California Heavy Haul Trucking and Transport
Los Angeles, the Bay Area and the Central Valley, planned around Caltrans route colors and metro curfews
Quick answer
What should a California heavy haul quote account for?
Three things besides the miles. The Caltrans route color decides how many pilot cars a given width needs. Metro curfews stop loads over 10 ft wide 6–9 AM and 3–6 PM on weekdays around Los Angeles, and 7–9 AM and 4–6 PM in the Bay Area, Sacramento and San Diego. And wherever the route leaves a state highway, a city or county permit is needed too.
Updated October 2026 by the HTS Logistics broker team (FMCSA MC# 1178470).
How do you find a heavy haul carrier in California?
Heavy haul trucking in California is a matching job more than a search. The state has more for-hire interstate carriers than any other, 59,235 on FMCSA's census, yet only 3,320 of them, 5.6%, report hauling machinery or large objects, against 16.6% nationally (pulled October 17, 2026). Across all active California carriers the machinery share is 3.8%, the lowest of any state, and it is a box each carrier ticks for itself, so finding a truck is easy and finding the right RGN or lowboy is the work.
HTS Logistics books that carrier from East Northport, New York, under its FMCSA broker license (MC 1178470), and the carrier, or the permit service it uses, files for the Caltrans permit in CTPS. That permit covers state highways only. The first and last miles on city or county roads need those agencies' permits (CVC 35780), and by law a local permit may not cost more than the Caltrans fee (CVC 35795).
How do Los Angeles, the Bay Area and the Central Valley differ?
Mostly in curfews and crossings. Caltrans publishes four metro curfew maps and gives the Bay Bridge its own hours; elsewhere, route color sets the conditions. The rules below come from the Caltrans Transportation Permits Manual and curfew maps, checked October 2026.
| Region | Main corridors | What shapes a permitted move |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles and Long Beach | I-710, I-110, I-405, I-5, I-10 | Loads over 10 ft wide stop for the weekday rush, 6–9 AM and 3–6 PM. |
| San Francisco Bay Area | I-880, I-80, I-580 | Wider than 10 ft: no weekday movement 7–9 AM or 4–6 PM. The Bay Bridge is closed to permit loads 6:30–9:00 AM and 3:30–6:30 PM every day, lets loads wider than 12 ft cross only from 11 AM to 1 PM on weekdays, sends westbound loads through Toll Lane 16 and allows no permit travel in rain or fog. |
| Sacramento | I-5, I-80, CA-99 | Its own curfew map, with the Bay Area's hours for loads over 10 ft wide. |
| San Diego | I-5, I-15, I-805 | The fourth curfew map, with the Bay Area's weekday hours. |
| Central Valley (Stockton to Bakersfield) | CA-99, I-5 | Outside the curfew maps. If the last miles are two-lane roads mapped blue or brown, the pilot car count rises (see the combine example below). |
Ten feet is the number to watch in the metros. A Cat 320 excavator ships 10 ft 5 in wide, so every metro curfew applies to it, yet it needs no pilot car on a yellow, green or blue route and one on a brown route. Loads that need no pilot car may also move 24 hours a day on all route colors but red, unless the permit says No Night Travel, so an unescorted load can make its metro miles at night, outside the curfew hours.
Which California ports handle heavy equipment?
Four matter for machinery, and 2025 Census Bureau data (pulled October 17, 2026) splits them between container ports and roll-off ports:
| Port | Leading heavy-equipment imports, 2025 | U.S. rank | Vessel value outside containers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Every heavy-equipment category combined: $2.24 billion Combines, balers and other harvesting machinery (HS 8433): $307.2 million | No. 6 No. 2 | 7.6% 1.0% |
| Long Beach | Excavators, dozers and loaders (HS 8429): $215.4 million Big power transformers (HS 8504.23, above 10,000 kVA): $132.5 million | No. 9 No. 8 | 75.7% 92.8% |
| Port Hueneme | Excavators, dozers and loaders: $123.7 million Dumpers for off-highway use (HS 8704.10): $72.5 million | No. 12 No. 6 | 92.5% 90.9% |
| Oakland | Forklifts (HS 8427): $325.0 million | No. 7 | 0.0% |
So a machine from Oakland, or most of what lands at Los Angeles, leaves the terminal in a container, while Port Hueneme in Ventura County and much of Long Beach hand over machines that roll or are lifted straight onto a trailer. The Los Angeles customs district also took in more harvesting machinery than any other in 2025: $505.3 million, or 14.3% of U.S. imports.
Census counts the port of unlading, the dock where the cargo was discharged, so read these as pickup points rather than delivery markets. The terminal and customs release steps are on our imported machinery pickup page.
What does it take to move a combine through the Central Valley?
Take a combine bound for a Valley farm. A John Deere S790 is 12 ft 11 in wide with the header off and the outer duals removed, and roughly 15 ft 4 in high once loaded on a 2 ft deck, so it needs a permit for width and height. Caltrans lets a single-trip load be as tall as the lowest structure on the route allows with 3 in to spare, and the header travels on its own trailer, as John Deere's operator's manual advises.
Pilot cars then depend on the road. Between 12 and 13 ft wide a load needs one pilot car on a yellow, green or blue route and two on a brown route (two lanes under 11 ft wide, little or no shoulder). Pilot-car loads on blue and brown routes move only in weekday daylight, plus Saturday and Sunday mornings from half an hour before sunrise until noon, so a harvest delivery on rural roads is planned around those hours.
