What insurance does a Texas heavy haul carrier need for oversize and overweight loads?

This page is for Texas carriers moving loads that need a permit: lowboy and RGN operators hauling construction equipment, carriers moving transformers, vessels and wind components, oilfield rig movers, and hotshot carriers who occasionally run oversize. If you are a hotshot that only sometimes goes wide, the hotshot trucking insurance page covers the base program; this page covers what changes when the load itself is the risk.

Texas sees a steady stream of heavy and project cargo. The Port of Corpus Christi, for example, has open storage designed for project, wind and Ro-Ro cargo and has pointed to LNG expansion and wind work as drivers of project cargo. Oversize loads like these leave the port on a permit.

Oversize and overweight permits in Texas are issued by TxDMV. A few points from TxDMV's permit pages that matter for how your insurance and registration line up:

• USDOT number check. For a general single trip permit, TxDMV requires a USDOT number and checks it for out-of-service orders. An insurance cancellation that leads to revoked authority can stop permits as well as loads.
• Permit surety bond. If you are not required to hold TxDMV motor carrier registration or Unified Carrier Registration, you must file a $10,000 permit surety bond on Form 439 before a permit is issued. It is payable to TxDOT for highway damage caused by the permitted equipment, must be renewed every year before August 31, and a faxed or electronic copy is only good for 10 days. It is a bond, not an insurance policy, and it does not satisfy any broker or shipper limit.
• Size and weight thresholds. Single trip permits run up to 254,300 pounds gross; heavier loads need a superheavy permit. Loads over 20 feet wide, 18 feet 11 inches high or 125 feet long need a route inspection certification on file before the permit issues.
• Registration and filings. Registered carriers keep their TxDMV and federal filings current through their insurer. See FMCSA and TxDMV filings and what Texas Form E is.

None of these TxDMV steps sets an insurance limit for the load. The limits come from 49 CFR 387.9 and from the shipper or broker contract.

TxDMV sets when escorts are required. The current thresholds are below. Two dimensions over the limits means front and rear escorts.

Machinery dealers, rental companies, EPC contractors and project forwarders often write their own requirements, and they tend to be higher than general freight. We do not publish any specific shipper's numbers. What shows up most often:

• Auto liability of $1,000,000 plus an umbrella. Large loads and long permits make excess limits a common ask. See trucking umbrella insurance.
• Cargo valued to the load. A $100,000 cargo policy does not protect a $600,000 excavator. Heavy haulers either carry a high blanket limit, buy per-load (trip) cargo coverage, or the shipper insures the equipment and requires a waiver. Know which one the contract assumes.
• Additional insured and waiver of subrogation for the shipper on auto and general liability. See certificate holder vs. additional insured and waiver of subrogation.
• General liability that covers loading and unloading at the customer site.

Underwriters look at the type of trailer (lowboy, RGN, multi-axle, stretch), the typical load and its value, how often loads go superheavy, who does the rigging, driver experience with permitted loads, and how you plan routes. Loss history on bridge, signal and utility strikes matters a lot.