How a Conestoga trailer works, and why shippers ask for one
Published
A Conestoga is a flatbed trailer with a tarp that rolls on rails: the cover slides back, the deck loads by crane or forklift, and the freight rides covered. 106 of the 140 trailers in the Fission Logistics yard in Mississauga are Conestogas or multi axle curtainsides.
The driver slides the whole cover to one end, you load the deck with a crane or a forklift, and the driver pulls the cover closed again. Nobody throws a tarp.
Why shippers ask for one
Your freight stays dry. Coil, aluminum and shingles arrive the way they left.
Your dock isn't tied up while a driver tarps. Once the load is secured, the cover closes and the truck leaves.
Nobody climbs onto a wet or icy deck in January to spread a tarp.
Loading from the side or the top
The curtain opens on either side for a forklift, and the roof slides back for a crane. Coil, plate, extrusions, skidded machinery and palletized building products load the same way they would on an open deck.
Conestoga, Rolltite, curtainside
Conestoga is the trailer type and Rolltite is the brand of sliding tarp system on our 53 ft tandems. Some shippers call it a curtainside; on a load board the three names can be listed as different equipment, so say which one you mean when you tender. Our multi axle units are 50 ft curtainsides with the same sliding roof and curtain, built to carry more weight than a tandem.
When we send an open deck instead
A tandem Conestoga gives you 102 inches of clearance, high and wide. Our curtainside step decks give 120 inches high and 102 wide. Anything taller goes in the well of a double drop. Long structural steel and any load you want tarped your own way go on an open deck.
Questions shippers ask
What is a Conestoga trailer?
A flatbed trailer with a tarp that rolls on rails. The cover slides back, the deck loads by crane or forklift, and the freight rides covered.
How tall can a load be on a Conestoga?
A tandem Conestoga gives 102 inches of clearance, high and wide. Our curtainside step decks give 120 inches high and 102 wide, and anything taller goes in the well of a double drop.
Is a Rolltite the same as a Conestoga?
Conestoga is the trailer type and Rolltite is the brand of sliding tarp system on our 53 ft tandems. Some shippers call it a curtainside, so say which one you mean when you tender.
Send us the load and dispatch will name the trailer with the price. More on the Conestoga and Rolltite page. Palletized product out of the city rides the same way; see flatbed trucking in Toronto.
More from the yard
Need a truck this week?
Send the lane and the weight. A dispatcher prices it within 1 business hour, and someone picks up the phone 24 hours a day.