Road Freight

FTL, LTL and groupage options

Full truckload (FTL) is usually the right choice when a shipment fills most of a trailer, needs a dedicated vehicle, or cannot be mixed with other cargo. A dedicated truck also gives greater control over loading, seals, routing and delivery appointments. Less-than-truckload (LTL) and groupage combine compatible consignments when a full vehicle is unnecessary. We compare the saving against consolidation time, handling points and the sensitivity of the cargo before recommending LTL.

We regularly assess whether a load that looks like LTL should move as FTL because of its dimensions or loading metres. Light but bulky goods can cube out a trailer long before reaching its weight limit. Accurate package count, dimensions, gross weight and stackability therefore matter as much as the tonnage, and the break-even between FTL and LTL moves with the lane, the season and available capacity rather than sitting at a fixed number of pallets.

Trailer and loading requirements

Standard options include tilt trailers, tautliners or curtainsiders, box trailers, flatbeds and temperature-controlled vehicles. A tilt or tautliner allows rear, side and, in suitable conditions, top loading, which matters when a forklift cannot reach far into an enclosed trailer. Box trailers give enclosed protection but restrict side access. Flatbeds and low-beds may be required for machinery or cargo outside standard dimensions, while reefer trailers are used where an agreed temperature range has to be maintained.

Before sourcing equipment we confirm cargo dimensions, weight, loading address, loading method, crane or forklift availability, dangerous-goods status, temperature requirements and any restriction at pickup or delivery. Where cargo is out of gauge -- over width, over height, or too heavy for a standard axle configuration -- the route, permits and any escort have to be resolved before the vehicle is booked, because the permitted route often determines which border crossing is usable at all.

Cross-border planning, TIR and transit documents

International trucking is as much a documentation and route-planning service as a haulage one. Depending on the shipment, a movement may need commercial documents, an export declaration, a transit procedure, destination customs clearance, or a TIR carnet. TIR is not automatically available on every vehicle or route -- it depends on the operator being authorised, the vehicle or container being approved, and the customs territories along the route -- so we confirm that capability before presenting an option rather than assuming it.

It is worth being precise about scope, because the procedures are not interchangeable. Union and common transit -- the T1 procedure -- operates within the European Union and the common-transit countries, a group that includes Turkiye but does not include Azerbaijan. A shipment continuing beyond that territory therefore changes procedure at the boundary rather than running to Baku on the same declaration. A CMR consignment note evidences the carriage contract and supports the movement, but it is not itself a customs transit procedure.

Our role is to make the operational hand-offs visible before the truck loads: who prepares the export declaration and against which movement reference, which transit procedure applies on each leg, where that movement is presented and written off, what is included in the freight rate and which charges sit outside it. Customs and transit-document questions can be taken up in more depth through our customs brokerage service.

Corridors we run

Our strongest road lanes run between Turkiye and Azerbaijan, across Georgia into the Caucasus, and westward from Central Asia. Cargo moving between Europe and Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan can be routed via the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor. That corridor is inherently multimodal rather than a single road lane -- road or rail to the Caspian, a sea crossing, then road or rail onward to Almaty or Tashkent -- and Russia- and Belarus-free routing is available across it.

It is worth choosing that routing deliberately rather than by default. Because it involves several modal transfers, transit can be longer and more variable than the northern route, so we quote a realistic window instead of a best case. The Baku and Alat port area is one of the principal interchanges on the Caspian leg, which is also why we can take a shipment over mid-route: customs clearance, handling and onward delivery from the port, with one point of contact for the regional leg.

Information needed for a road-freight quote

Send the pickup and delivery addresses, the Incoterm, a cargo description, the number and type of packages, dimensions, gross weight, stackability and the preferred loading date. Add any temperature range, customs status, side- or top-loading requirement, dangerous-goods classification or delivery appointment. For non-standard cargo, drawings or photographs let us validate the equipment before a truck is booked.

Road freight rates move with the exact lane, vehicle type, season, border conditions and available capacity, so a quotation is built per shipment rather than from a published tariff. Send the shipment facts and our Baku team will return a route-specific proposal stating the equipment, inclusions and exclusions, validity and the expected transit window, for FTL, LTL, tilt, tautliner, reefer or specialised road movements.