A 53-foot enclosed dry-van semi-truck on a North American highway

The workhorse of road freight

Dry Van Freight.
If it fits the box, it moves today.

Enclosed 53′ and 28′ vans for palletized, boxed and floor-loaded freight. Same-day cover on most North American lanes from a vetted network of 25,000+ carrier partners — food-grade options, GPS tracking and signed POD pushed the day you deliver.

Calculate a load Get a dry-van quote

26 pallets

Per 53′ van floor

45,000 lb

Typical max payload

25,000+

Vetted carrier partners

Same-day

Cover on most lanes

What is dry van?

A sealed box on wheels — and most freight’s default.

Roughly 70% of everything that moves by truck in North America moves in a dry van. There’s a reason it’s the baseline.

A dry van is the standard fully-enclosed trailer: an insulated, weatherproof box, sealed at the rear with swing or roll-up doors, riding behind a tractor. It protects freight from rain, road spray, sun and theft, and it loads from the dock by forklift or pallet jack. If your cargo is palletized, boxed or floor-loaded, fits inside the box, and doesn’t need refrigeration, the dry van is almost always the cheapest, fastest and most available way to move it.

The standard unit is the 53-foot van— about 630″ of interior length, 98″ wide and 110″ tall, holding 26 floor pallet positions and roughly 45,000 lb of payload. For tighter urban work and LTL doubles there’s the 28-foot pup. Beyond that the variations are about cleanliness and access: food-grade washed trailers for edible freight, swing-door versus roll-door for dock fit, and air-ride suspension for fragile loads. We spec the right one for your dock, your lane and your commodity.

Palletized freight being loaded into an enclosed dry-van trailer at a dock — Dock-to-dock by forklift — the dry van loads, seals and tracks as a single sealed chain of custody from origin to destination.

How do you load a dry van efficiently?

Most dry-van loads are limited by one of three things: floor space, weight, or cube. Heavy, dense freight (paper, canned goods, liquids) hits the 45,000 lb weight ceilinglong before the trailer is full. Light, bulky freight (foam, packaging, furniture) cubes outfirst. And non-stackable pallets run out of the 26 floor positionsregardless of weight. The calculator below shows which limit you’ll hit — and whether a full van, a partial, or LTL is the economical call.

Dry van vs reefer vs flatbed

The mode choice comes down to three questions. Does it need temperature control?If yes, it’s a reefer, not a dry van. Will it fit through the doors and inside the box? If no — too tall, too wide, loads by crane — it’s flatbed/open-deck. If it’s dry, boxable and door-loadable, it’s a dry van, and you get the lowest rate and the deepest carrier pool in freight. That availability is the dry van’s quiet superpower: when capacity tightens, vans cover first.

Interactive · Van load calculator

Will it fit — and what’s your limit?

Set your pallet count, footprint, weight and stack height. We’ll show floor, weight and cube utilization against a 53′ van and tell you whether FTL, partial or LTL is the smart move.

Pallet footprint

Pallet count18 pallets

Weight per pallet1,500 lb

Stacked height50 in

Freight is double-stackable

Based on a 53′ van: 26 floor positions, 45,000 lb payload, ~3,800 ft³ usable cube. Real loads account for pallet overhang, load bars, weight distribution over the axles and door-clearance.

Trailer utilization

Floor space35%

Weight60%

Cube26%

Total weight27,000 lb

Limiting factorweight

Full dry-van FTL is the efficient call

Get a dry-van quote

Equipment specs

53′ van vs 28′ pup, side by side.

Comparison of 53-foot dry van and 28-foot pup trailer dimensions and capacity
Specification	53′ Dry Van	28′ Pup
Interior length	~52′6″ (630″)	~27′6″ (330″)
Interior width	~98″ (8′2″)	~98″ (8′2″)
Interior height	~110″ (9′2″)	~108″ (9′)
Floor pallet positions	26 (up to 30 turned)	14
Usable cube	~3,800 ft³	~2,000 ft³
Typical max payload	~45,000 lb	~22,000 lb
Best for	Long-haul, full loads, max cube	Urban, dock-restricted, LTL doubles

Get a dry-van quote

A dry-van semi-truck on a long-haul interstate at golden hour

The deepest capacity pool in freight

25,000+ vetted carrier partners.
Same-day cover on most lanes.

