Mine logistics is six trades that are usually contracted separately. Highway haulage moves ore, concentrate, reagents and consumables over public roads in end dumps, belly dumps, side dumps, walking floors, tank trailers and flatbeds, under FMCSA operating authority and hours-of-service rules. Off-highway haulage is contract hauling on private mine roads with articulated or rigid haul trucks, typically paid by the tonne-kilometre and outside the federal motor carrier rules but squarely inside MSHA's. Rail loadout and transloading covers the fixed asset and the operation: a spur, loop or ladder track built to the serving railroad's engineering standards, a surge bin or flood-loading structure, a certified scale, and a transload yard where trucks and railcars meet when a mine has no rail of its own. Port and barge handling covers barge loading on the inland waterway system, shiploading and stevedoring at deepwater terminals, laydown and covered storage; bulk storage covers domes, A-frames, silos and open stockpiles with reclaim; heavy haul and equipment moves covers permitted oversize and overweight transport of mills, crushers, shovels and transformers with route surveys and utility lifts; and customs brokerage covers entry of imported equipment and reagents and export of concentrate.
30 firms working in this trade
Alphabetical. Nobody paid to be here
- A.N. DeringerSt. Albans, Vermont
US customs brokerage, trade compliance and freight forwarding
anderinger.com - American Commercial Barge LineJeffersonville, Indiana
Full-service inland barge transportation on US waterways
bargeacbl.com - Ames ConstructionBurnsville, Minnesota
Heavy civil mine site earthwork and aggregate processing
amesconstruction.com - Anderson Trucking ServiceSt. Cloud, Minnesota
Heavy haul, flatbed and specialized project freight transportation
atsinc.com - Barnhart Crane & RiggingMemphis, Tennessee
Heavy lifting, rigging and heavy hauling of industrial components
barnhartcrane.com - Bennett Family of CompaniesMcDonough, Georgia
Flatbed, step deck, heavy haul and oversized freight transport
bennettig.com - Bigge Crane and RiggingSan Leandro, California
Crane rental, rigging and heavy lift services nationwide
bigge.com - BulkmaticGriffith, Indiana
Dry bulk trucking, rail transloading and terminal operations
bulkmatic.com - Crounse CorporationPaducah, Kentucky
Dry bulk barge line on US inland waterways
crounse.com - Duluth Cargo ConnectDuluth, Minnesota
Port stevedoring, warehousing and intermodal bulk cargo handling
duluthcargo.com - Expeditors International of WashingtonBellevue, Washington
Customs brokerage, project cargo and global freight forwarding
expeditors.com - Foss Maritime CompanySeattle, Washington
Tug and barge marine transportation and harbor towing
foss.com - Genesee & WyomingDarien, Connecticut
Short line freight rail, transloading and port operations
gwrr.com - Ingram Barge CompanyNashville, Tennessee
Dry and liquid barge transport, fleeting and terminal services
ingrambarge.com - Kinder Morgan TerminalsHouston, Texas
Dry bulk terminals handling mined minerals and ore concentrate
kindermorgan.com - Landstar SystemJacksonville, Florida
Specialized trailer capacity for single loads and complex projects
landstar.com - Marquette Transportation CompanyPaducah, Kentucky
Inland barge towing for rock, coal, sand and aggregate
marquettetrans.com - Maxim Crane WorksWilder, Kentucky
Crane rental, engineered rigging and heavy hauling services
maximcrane.com - Metro PortsLong Beach, California
Bulk and breakbulk stevedoring and marine terminal operations
metroports.com - Omega MorganPortland, Oregon
Machinery moving, rigging and specialized heavy transport services
omegamorgan.com - OmniTRAXDenver, Colorado
Short line rail and transloading between rail, truck, barge
omnitrax.com - Patriot Rail CompanyJacksonville, Florida
Short line railroads, transloading, railcar storage and warehousing
patriotrail.com - Ports AmericaMorristown, New Jersey
Marine terminal operations and stevedoring for bulk and breakbulk
portsamerica.com - Precision Heavy HaulTolleson, Arizona
Oversize and overweight load transport, rigging, railcar securement
precisionheavyhaul.com - R. J. Corman Railroad GroupNicholasville, Kentucky
Short line railroads, industrial switching and rail transloading
rjcorman.com - SavageMidvale, Utah
Rail, transloading, trucking and marine bulk material handling
savageco.com - The Cooper GroupMobile, Alabama
Stevedoring and terminal handling of ores, alloys and limestone
thecoopergroup.com - The Interlake Steamship CompanyMiddleburg Heights, Ohio
Great Lakes bulk vessels carrying iron ore, coal, aggregates
interlake-steamship.com - TidewaterVancouver, Washington
Columbia-Snake River barge transportation and multimodal bulk terminals
tidewater.com - WatcoPittsburg, Kansas
Rail, transloading and terminal cargo handling across modes
watco.com
Listed because we found them, not because they asked or paid. Every entry was checked against the company’s own website; none of it is an endorsement, and we have no commercial relationship with anyone on this page. Work in Logistics, haulage and rail and want to be added, corrected or removed? Tell us — it is free either way.
