's an abnormal load.
- Distance: loaded and empty kilometres, from where the lowbed starts to your site and back.
- Permits and escorts: needed when the load goes over a legal limit, and charged as their own lines.
- Tolls and route: an abnormal load may have to take a longer route set by the permit.
- Waiting: time standing at the loading or offloading point past what's agreed.
- Access: a lowbed needs a firm, level spot to offload and room to turn; a tight farm road or soft ground can mean offloading at the gate.
Which machines need a lowbed?
Machines that can't drive on public roads at speed travel on a lowbed. Machines with road wheels drive themselves, and small ones go on a truck or trailer.
| How it travels | Machines |
|---|---|
| Lowbed | Excavators (CAT 320 or similar and up), bulldozers, front end loaders, ADTs, graders, big rollers |
| Truck or trailer | Mini excavators, bobcats, cherry pickers, scissor and boom lifts, telehandlers, forklifts, small rollers, generators and compressors |
| Drives itself | TLBs, tipper trucks, side tippers, water trucks, mobile cranes and crane trucks |
Machines with tracks are the main lowbed loads: steel tracks wreck tar and crawl at walking pace, so even a few kilometres means a lowbed.
Abnormal load permits: when you need one
A load is abnormal when the loaded vehicle goes over any one of the legal limits for dimensions or mass. These are the limits in the National Road Traffic Regulations:
| Limit | Legal maximum | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Width (goods vehicle of 12,000 kg or more) | 2.6 m | Reg 223 |
| Height, including the load | 4.3 m | Reg 224 |
| Length, truck tractor and semi-trailer | 18.5 m | Reg 221 |
| Length, other combinations | 22 m | Reg 221 |
| Steering axle | 7,700 kg | Reg 240 |
| Tandem axle unit, dual wheels | 18,000 kg | Reg 240 |
| Tridem axle unit (three axles) | 24,000 kg | Reg 240 |
| Combination of vehicles | 56,000 kg | Regs 236 and 237 |
| Any group of axles (bridge formula) | 18,000 kg + 2,100 kg per metre | Reg 241 |
Go over one of them and the move needs an exemption permit under section 81 of the National Road Traffic Act. The national Minister grants exemptions for vehicles that don't comply; each province's MEC for transport authorises abnormal loads on its roads, using the TRH 11 guidelines, and sets the conditions.
How the permit works
- Only for loads that can't be split. Under TRH 11 a permit is for an indivisible load. If taking off a bucket, blade or counterweight brings the machine inside the limits, that's what happens.
- One permit per province on the route. In the Western Cape, for example, applications go through the province's online abnormal load system, and other road authorities on the route, such as the City of Cape Town and SANRAL, check them too.
- Apply well ahead. Every road authority on the route has to sign off, so the province advises applying well before the travel date.
- The permit sets the rules: the route, the travel times, and whether escort vehicles or traffic officers must travel with the load. The permit system calculates its own fee.
We check the machine's width, height and mass against the limits, apply for the permit when the load needs one, and put the permit and escort costs on your quote before anything moves.
Escort vehicles
Whether a load needs an escort, how many, and whether a traffic officer has to go along are all written into the permit. The permit also sets where the escorts drive and the warning signs and lights they carry, so other traffic sees the load coming.
Escorts are priced per trip and shown as their own line. A wide machine on a long route through two provinces costs more to escort than a short local move, so send the pick-up and drop-off points for an exact price.
How transport shows on our quotes
When you hire a machine from us, transport is never hidden in the hire rate. Your written quote shows the machine, the hire days and the transport both ways as separate lines.
- Inside a main centre: a 20 t excavator on a lowbed is usually R6,000–R9,500 both ways.
- Out of town: the road distance from our nearest main centre at the per-km rate, each way. Secunda is about 106 km from eMalahleni (Witbank) by road, so a 20 t excavator’s lowbed there and back usually comes to R9,120–R11,020.
- Machines that drive: TLBs, tippers and crane trucks drive to site; travel inside a city is small and confirmed with your price.
| Example quote (for illustration only) | Amount |
|---|---|
| 20–25 t excavator, 5 days at R3,500–R5,600 a day with operator | R17,500–R28,000 |
| Transport both ways to Secunda | R9,120–R11,020 |
| Example total, excl. VAT | R26,620–R39,020 |
The same rule runs through every price on plant hire rates, and booking is explained on how it works.
