Machinery & Manufacturing Transport
Inbound components, outbound finished goods, and the machine that is too long, too tall or too heavy for anybody else's network. Send us dimensions and photos and we will build the vehicle, the restraint and the lifting method around the load.
Why machinery freight needs a different answer
Manufacturers do not have a freight problem so much as a fit problem: the standard networks are built around cartons and pallets, and a great deal of what leaves an Australian factory is neither. Here is where it usually breaks down.
The item does not fit the freight system
Machines, jigs, tooling, tanks, extrusions and fabricated assemblies rarely arrive at a shape a pallet network can price. Too long, too tall, too heavy, or simply not stackable — and general freight either refuses it or damages it.
One damaged machine costs more than the freight
A scratched panel on a production machine is a warranty argument. A dropped one is a shutdown. The value sitting on the deck is usually orders of magnitude above the cartage, which changes how the load should be secured and who should be driving it.
Plants run to a schedule, not a delivery window
Inbound components feed a line that is already running. Late is not a service failure, it is downtime — so the truck has to be dedicated to your job rather than picking up someone else’s freight on the way.
Loading and unloading is specialised at both ends
Your factory has a forklift and a dock. Your customer may have a gravel yard and a hand trolley. The same machine has to leave one and arrive at the other intact.
Interstate customers, one plant
Australian manufacturers usually sell nationally from a single site. That means constant linehaul between capitals, plus regional deliveries where the pallet networks get expensive and slow.
Nobody can tell you where it is
A machine in transit generates more phone calls than any other freight type. Live milestones and real-time GPS end the guessing for you and for your customer.
The DSE services that fit a manufacturing operation
Most manufacturers run a standing arrangement for scheduled outbound freight and keep a taxi truck number handy for the parts run that cannot wait.
Customised Services
The home for freight that is longer, higher, heavier or simply will not go on a pallet. Send information, photos and dimensions and our team works out the vehicle, the restraint and the lifting method — right down to fitting support poles for oversized piping.
Learn more →Taxi Trucks
Dedicated truck and driver on demand for urgent component runs, breakdown parts and the machine that has to be at a customer site tomorrow morning.
Learn more →Linehaul & Interstate
Tautliners and flattops between every mainland capital plus regional destinations, including interstate container movements, with express and general pallet options for smaller consignments.
Learn more →Bulk Trucks
When a production run has to go out at once — multiple trucks to multiple destinations, planned as a single job with the load packed properly across the fleet.
Learn more →The trucks that move plant and production freight
Crane trucks
8T to semi
Up to 7m lengths on an 8 tonne, 9m on a 12 tonne and 13.5m on a crane semi — the machine lifts itself off where the receiver has no plant.
Flattops & drop-decks
Open decks
Unrestricted access for craning and side-loading, and headroom for anything that cannot go through a curtain.
Tautliners
Semi & B-double, 22–34 pallets
Weather protection with curtain-side loading and strong freight security for palletised finished goods.
Rigids & pantechs
1–14T, up to 16 pallets
Component runs, sub-assemblies and service parts into suburban industrial estates, with tail lift options.
*A guide only — there are many configurations of vehicle size, accessories and capacity. See the full DSE fleet, or send your dimensions and weights and we will confirm what the load needs.
Careful is a process, not a promise
Dedicated, not consolidated
One driver, one job, only your freight on board from pickup to delivery. Nothing gets cross-handled at a depot because nobody else's pallets are on the truck.
Planned before it is loaded
Dimensions, weights and photos up front let us choose the deck, the restraint and the unloading method rather than improvising at the gate.
Audited compliance
DSE is AMCAS certified and returned a 100% result in our Master Code audit — mass, loading, restraint and fatigue managed as a system, not a hope.
My product is not standard freight — it is longer, higher and cannot go on a pallet. Can you help?
Absolutely. Give us all the information, photos and dimensions, and we will work with you to find a solution. That is the core of our customised truck services: if you tell us your needs we will help you find the specific vehicle that meets them, including customising a truck with support poles where oversized piping needs to be secure in transit.
Will our freight be the only load on the truck?
On a dedicated hire, yes. A dedicated hire is a driver who completes one job at a time — that job could be a simple point A to point B movement or multiple pickups and deliveries for the day, but however long it runs, the driver is only carrying your product.
Can you run a regular scheduled service between our plant and our customers?
Yes. We supply trucks for pick-up and deliver work at your direction, and run work where a truck loads at one point and completes multiple deliveries. For an ongoing arrangement our customised services team will build the vehicles, timings and processes around your production schedule.
Can DSE handle interstate container movements?
We do not transport containers on the rail, however we can complete your interstate container movements by road.
What is the transit time for a full interstate load?
For 10 pallets or more we complete the job as a dedicated linehaul delivery — collected in Sydney today, it would be in Brisbane or Melbourne the following business day. We aim for a set delivery time, but that is ultimately dictated by the driver, fatigue rules and traffic. Full transit times are provided on booking.
What happens if our loading takes longer than planned?
Fixed-price quotes include an allowance for time at the pickup and delivery locations plus the drive time. If there is additional time at either end it is likely to be charged as demurrage, but we communicate every delay as it happens so you always know before it is billed.
Other sectors we move freight for
Send us the awkward one
Dimensions, weights and a couple of photos are all we need to tell you how your machine moves and what it costs. Call our team on 1300 660 644.
Quotes within 30 minutes during business hours (Mon–Fri, 6:30am–6:00pm).