When capacity tightens, dry vans cover first — and our pool is wide enough that your load isn’t waiting on a single carrier’s availability.

The dry-van lifecycle

From quote to POD,
in five clean steps.

01
Quote & book
Tell us origin, destination, pallet count and weight — we price the lane and confirm equipment, often same-day.
02
Carrier cover & dispatch
We cover the load from a vetted network of 25,000+ carrier partners, dispatch the driver and confirm the pickup window.
03
Load & seal
Pallets loaded, braced with load bars, doors sealed and the seal number recorded for chain-of-custody.
04
In-transit tracking
GPS tracking on the move, with proactive updates if weather or traffic threatens the delivery appointment.
05
Delivery & POD
Appointment delivery, seal verified intact, signed proof of delivery imaged and pushed to you same-day.

Who ships dry van

The freight that keeps the vans rolling.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Packaged merchandise, apparel and household goods to DCs and stores on appointment.

See industry →

E-commerce & DTC

Replenishment and DC bypass for the SKU-heavy direct-to-consumer stack.

See industry →

Paper & Packaging

High-density paper, corrugated and folding carton — usually a weight-out load.

See industry →

Beverage & Packaged Food

Shelf-stable food and beverage in washed, food-grade trailers.

See industry →

What moves the price

Two identical trailers, two different rates.

Dry van is the most competitively priced equipment in freight, which also makes it the easiest to be quoted badly on. These are the six things that actually move a dry van number, in roughly the order they matter.

1. Whether the truck gets a load back

The single biggest factor, and the one shippers never see. A lane with freight moving both ways prices far better than one where the truck runs empty coming home - that empty leg is called deadhead, and somebody pays for it. It is why Toronto to Montreal and Montreal to Toronto can differ by hundreds of dollars on the same day.

2. Weight against cube

You pay for whichever runs out first. Light, bulky freight fills the trailer long before it hits 45,000 lb; dense freight hits the weight limit with the trailer half empty. Tell us both and we price the real constraint.

3. Whether it stacks

Double-stackable freight can take a 53′ van well past 26 skids, which changes the cost per unit completely. It is one line on the quote request and it is regularly left off.

4. How much notice

Three days out beats same-day, every time. Dry van capacity is deep, but it is not infinite on a Friday afternoon in Q4.

5. Season

Q4 retail peak and produce season both pull equipment into other uses and tighten the dry van market. Winter weather on the prairie and northern Ontario lanes does the same thing for different reasons.

6. Accessorials

Tailgate or liftgate, inside delivery, appointment scheduling, driver assist, extra stops, and detention once the free time at a dock runs out. None of these are surprises if they are priced at quote time.

Fuel surcharge sits on top of all of it, indexed and shown as its own line rather than buried in the linehaul. If a quote does not separate it, ask why.

Mode Fit

What dry van is right for

A dry van is the default trailer for a reason: it is enclosed, it protects freight from weather and theft, it loads and unloads at any standard dock, and there is more of it on the road than any other trailer type, which keeps it available and keeps rates competitive. For palletised consumer goods, packaged food and beverage, retail and e-commerce freight, building materials that do not need special handling, and most general dry cargo, it is not just a workable option, it is the correct one, and paying for anything more specialised is money spent on capability the freight does not use.

It stops being the right answer at a few clear edges. Anything that has to hold a temperature needs a refrigerated trailer, not a dry van with a blanket over it; freight that will not fit through the doors or is loaded and unloaded by crane belongs on a flatbed or step deck; and a shipment too small to justify a full trailer is usually cheaper as less-than-truckload than as a mostly empty van. Knowing which of these applies before booking is what stops a shipper from paying full truckload for a half load, or trying to force temperature-sensitive product onto the wrong equipment.

