Hi I am starting out next year on my own been pulling container in California for a year, and applied for my own authority and i need to know if i buy a 48 dry van will i be able to stay busy or should i spend more and get a 53 foot or should i wait buy reefer so that i can do both ? what i would like to is start out slow before the season begins any advise would greatly appreciated
thanks
Bob C

If you plan on buying a trailer, I would suggest buying a 53' if you want a dry van. Some shippers want a 53' whether they need it or not. If you are presently running a reefer and want to stick with it, you may also want to consider a 53', but a 48' would probably do all right to start. I just depends on what you want to pull. There is a lot of produce in California. Most of it will probably require a reefer.

thanks, Gman i have followed alot of your advise that you have given the other drivers and respect opinion, you seem to have a good business sense on trucking and look forward to your post
thanks
Bob

I appreciate it. Good luck with the new venture.

53' refer would be the best choice ..

yea if you had a 53' refeer you could pull both refrig and dry

If you're gonna just be pulling reefer freight I'd go with a 48'
With a 53' they're just going to load you back to the 48' Mark anyway.
Even with dry van they're still only going to load back to the 48'
running California a 48' with a spread is your best bet

Most shippers ask for a 53'

Maybe for dry van freight but if you're hauling produce or meat loads, a 48' trailer will be just fine. And you're going to want a 48' trailer if you're heading into the tenth level of Hell (New York City). :lol:

To be honest, the whole time I drove for Stevens I don't recall ever running into problems where a shipper demanded a 53' trailer and wouldn't load a 48'.

thanks to all the replies, I was just wanting to do dry van work starting out less problems and it seem to be alot of 48 102 available, and in my price range. I was thinking that i might start out with LTL ? any thoughts
thanks
Bob