Hazmat Capacity Is the Hard Part

Any broker can find a dry van. Finding one whose authority carries hazmat, whose insurance is current, and whose driver holds the endorsement your material requires — on your lane, on your date — is a much smaller pool than most shippers expect. On regulated freight, capacity is the constraint. Everything else follows from it.

Book Freight arranges truckload freight for chemical manufacturers, coatings and adhesives producers, lubricant blenders, and industrial suppliers. Regulated loads go to carriers we’ve verified for authority, endorsement, and insurance — not to whoever answered first on the load board. And when the pool on a lane is thin, we say so, rather than quote a number we can’t cover.

Paperwork is the other half. A placard that never got applied, or an emergency contact number nobody answers, turns a moving truck into a parked one.

What We Move

Resins, Polymers & Plastics — Resin in super sacks, gaylords, and palletized bags. Pellets, powders, and compounds feeding injection molders and extruders. Freeze protection matters more than most shippers expect.
Coatings, Paints & Solvents — Palletized cans, pails, drums, and totes. Frequently regulated as Class 3 flammable liquid, which changes the carrier, the driver, and the paperwork.
Adhesives & Sealants — Industrial adhesives, epoxies, and sealants in drums and totes. Many are temperature-sensitive in both directions.
Lubricants & Industrial Oils — Packaged lubricants, greases, hydraulic and cutting fluids. Drums, pails, and totes moving from blenders to distributors and plants.
Acids, Caustics & Corrosives — Class 8 material in DOT-spec drums, IBC totes, and carboys. Placarding, segregation, and carrier vetting are not optional here.
Cleaning & Sanitation Chemicals — Industrial and institutional cleaning chemistry, palletized and drummed, regulated and non-regulated.
Agricultural & Water Treatment Chemicals — Fertilizer, crop protection, and treatment chemistry in totes, sacks, and drums. Seasonal, and capacity gets tight fast.
Industrial Equipment & Process Machinery — Tanks, vessels, mixers, and process equipment for chemical plants. Flatbed and heavy haul, permits where required. Plant builds and line moves are covered on our machinery and production equipment page.

Packaged Freight, Not Bulk Liquid

We move chemical freight in packages: drums, IBC totes, carboys, super sacks, gaylords, and palletized product. That covers the large majority of chemical truckload freight moving in this country.

We do not arrange bulk liquid in tankers, and we’ll say so on the first call rather than the third. If your freight is bulk liquid, you need a tanker broker, and we’d rather tell you that up front than waste two days of your time.

Services We Provide for Chemical Shippers

Hazmat ShippingDOT-compliant carriers with verified hazmat authority and endorsements

Full TruckloadDry van capacity for packaged and non-regulated chemical freight

Refrigerated & Protect From FreezeTemperature-sensitive resins, adhesives, and water-based chemistry

Flatbed & Open DeckTanks, vessels, and process equipment for plants and upgrades

Expedited FreightProduction-critical chemistry when a batch is waiting on a raw material

Cross-Border CanadaU.S.–Canada chemical freight with full border documentation

How We Handle Regulated Freight

The carrier is vetted before the load is offered. Hazmat authority active on the MC, cargo and liability insurance current, safety rating checked, and the driver holds the endorsement your material requires. Regulated freight never goes to a carrier we haven’t verified for it.
The paperwork is confirmed before pickup. Proper shipping name, hazard class, UN number, packing group, and a 24-hour emergency response number that is actually monitored. We confirm the shipping papers are ready and correct before the driver arrives — the shipper prepares them, and we make sure nothing is missing.
Placards are the shipper’s, applied by the driver. You supply them. The driver puts them on. Both parties knowing that in advance is the difference between a truck that leaves and a truck that sits in your yard.
Freeze protection is planned, not hoped for. Water-based chemistry, latex, and many adhesives are ruined by a single night below freezing in an unheated van. If your product needs protection, say so and we’ll put it on a reefer running heat — that’s a different truck at a different rate, and it’s cheaper than a rejected load.
Compatibility and segregation are checked. Not everything rides together. On mixed loads we confirm the material is compatible before a carrier commits, not after they’re at the dock.
Carrier vetting is a fraud control, not a formality. Chemical freight is a target. Double-brokering and identity fraud are how loads disappear. Every carrier is verified against the authority on file before we tender.

Chemical Sectors We Serve

Chemical manufacturers and blenders — outbound finished product, inbound raw material
Coatings, paint, and ink producers — regulated and non-regulated packaged freight
Adhesive and sealant manufacturers — temperature-sensitive and industrial chemistry
Lubricant blenders and distributors — drummed and packaged oils and greases
Plastics and resin producers — super sacks, gaylords, and palletized compound
Industrial and janitorial supply distributors — palletized chemistry to DCs and end users
Agricultural and water treatment chemical suppliers — seasonal, capacity-sensitive freight

What Chemical Shippers Get With Book Freight

Carriers verified for hazmat authority, endorsement, and insurance before your load is tendered
A broker who reads the SDS and knows what class it is before quoting
Freeze protection and temperature requirements handled as part of the plan, not an afterthought
Direct access to the person managing the load — not a routing center
Straight answers on what we can and can’t move, on the first call
One point of contact from a single dry van through permitted process equipment on the same project

Chemical & Industrial Freight FAQ

Which hazmat classes do you move?

Most of what moves in packaged truckload — Class 3 flammable liquids, Class 8 corrosives, Class 9 miscellaneous, and Class 5 oxidizers, among others, with carriers verified for the specific material. Class 1 explosives we’ve covered, but be realistic about it: the carrier pool is small, it depends entirely on division and compatibility group, and the carrier needs explosives on the authority plus a security plan. Bring it to us early and don’t plan on same-week capacity. Send the UN number, proper shipping name, division, and packing group and we’ll tell you straight whether we can cover it.

Do you move bulk liquid chemicals in tankers?

No. We move packaged chemical freight — drums, IBC totes, carboys, super sacks, gaylords, and palletized product. Bulk liquid in a tanker is a different operation with different carriers, and we’d rather tell you that up front than waste your time.

Who is responsible for placards and shipping papers?

The shipper. You classify the material, prepare the shipping papers, and supply the placards; the driver applies them to the truck. What we do is confirm before pickup that the papers are complete, that the emergency response number is monitored, and that the carrier and driver are actually authorized to haul it — so the truck leaves your yard instead of sitting in it.

Can you protect chemical freight from freezing?

Yes. Water-based chemistry, latex, and many adhesives and resins are destroyed by one night below freezing in an unheated van. Protect-from-freeze moves on a reefer running heat — a different truck at a different rate, and far cheaper than a rejected load. Tell us the minimum temperature the product tolerates and we’ll plan the equipment around it.

How do you vet carriers for regulated freight?

Hazmat authority active on the MC, cargo and liability insurance current and verified, safety rating checked, and the driver holding the endorsement the material requires. Chemical freight is a target for double-brokering and identity fraud, so every carrier is verified against the authority on file before we tender the load.

Do you ship chemical freight into Canada?

Yes. Cross-border chemical freight into Canada requires TDG-compliant documentation alongside the U.S. hazmat paperwork, and carriers cleared to run the border with regulated material. We handle the documentation coordination as part of the move.

How do I get a quote on chemical freight?

Call (205) 855-6385 or submit the load through our quote form. For regulated freight, have the SDS, UN number, proper shipping name, packing group, and packaging type ready — with those in hand we can usually tell you the same day whether we can cover it and what it costs.

Chemical &IndustrialFreight