Lowbed trailer hire, machine transport services and abnormal load transport
Moving your own machine
Bought a machine, finished a contract or moving to a new site? Send us the make and model, the pick-up and drop-off points and the date. We confirm the trailer, the permit if one is needed and the price in writing.
Lowbed trailer only
A lowbed trailer on its own, for your own truck tractor and driver: exact price on WhatsApp.
Machines and materials together
Steel, containers, pipes and building materials go on a flat deck instead: see truck and trailer hire. For bulk loads such as coal, chrome and aggregate, see 34 ton side tipper hire.
WhatsApp us the machine and the routeQuestions people ask
What is a lowbed truck?
A lowbed is a truck tractor pulling a semi-trailer with a deck that sits close to the road. The low deck keeps a tall machine under the legal height of 4.3 m, and ramps or a detachable neck let an excavator, dozer or loader drive straight on. It's how heavy machines that don't drive on public roads get from one site to the next.
What is the typical size of a low bed trailer?
A standard lowbed stays inside the legal limits: no wider than 2.6 m and no longer than 18.5 m with its truck tractor, with a deck low enough that the machine on it stays under 4.3 m. Lowbeds come with two, three or four axles; a 30 t lowbed carries most construction machines up to about a 30 t excavator. Wider, taller or heavier machines need a bigger trailer and an abnormal load permit.
Who are the biggest transporters in South Africa?
By tonnage, the biggest movers of freight are Transnet's freight railways and the bulk road haulage that serves mines and power stations. Eskom's coal alone ran to about 35.4 million tonnes by road in 2018/19, carried by more than 2,000 trucks on Mpumalanga's roads, according to the CSIR. Machine transport is a small, specialised part of that: lowbeds, escorts and permits.
Is transport business profitable in South Africa?
It can be, but the margin depends on keeping trucks loaded. Bulk trucks often run full one way and empty back: the CSIR's coal-truck study costed a 56 t interlink at 50% utilisation for that reason, and found that higher-capacity PBS trucks cut the cost and emissions per ton. Diesel, tyres, tolls and finance are the big costs; empty kilometres and waiting at loading points eat the profit.
Do I need a permit to move an excavator?
Only if the loaded lowbed goes over a legal limit: 2.6 m wide, 4.3 m high, 18.5 m long for a truck and semi-trailer, or the axle and 56,000 kg combination mass limits. Many 20 t-plus excavators, dozers and loaders are wider than 2.6 m, which makes them abnormal loads by width even when the mass is fine. We check the machine's dimensions and handle the permit when one is needed.
How much does lowbed transport cost per km?
A 30 t lowbed costs R23–R90 a km with a driver. The spread comes from the load and the route: a small machine on a short, flat run sits at the bottom; a heavy or wide load with a permit, escorts and tolls sits at the top. Plant delivery for smaller machines is R43–R52 a km.
Related
Sources we checked
- National Road Traffic Regulations reg 221, overall length of vehicles
- National Road Traffic Regulations reg 223, overall width of vehicles
- National Road Traffic Regulations reg 224, overall height of vehicle and load
- Arrive Alive, vehicle length, width and height limits (regs 221 to 224)
- National Road Traffic Regulations reg 240, axle massload limits
- National Road Traffic Regulations reg 241, bridge formula for axle groups
- Parliamentary reply NW2632, abnormal load exemptions under section 81 of the National Road Traffic Act and TRH 11
- Western Cape Government, permits for abnormal loads and vehicles
- TRH 11, dimensional and mass limitations and other requirements for abnormal load vehicles (Department of Transport)
- SA Truck Bodies lowbed trailer (reduced height, breakneck loading)
- CSIR (de Saxe et al. 2021), A case for high capacity coal trucks to reduce costs and emissions at Eskom
- Fastmarkets (Sept 2022), Transnet chrome trains to Maputo
Need a lowbed?
WhatsApp us the job, the town and the dates. We confirm the machine, the start date and the price in writing before the machine moves.
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