Dry van is the default trailer for most truckload freight. It is the familiar enclosed box trailer you see on every highway, and it carries everything from packaged food and retail goods to industrial parts and consumer electronics. If your freight is palletized, boxed, and does not need temperature control or open deck access, it almost certainly moves in a dry van.
This guide covers what dry van shipping is, what it carries, its dimensions and capacity, how it compares with containers and other trailers, how it gets loaded, what drives the cost, and when another trailer type fits better. For the full mode overview, start at our truckload freight hub.
What Is Dry Van Shipping?
A dry van is a fully enclosed trailer with a roof, walls, and rear doors. It protects freight from weather and theft and is loaded by forklift or pallet jack through the rear. Because it is the most common equipment on the road, dry van capacity is the easiest to source and usually the most competitively priced truckload option.
What Dry Vans Carry
Dry van handles any freight that is stable at ambient temperature and fits inside an enclosed trailer: packaged and canned food, retail and consumer goods, paper products, building materials that do not need open deck, machinery parts, and palletized industrial supplies. It is not used for perishables that need refrigeration or for loads that exceed the trailer’s interior dimensions.
2.1What is dry freight?
In trucking, dry freight means goods that do not need temperature control and are not hazardous in bulk: packaged food and beverages, paper, consumer goods, building products, auto parts and the like. It is the freight a dry van is built for, which is why the two terms are often used together.
Dry Van Capacity and Specs
Knowing the limits up front keeps a load from being rejected or re quoted at the dock.
| Measurement | 53 ft dry van | 48 ft dry van |
|---|---|---|
| Interior length | About 52 ft 8 in | About 47 ft 6 in |
| Interior width | About 98 to 100 in | About 98 to 100 in |
| Interior height | About 108 to 110 in | About 108 to 110 in |
| Door opening | About 98 in wide by 105 in tall | About 98 in wide, similar height |
| Pallets (48 x 40 in, one layer) | 26 | 24 |
| Max payload | About 44,000 to 45,000 lbs | Up to about 45,000 lbs |
| Cubic capacity | Roughly 3,800 to 4,000 cu ft | Roughly 3,000 to 3,500 cu ft |
| Temperature control | None, ambient only | None, ambient only |
Most shippers hit the weight limit of about 45,000 pounds before they run out of floor space, especially with dense freight. If your pallets can be double stacked safely, you can fit far more in the same trailer. For pallet layouts and loading patterns, see our 53-foot trailer capacity guide.
Dry Van vs Other Equipment
Reach for a different trailer when dry van does not fit the freight. Temperature sensitive loads need a refrigerated trailer. Oversized or open deck freight needs a flatbed. And a shipment too big for LTL but too small to fill a van may be a better fit for partial truckload. When the freight is standard, dry van is almost always the most cost effective call.
4.1Dry van vs shipping container
A dry van and a shipping container are both enclosed boxes, but they move differently. A dry van is a trailer with its own wheels and stays on the highway. A container rides on a chassis, a railcar or a ship. A 53 foot domestic container is close to a 53 foot van in size and is the box used for intermodal rail moves. A 40 foot ocean container is much smaller inside, about 39 feet 5 inches long, 92 inches wide and 94 inches tall on a standard-height box, and typically fits about 18 standard pallets.
| Feature | 53 ft dry van | 53 ft domestic container | 40 ft ocean container |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moves by | Truck | Truck and rail (intermodal) | Ship, rail and truck (drayage) |
| Pallets (48 x 40 in, one layer) | 26 | About 26 | About 18 |
| Has its own wheels |  | – | – |
| Best for | Domestic truckload freight | Long domestic lanes where rail saves cost | Imports and exports |
How Dry Vans Are Loaded
Dry vans load from the rear at a dock, so the shipper and receiver need a dock door or a forklift that can reach the trailer floor. Freight goes on one of two ways:
- Palletized: pallets loaded by forklift or pallet jack. Fastest to load and unload, and the standard for most truckload freight.
- Floor loaded: cartons stacked directly on the trailer floor. Fits more units in the trailer, but takes hours to load and unload, so expect detention risk on both ends.
Pickups are either live (the driver waits while you load) or drop (the carrier leaves an empty trailer for you to load on your schedule). If you ship from the same dock every week, a drop trailer program takes the waiting out of every load.
What Dry Van Shipping Costs
Dry van is priced per mile like any truckload move, with a fuel surcharge and any accessorials on top. Because dry van capacity is plentiful, base rates are usually lower than specialized equipment. Lane balance, weight, and current capacity still move the number. See our guide to full truckload rates for the full breakdown.
Move Your Dry Van Freight With MFW
Dry van is the workhorse of truckload shipping, and matching the right carrier to your lane keeps it economical and reliable. MyFreightWorld sources vetted dry van capacity nationwide. Explore the truckload freight hub or request a quote below.
How much weight can a dry van carry?
A standard 53 foot dry van carries about 44,000 to 45,000 pounds of payload, depending on the weight of the tractor and trailer and legal axle limits. Dense freight often reaches the weight cap before filling the space.
How many pallets fit in a dry van?
A 53 foot dry van holds about 26 standard 48 by 40 inch pallets in a single layer, or up to 52 if they can be safely double stacked.
What is the difference between a dry van and a reefer?
A dry van is an unrefrigerated enclosed trailer for ambient freight. A reefer is a refrigerated trailer with a temperature control unit for perishable or temperature sensitive loads. Reefer capacity costs more.
Is dry van cheaper than flatbed or reefer?
Usually yes. Dry van equipment is the most plentiful, so base rates are typically lower than flatbed or refrigerated capacity on the same lane.
What does dry van mean in trucking?
A dry van is an enclosed trailer with no temperature control. “Dry” means the trailer does not cool or heat the freight, not that the freight must be dry.
What are the inside dimensions of a 53 foot dry van?
About 52 feet 8 inches long, 98 to 100 inches wide and 108 to 110 inches tall, for roughly 3,800 to 4,000 cubic feet. Exact figures vary slightly by trailer make.
Is a dry van the same as a shipping container?
No. A dry van is a highway trailer with its own wheels. A container rides on a chassis, a railcar or a ship. A 53 foot domestic container is about the same size as a 53 foot van; a 40 foot ocean container holds far less.