There is a grey zone worth being honest about. Product that is only mildly temperature-sensitive, that ships in mild weather, or that can tolerate a short transit will often move safely in a dry van at a fraction of the reefer cost, and in the depth of winter or a heatwave the same product needs protection. The right call depends on the commodity, the season and the lane, and it is a decision we make with you rather than defaulting to the cheapest equipment and hoping, because a single spoiled load erases the saving on many.

Weight and cube decide the rest. A dry van has a fixed floor space and a legal weight limit, and dense freight reaches the weight limit long before it fills the space while light, bulky freight does the reverse. Planning the load to whichever limit binds first, and knowing when two lighter loads on one trailer beat one heavy load that leaves the deck half empty, is ordinary truckload discipline. It is also where a shipper who treats every load as a full van quietly overpays, and where we look first when reviewing a lane.

Load Quality

Trailer condition, securement and clean freight

Most dry van claims are created before the truck leaves the yard, in the condition of the trailer and the way the load is built. A trailer with a leaking roof seam, a damaged floor, protruding hardware or the residue of a previous load can ruin cargo that was packed perfectly, and the damage often does not show until the receiver opens the doors. A short trailer inspection at loading, checking that it is dry, clean, sound and free of odour, is the cheapest insurance available on a dry van shipment, and it is a standing step on the lanes we run rather than an occasional courtesy.

Prior load matters more than shippers expect. A van that last carried something that sheds, spills or smells can contaminate food, packaging or consumer goods to the point of rejection, and for food-grade freight the prior-load history and a clean trailer are part of the specification, not a nicety. Asking the question before loading, and refusing a trailer that cannot answer it, prevents the kind of loss that is measured in the value of the goods rather than the price of the freight.

Securement is the other half. Freight that is not blocked, braced and, where needed, strapped will shift in transit through braking and cornering, and a load that walks even a short distance arrives with crushed cases at the bottom and a weight distribution the plan never intended. Load bars, void fill, corner boards and correct wrap keep a load in the shape it was built in, and on freight that is stacked or mixed it is the difference between a clean delivery and a damage claim. We specify the securement expectation on the load rather than leaving it to be improvised with whatever is in the trailer.

Weight distribution ties condition and securement together. The same legal weight is fine when it is spread correctly across the axles and illegal or unsafe when it is bunched over the drives, and a load built without regard to distribution can be turned back at a scale or arrive with a trailer that handled badly the whole way. Building the load as a distribution rather than a stack, with the heaviest pallets placed deliberately, is what keeps a dry van legal, safe and undamaged from dock to dock, and it costs nothing but the attention to do it right the first time.

Dry van across the border

Most Canada–US freight crosses in a dry van.

The trailer is the easy part. What decides whether your load is in Chicago tomorrow or sitting in a yard at Windsor is the paperwork that goes ahead of it.

Southbound into the US

Commercial invoice with correct HS codes
Packing list that agrees with the invoice
Bill of lading
PAPS barcode on the invoice, transmitted by the broker before arrival
ACE eManifest filed by the carrier at least one hour before the truck reaches the booth

Northbound into Canada

Same invoice, packing list and bill of lading
PARS barcode instead of PAPS
ACI eManifest instead of ACE
Any permits or OGD requirements the commodity attracts
Duty and GST handled on the entry, not at the booth

What actually costs you time

Three things hold dry vans at the border more than anything else: an invoice that disagrees with the packing list, an eManifest filed late or not at all, and HS codes that do not match what is on the skids. None of them are trucking problems. All three are avoidable before the driver leaves your dock.

Clearance can run through our customs brokerage desk or through the broker you already use. Either way the transport and the entry stay on one file, so nobody is waiting on somebody else to send a document. More detail on Canada–US cross-border.

