Van to Dock Ramp

[MCBuggyCo]

Is it practical to run a ramp from a cargo van to a dock? Does anyone carry such a thing with them for facilities that are not van friendly? Are there other methods that would work? I am referring to those situations involving say a 1000 lb skid that cannot be broken down in any way.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Is it practical to run a ramp from a cargo van to a dock? Does anyone carry such a thing with them for facilities that are not van friendly? Are there other methods that would work? I am referring to those situations involving say a 1000 lb skid that cannot be broken down in any way.

Tell ya a little story happened to me once....

Got to this receiver and dock high only....it was a 700 lb crate and they really needed it.....Backed as close as i could and fork lift operator put his forks in as far as he could ....wrapped the straps around box...he lifted just to take weight off floor and I drove out from under...he lifted it unto dock....phew...

not practical....the length you'd need to decrease the angle is too much....visual picturing here bear with me....

 

[D Team Brothers]

Met a Landstar owner with a small van/box and he had a set of plastic ramps in the box. Said he used them several times, but seems like a lot of risk to the van backing onto those things. JMO Jack

 

[Jack_Berry]

a couple aerocell owners said they use ramps to get dock high they had the raised floor. i think that floor is about 44" before the ramps. that is a lot taller than most cargo van floors.

 

[BillChaffey]

I must be very fortunate indeed, I have yet to deliver to where the consignee could not get a forklift out side if needed to.

 

[MCBuggyCo]

I thought about some type of tire ramps but it did seem dangerous. I even dreamed up a "Mach 5" Speed Racer kind of setup with hydraulics that would raise and lower the van as necessary. Something tells me that might be a little pricey though.

As for the forklifts coming outside that gets a lot more difficult with bad weather. It would be nice to have something to work with. Most shippers/consignees are understanding but some would be charter members of the "ban the van" club if there was such an organization.

 

[Jack_Berry]

yeah i did get loaded on the ground one time when the shipper was expecting a c or d. 2 pallets 48x48x48 and 1500 lbs. c'see had no problem at the factory. it was all ground level.

 

[cheri1122]

Biggest problem I can see with it is that even assuming your carrier will remember you can be dock high, if the size & weight is within a van capacity, would they risk the anger of a customer who specified a dock high truck? If you have your own authority, would you risk it? Because I can see some very negative reactions to a cargo van with ramps, when dock high was ordered - some customers are like that, you know?

 

[Turtle]

Yeah, it would be really bad for a customer to order dock high, and then a van show up. About twice a year or so I'll show up to a place that requires dock high, but so far in every case, dock high wasn't specifically ordered. I recently went to one where the customer called into UPS like always, and they were expecting a pup trailer to show up, like always, and I showed up instead. 1500 pound skid that could not be broken down, no way were we gonna make that one work. UPS ended up sending a truck over, then cross-docked it to me at their terminal, and off I went. All the other times we were able to get it in somehow. In one case they loaded the forklift onto a truck with a liftgate, pulled the truck away from the dock and lowered the forklift, he unloaded me, then reversed the process. That was kewl.

 

[Jack_Berry]

i don't know if you are directing to me or just in general but the call was 2 skids 48x3 and 1500 lbs. they were able to load me they just had to go thru the plant with the skids. actually they looked inside the van and didn't think the skids would fit.

 

[MCBuggyCo]

didn't think the skids would fit.

If I had a dollar every time I heard that one ...

As for ordering dock high, I think that in most of my situations the shipper just specifies how big the freight is and the carrier sends the smallest vehicle it will fit into.

 

[Turtle]

If I had a dollar every time I heard that one ...

Every time a forklift operator asks, "Will this fit?" my standard reply is, "Yeah, it'll fit. Can you thread a needle?"

 

[RedBird]

I agree with MC Buggy. Most shippers with call with the order request give the measurements and weight and don't really care how or with what type of vehicle it's moved in! Now I'm sure there are some shippers who are anal about a specific type of vehicle and the carrier makes every effort to accomodate their request.

But in the rare few places I've delivered into in my 15+ years of expediting there have been three instances where I had to break down a skid. The first two facilities (and these are at big name national corporations) the building did not have a level door for vans or even a ramp for vans! The third instance they had the ramp, but the receiving guy was too lazy! so I also dumped the pallet along with shrink wrap on his dock too!