Shipping sizes for other combines, tractors and construction machines are on our heavy equipment transport pages.
What Caltrans requires, in brief
- Legal height is 14 ft, though above 13 ft 6 in the operator must confirm each highway is safe for the height.
- Brown routes need a pilot car above 10 ft wide, blue routes above 11 ft, and yellow and green routes above 12 ft.
- Caltrans issues permits through CTPS, the Caltrans Transportation Permit System, with routes cleared in CalRoute.
- A Single Trip permit is a flat $16, valid 7 days one way and never refunded.
For CHP escort thresholds, holiday hours and Variance permits, read our California oversize permit rules.
Questions about moving equipment in California
Can you collect machinery at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach or Hueneme?
Yes, as soon as customs and the ocean carrier sign off on the release; send the terminal and the bill of lading number. For a machine in a container, Caltrans issues a Sea Container permit near Los Angeles and Long Beach for a 4-axle tractor and 3-axle trailer, up to 65 ft overall and 40 ft from kingpin to rear axle. Route 710 over the Gerald Desmond Bridge has taken permit loads again since March 24, 2022, under County of Los Angeles and City of Long Beach permits.
Why does a California price depend on the exact route?
Because the permit is cheap and the route is not. The Single Trip permit is a flat $16 whatever the distance, but the route color sets the pilot car count, the metro curfews set the hours, CHP escorts start over 15 or 16 ft wide depending on the route, and every city or county road at either end needs its own permit. Two routes between the same points can need different escorts.
How far ahead should a large California load be booked?
Caltrans issues Single Trip permits up to 3 days before the trip, valid for 7 days. Over 15 ft wide, over 17 ft tall or over 135 ft long, the load goes on a Variance permit, which Caltrans wants at least 30 days before the move, with inspection reports, the manufacturer's engineering justification and drawings, and a written route survey for anything over 17 ft high. CHP escorts are scheduled by the permittee.
What happens if the weather turns during a California move?
The load stops. Caltrans allows no permit movement when visibility is under 1,000 ft, when rain, ice, snow or frost make the road surface hazardous, or when tire chains are required, and a crash caused by weather or wind counts as prima facie evidence of a violation. A winter route over a mountain pass, such as I-5 over the Grapevine or I-80 over the Sierra, can stop for chain control.
Why does the trailer's kingpin distance matter in California?
California measures from the kingpin to the rear axle. On STAA routes a 53 ft semitrailer is legal only with 40 ft or less (38 ft on a single axle), a dashed kingpin-advisory route needs a pilot car above 38 ft, and cities may set a limit as low as 38 ft by ordinance. Long extendable trailers for cranes and beams are checked against those figures before the route is set.
Sources
Facts on this page were checked in October 2026 against the sources below. Rules and rates change; we confirm current requirements on every move.
- FMCSA Company Census File (data.transportation.gov, az4n-8mr2) (pulled Oct 17, 2026; cargo types such as Machinery, Large Objects are self-reported on Form MCS-150)
- U.S. Census Bureau: Port Imports HS6 (December 2025 and August 2026 files) (general imports by port of unlading, customs value; pulled Oct 17, 2026; 2026 figures preliminary)
- Caltrans: Transportation Permits
- Caltrans: Transportation Permits FAQ (fees, validity)
- Caltrans: Single Trip permit
- Caltrans: Variance permit
- Caltrans Transportation Permits Manual, Ch. 1 (rev. 1/14/2026)
- Caltrans Transportation Permits Manual, Ch. 5 Routing and Safety (rev. 6/25/2024)
- Caltrans Single Trip pilot car map legend (June 2021)
- Caltrans Special Conditions for 24/7 Travel (TR-PER-006)
- Caltrans curfew map: Los Angeles
- CVC 35780 (permits) and 35795 (permit fees)
- CVC 35400 (length and kingpin to rear axle)
- CVC 35401.5 (STAA trailers)
- Caterpillar 320 hydraulic excavator technical specifications (AEXQ3758-01 (11-2025))
- John Deere S760-S790 combine operator's manual, dimensions and transport (OMHXE122585)
Price a California move
Send the machine, both addresses and your dates, and tell us if a port, the Bay Bridge or a two-lane farm road is involved. Those set the route color, the hours and the pilot cars.
- FMCSA-licensed property broker, MC# 1178470
- Permits, escorts and route surveys arranged for each move
- Carriers checked for authority, insurance and safety record
- Commercial shippers, dealers, contractors and auction buyers
Prefer to talk? Call (631) 683-8275.
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Keep reading
- Ro-Ro & Breakbulk MachineryImported machinery picked up at the port, with 2025 import data by U.S. port.
- Heavy Equipment TransportTrailer choice, width-by-width permit and escort triggers and shipping ranges for 47 machines, plus six checks before you book a hauler.
- California Oversize PermitsCaltrans route colors, pilot car rules, fees and curfews.
- Heavy Haul TruckingOversize and overweight loads on RGN, lowboy, step deck and flatbed trailers across the 48 states.
- Heavy Haul in New YorkLong Island, NYC and upstate moves, carrier counts by county, and machinery entering at Buffalo, Champlain, Albany and Port Newark.
- Heavy Haul in TexasHouston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Permian moves: inner-loop limits, Galveston, Freeport and Laredo pickups, and a worked TxDMV fee example.