Qeep is licensed, bonded and insured — USDOT 4187952, MC-1613475, BMC-84 — and participates in C-TPAT and PIP.

Dry van questions

Dry van, answered.

Why are two dry van quotes on the same distance so different?

Almost always deadhead - whether the truck has freight for the return trip. A balanced lane prices well; a lane where the truck comes home empty has to cover that empty leg in your rate. Season, notice period and whether your freight stacks account for most of the rest.

Can I get a dry van with a liftgate?

Yes, on request. A liftgate reduces usable deck length slightly and adds cost, and liftgate-equipped vans are a smaller pool, so tell us at quote time rather than at pickup. If the receiver has a dock, you do not need one.

What is detention on a dry van load?

Free time at a dock is typically two hours to load and two to unload. Past that the carrier charges detention by the hour, because the truck and driver are unavailable for anything else. Realistic appointment times prevent it far more reliably than negotiating the rate does.

Do I need a customs broker to ship a dry van into the US?

Yes. Commercial freight entering the United States needs a customs entry filed by a licensed broker, plus a PAPS barcode on the invoice and an ACE eManifest transmitted before the truck reaches the booth. Northbound into Canada it is PARS and ACI instead. We can arrange clearance through our customs brokerage desk, or work alongside the broker you already use.

What holds a dry van up at the Canada-US border?

Almost always paperwork, not the truck. The three that cost the most time are a commercial invoice that disagrees with the packing list, a missing or late eManifest, and HS codes that do not match what is actually on the skids. Get those right and a cleared load is usually through in minutes.

How many pallets fit in a 53′ dry van?

A 53′ van holds 26 standard 48″×40″ GMA pallets floor-loaded in a single layer (two-wide, 13 rows), or up to 30 if you turn them. If the freight is double-stackable and stays under the trailer’s 110″ interior height, you can effectively double that to 52 pallet positions before you hit the 45,000 lb payload ceiling. Most loads run out of weight before they run out of floor.

What are the interior dimensions and weight limits of a 53′ dry van?

Usable interior runs roughly 630″ long × 98″ wide × 110″ high (52'6″ × 8'2″ × 9'2″), giving about 3,800 ft³ of cube. Legal payload is around 45,000 lb, though the real ceiling is set by the 80,000 lb gross-vehicle-weight limit minus the tractor and trailer tare. Door openings are about 93″ wide and 105″ high — the practical limit on what you can get in through the back.

When should I use a dry van versus LTL or flatbed?

Use a dry van FTL when you have roughly 10+ pallets, want a single chain of custody, or your freight is fragile or high-value enough that you don’t want it cross-docked. Use LTL for 1–6 pallets where sharing trailer space is cheaper. Use flatbed/open-deck when the cargo won’t fit through the doors, loads by crane, or exceeds legal van dimensions. The on-page calculator shows where your load lands.

Are dry vans temperature controlled?

No — a dry van is an insulated but unrefrigerated enclosed box. It protects freight from rain, road spray and theft, but interior temperature follows ambient conditions and can swing widely in summer or winter. For anything with a temperature spec — food, pharma, certain chemicals, beverages in a freeze risk — you want a reefer (temperature-controlled) trailer instead.

What is the difference between a 53′ van and a 28′ pup?

A 53' van is the standard long-haul trailer — one tractor, one box, maximum cube. A 28' pup is a shorter trailer used in pairs (doubles) by LTL carriers, or singly for tight urban delivery, dock-restricted sites and lighter volume loads. Pups carry roughly 14 pallets each. We spec whichever matches your volume, dock access and lane.

Can dry vans carry food and consumer goods?

Yes — dry van is the default for shelf-stable food, beverages, packaged consumer goods, paper, apparel and general merchandise. For food we provide washed, food-grade trailers with clean-out certification and, where required, compliance with the FSMA Sanitary Transportation rule. Just flag food-grade at booking and we’ll spec the equipment and document the trailer wash.

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Dry Van Freight.
If it fits the box, it moves today.