In most cases manufacturing companies who are waiting for a expedite shipment, don't care about how to unload it as long as the shipment gets there ASAP!

 

[miker]

I had one the other day that I had to get out the tape measure and prove to them that it would fit, they were just going to say the heck with it, call the carrier and tell them to send a bigger truck without even looking into it, they dont care if you drove there and left with nothing, no money out of there pocket, just order a bigger truck

 

[CharlesD]

I think a lot of times they just don't want to mess with a van even though they can handle it. When I book loads, I'm always sure to specify with the broker if the vehicle is not dock high so they can make sure with the shipper and receiver. I've booked loads that a dock high was requested but no other carriers responded to the load listing and the broker basically told the shipper that if they wanted their freight moved they would have to load a van. I've heard some colorful language at those places.

I've seen some pretty creative loading and unloading before, including the scenario Turtle mentioned with using a liftgate truck to bring a forklift outside. That was quite interesting to watch. The thing that burned me up one time was when I booked a brokered load from the bid board of another carrier that shall remain nameless and it was picking up at one of these UPS docks that is open in the middle and has the dock doors all around. The load was two skids, about 1800 lbs total, and when I was in the office getting the paperwork I asked where he wanted me for loading. The guy gave me a door number and I replied that I wasn't dock high and asked him where the ramp was. He replied, "We don't have a ramp. Go to door 14 and I'll have someone help you load it." So I went to door 14 and someone brought the skids over and I proceeded to break both of them down and load them by hand onto skids I had placed inside the van. This took a while since both skids consisted of a very large number of small boxes. I finally got everything on board and when I was pulling around the building to exit the premises, I noticed a ramp on the corner of the building. I went right back inside and gave the manager a pretty good piece of my mind. Yeah, I know, I probably shouldn't have done that, but I wasn't too happy since it was about 95 outside that day and I was sweating from head to toe from loading all that by hand.

I told the guy that I had half a mind to increase my rate for the extra effort, especially since they had a ramp and he just sat there without saying a word. I then told him that I was going to go out and come back in with an invoice and he told me that wouldn't do any good since he didn't have the authority to authorize any additional payment. After that, I called the other carrier that shall remain nameless (meow) and told them the situation since they were the ones I had gotten the load from. They turned around and made a couple calls, then called me back and said they were adding $75 to my rate just for my effort. Since they are a larger carrier than I am, (I think they have a couple more trucks than I do.) and since this was one of their major accounts, I guess it was easier for them to get extra money out of it than it would have been for me being a third party carrier as far as they were concerned. Looking back, I think I probably could have handled it better, but all's well that ends well.

 

[RLENT]

Yeah ...... ya probably could have ...... but I'd say that ya didn't do all that bad .... I know I woulda been hot ..... finding the ramp on the way out after doing a hand load.

Might pay to drive all the way around the next one before loading next time ....

Regardless, someone needs to pay for your extra labor ..... so ya did the right thing ..... unfortunately they'll probably just pass it on to the customer .....

I've been to a bunch of different common carriers (Roadway, Yellow, Carter Express, UPS, etc.) to pick up loads ...... quite often there is a good bit of (unwanted) interest on the part of the personnel there ...... about what I'm picking up ....... and where exactly I'm taking it ..... afterall ...... if you're hauling something, it means they ain't ..... most often though they are usually pretty decent to deal with ......

 

[FIS53]

One of the problems with using ramps is the angle they place the van on. This makes it fun for forktruck watching as they try to gage the angle and getting the forks in and out of the skid (depending on loading or unloading). One other fun part is when loading and the van drops an inch or two or three when the heavy skid is placed in the rear and then they try getting the forks back to get a little lift to move the skid forward and get the forks out.

One place we go to a bit is not only dock level but they don't have a forktruck but a overhead swing hoist. Great for open trucks like flatdecks and pickups but a pain for a van. The hoist works ok for a normal van body straight as well. ANother place we deliver to has the same thing except a heavier unit with an extendable boom. Works great in a sprinter high roof but not so much in a normal or mini van (yes some people ship skids in a minivan).
Rob

 

[interstategar]

there's a product attachment for a fork lift that attaches to the fork that goes down and out with 2 fork blades that can lift out outskids but I only saw one facility that had one. The other thing you can do is carry web slings that can be placed under and over the skid and put the loops of the straps on the forks where the skid can be lifted up on the dock. I did this a couple of times.