How it is actually bought
Contract shapes and what they price
Rate structures differ by mode, so headline prices are not comparable across them. Trucking is quoted per loaded mile or per ton with a fuel surcharge, plus detention and loading/unloading time; rail is quoted per car under a published tariff or, more often for mine volumes, a confidential rate agreement with a volume commitment, a fuel surcharge formula, demurrage and detention terms and a car-supply obligation; barge is per ton with load and discharge rate terms and layberth conditions; heavy haul is a lump sum per move that should explicitly include permits, escorts, bridge analyses and utility lifts. A carrier's USDOT number, the status of its operating authority, its safety rating and the insurance on file against the 49 CFR 387.9 limits are all matters of public record. A freight broker is not a carrier, and a broker surety bond does not insure cargo. Rail is the hardest thing to get right because a single-served mine has exactly one railroad: the loadout has to satisfy that railroad's engineering and clearance standards, the AAR Open Top Loading Rules, weighing requirements and car-cycle expectations before a single car moves, and a loadout sized for the wrong car cycle cannot be economically rebuilt. For imported or exported material, contracts name an Incoterms 2020 rule and a licensed customs broker files the entry, but the importer of record — not the broker — owes the duty and bears the penalty for a misclassification.
Who regulates it
And what each one requires of this trade
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) — Registers interstate motor carriers (USDOT number and, for for-hire carriage of regulated commodities, operating authority), sets the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations on driver qualification, hours of service, vehicle inspection and maintenance and drug and alcohol testing, and sets minimum levels of financial responsibility.
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) — Issues the Hazardous Materials Regulations that govern classification, packaging, marking, labelling, placarding, shipping papers, emergency response information, training and security plans for hazardous cargo, and runs the annual hazmat registration programme for shippers and carriers.
- Surface Transportation Board (STB) — The economic regulator of freight rail. It has jurisdiction over railroad rates, practices and service issues and over rail restructuring — mergers, line sales, line construction and line abandonments — and it also covers non-energy pipelines and water transportation rates for non-contiguous domestic trades.
- Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) — The safety regulator for railroad operations and track. Its Track Safety Standards in 49 CFR Part 213 set minimum geometry and structural requirements by track class; a plant railroad operating exclusively within its own facility is outside the rule, but track inside a plant over which a general system railroad operates remains subject to Part 213 — which is the trap for mine loadout spurs.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the International Trade Administration — CBP controls entry of imported goods, classification under the 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule, valuation, country of origin and duty collection; Schedule B export classification is administered by the Census Bureau and the HTS by the USITC. Classification decisions are searchable in CBP's rulings database.
The standards that apply
Ask which of these a firm works to
- 49 CFR Part 172 (Hazardous Materials Table, Communications, Emergency Response, Training and Security Plans) — The communications backbone of hazmat shipping: Subpart B the hazardous materials table, C shipping papers, D marking, E labelling, F placarding, G emergency response information, H training and I safety and security plans. If you ship reagents, fuel, explosives or any classified concentrate, this is the part your paperwork is judged against.
- Federal truck size and weight limits and the bridge formula — On the Interstate system the federal maxima are 80,000 lb gross vehicle weight, 20,000 lb single axle and 34,000 lb tandem axle, with the bridge formula limiting weight on consecutive axle groups by spacing. The federal government does not issue oversize/overweight permits — states do, distinguishing nondivisible from divisible loads.
- AAR Open Top Loading Rules Manual — The Association of American Railroads rulebook for loading commodities on open-top cars in interchange service. Section 1 sets general rules, testing procedures and approval specifications for all commodities; later sections give approved loading figures and securement specifications for steel products, machinery, forest products, military equipment and intermodal. A load that does not conform to an approved figure will not be accepted in interchange.
- Incoterms 2020 (International Chamber of Commerce) — The eleven ICC rules that allocate delivery point, risk transfer, carriage, insurance and export/import clearance obligations between seller and buyer. The 2020 edition consolidates all costs for each rule at articles A9/B9 and expands security-related obligations; some rules (such as CIF) are reserved for sea and inland waterway carriage only.
- NIST Handbook 44 — Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices — The uniform national code adopted by the National Conference on Weights and Measures and applied by state weights-and-measures officials. Section 2 covers vehicle scales, railroad track scales, belt-conveyor scale systems and automatic bulk weighing systems — the devices that determine what you actually get paid for at a loadout or a truck scale.
What to demand from a firm
Credentials worth checking before you sign
- USDOT number and active FMCSA operating authority (MC number) — A USDOT number is required for vehicles of 10,001 lb GVWR or more in interstate commerce, and for intrastate carriage of hazardous materials in permit-requiring quantities. For-hire carriage of federally regulated commodities for compensation also needs operating authority; the permanent authority filing fee is $300 per application and there are no refunds. Confirm the authority is active, not merely applied for.
