The weight on your paperwork is usually the cargo weight: the weight of your goods. The law looks at something else: what the whole truck weighs on the road, and how that weight is spread across its axles.
Three different weights
- Cargo weight. Your goods, plus packaging and pallets.
- Container tare. The weight of the empty container, printed on its door. It differs by size and by box.
- Gross vehicle weight. Tractor + chassis + container + cargo. The tractor and chassis add a large share of the total, and heavier equipment such as a tri-axle chassis adds more.
So a heavy load of cargo can bring the whole truck close to the legal gross limit, before even looking at how the weight is distributed. Please give us the cargo weight with its unit (lb or kg). Mixing them up is a common and costly mistake.
The limits in California
Caltrans summarizes the California Vehicle Code limits. Among them:
- 80,000 lb maximum gross weight for a vehicle combination.
- 20,000 lb on any single axle, and 10,500 lb on the wheels at one end of an axle.
- Axle groups are limited by the distance between their first and last axles. Two axles closer together than 8’6” are limited to 34,000 lb. Wider spacing allows more, following the table in CVC 35551.
California’s gross and axle limits include all enforcement tolerances (CVC 35551(e)), so there’s no “extra” allowance to count on.
Federal limits on the Interstate system follow the same pattern: 80,000 lb gross, 20,000 lb on a single axle, 34,000 lb on a tandem, and the federal bridge formula for axle groups. Other states have their own rules for their own roads.
Why distribution matters
Even when the total is under 80,000 lb, a container loaded heavy at one end can overload an axle group. This is common with dense cargo in 20’ containers. It’s usually fixed by how the cargo is loaded or by using different equipment. It can’t be fixed on the road.
What a tri-axle chassis does, and doesn’t do
A tri-axle chassis spreads the container’s weight over three axles instead of two. That can keep each axle group within its limit for a heavier container. But:
- it doesn’t raise the 80,000 lb gross limit on its own;
- it weighs more itself, which leaves less room for cargo;
- whether a particular container can move legally still depends on the actual weights, the tractor, the axle spacing, the route and any permit.
The Port of Los Angeles publishes estimated cargo-weight guidelines by chassis and tractor type, including heavier ranges that need permits and the Overweight Container Corridor. Treat these as guidelines, not a guarantee for any one container. Cargo can never exceed the container’s own maximum rating.
Overweight permits
Moves above standard limits need a permit from each authority whose roads the truck uses, such as the City of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach, Los Angeles County or Caltrans. They’re allowed on approved routes only.
Near the ports:
- California law allows permits up to 95,000 lb gross for vehicles carrying intermodal containers in international commerce on two short state highway segments: SR 47 / SR 103 to Terminal Island, and part of SR 1 (CVC 35700.5). Axle limits still apply.
- The Port of Los Angeles describes an Overweight Container Corridor of designated city streets, also up to 95,000 lb gross with proper equipment and permits.
Neither applies to a delivery elsewhere in Southern California. Where no approved overweight route exists, the cargo has to be reduced or moved another way.
What this means for your quote
- Give us the cargo weight with units. If you don’t know it yet, we can prepare the quote assuming the load is within standard limits, and confirm once the weight is known.
- Heavy containers are reviewed by our operations team before we confirm a price. We check weight distribution, equipment, permits and the route.
- We never accept a move just because one number looks under a threshold, and we don’t promise that any one chassis or tractor makes every heavy load legal.