- CDL with hazardous materials endorsement and a current TSA security threat assessment — A driver hauling placarded hazardous materials needs the HME on a state-issued CDL, which requires a TSA security threat assessment including fingerprinting and background check. Cost is $86.50 for a new applicant or $41.00 with a valid TWIC, valid five years; TSA advises applying at least 60 days ahead because processing can exceed 45 days.
- Insurance meeting the 49 CFR 387.9 schedule of limits for your commodity — The minimum is $750,000 for non-hazardous property at 10,001 lb GVWR or more, $1,000,000 for most hazardous materials, and $5,000,000 for Division 1.1/1.2/1.3 explosives, Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A, Division 6.1 PG I Hazard Zone A and Class 7 highway route controlled quantities. Get the certificate for the correct tier, not a generic one.
- Licensed customs broker with a permit for the port of entry — A customs broker must be individually licensed by CBP and hold a permit covering the district or a national permit. Only a licensed broker may transact customs business as your agent — and because the importer of record remains liable for duty, classification and penalties, ask what the broker's own compliance and rulings practice looks like rather than only its filing fee.
Where to find firms yourself
Public registers and member directories
- FMCSA SAFER Company Snapshot — A free, single-carrier query by USDOT number, MC/MX number or company name that returns a concise electronic record of the company's identification, size, commodity information, safety rating if any, roadside out-of-service inspection summary and crash information. This is the first thing you should open about any trucking company that quotes you.
- FMCSA Licensing & Insurance (L&I) carrier search — The public registration record: whether an interstate for-hire carrier has been granted authority or has an application pending, plus its insurance and process-agent filings. Note that FMCSA has been migrating registration functionality to a replacement system, so check the current landing page rather than assuming the old URL.
- CBP Permitted Customs Brokers Listing — CBP's own published list of permitted customs brokers, organised by port and district and downloadable, with contact details. Use it to build a shortlist and to verify that the broker someone recommended actually holds a current permit for your port.
- STB Rail Customer and Public Assistance (RCPA) programme — The Board's informal dispute-resolution channel, running since 2000, for rate and charge inquiries, car supply and service problems, damage claims and interchange disputes. Staff mediate informally and cannot issue binding orders, but complainant identity is kept confidential unless you consent — which matters when you have one serving railroad. Toll free (866) 254-1792.
Numbers worth knowing
Each one carries its source
Federal maximum weights on the Interstate system, plus the bridge formula on consecutive axle groups and a 102-inch width limit. Anything above these is a state permit, state by state, for the whole route.
sourceUS Army Corps of Engineers cargo capacity equivalences for inland waterway transport. These are the ratios that decide whether a river terminal is worth building for a given annual tonnage.
sourceThe filing fee for interstate operating authority. It is small enough that a carrier without active authority has no cost excuse, and FMCSA is explicit that there are no refunds for mistaken applications.
sourceThe 49 CFR 387.9 tiers for non-hazardous property, most hazardous materials, and the highest-hazard bulk commodities including Division 1.1/1.2/1.3 explosives. A carrier insured at $750,000 cannot lawfully haul your placarded load.
sourceNIST Handbook 44 Section 2.21 tolerances for belt-conveyor scale systems. On a million-tonne-a-year loadout a quarter of one percent is thousands of tonnes a year of disputed weight, which is why the material test, not the calibration certificate, is the thing to insist on.
sourceHow this goes wrong
The specific traps, not general advice
- Hiring a freight broker while believing you hired a carrier. The broker's surety bond protects carriers against non-payment, not you against cargo loss; if the broker double-brokers your load to an uninsured carrier you discover the gap at the claim, and SAFER would have shown you who actually held the authority.
- Building a rail loadout sized to the wrong car cycle, train length or loading rate for the one railroad that serves you. The spur geometry, clearances, surge capacity, scale and AAR-conforming loading practice all have to be agreed with that railroad in advance; retrofitting a loop track after the fact costs more than the original build.
- Signing a rail rate without reading the demurrage, detention, car-supply and fuel surcharge clauses. The per-car rate is often the smallest number in the agreement, and a mine that cannot load and release within the free-time window pays for its own bottleneck indefinitely.
- Getting Incoterms wrong or leaving them vague. 'FOB mine' is not an Incoterms 2020 rule, CIF is reserved for sea and inland waterway carriage, and a rule chosen for its familiarity rather than its delivery point leaves risk, insurance and export clearance sitting with whoever did not price for it.
- Discovering the oversize/overweight route problem after the equipment ships. Permits are issued state by state, for nondivisible loads only unless a grandfather right applies, and a single low bridge, weight-restricted county road or utility crossing can add months — the route survey belongs before the purchase order, not after.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What is the real rail or truck rate from this site to that smelter?
- Who owns the weights, and where is the sampling point?
- What is your demurrage exposure if the plant goes down?
Where to next
Ore, concentrate & mineral supply
Sellers of material, and buyers of it
PreviousBlasting & explosives
Drill-and-blast design, product and licensed crews
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