What is hotshot?
Hotshot trucking moves smaller, time-sensitive loads using a heavy-duty pickup pulling a gooseneck or flatbed trailer, rather than a semi truck. It suits urgent freight too small to justify a full trailer.
Typical hotshot freight is machinery parts, equipment for a stalled job site, or anything where the delivery window matters more than the cost per pound.
Capacity is far smaller than a semi, and the appeal is speed, availability and a much lower cost of entry.
What it means on a dispatch desk
Hotshot economics live or die on whether the urgency is actually being paid for. The rate per mile can look excellent while the loads are short, scattered and full of deadhead between them. Judge a hotshot week on revenue per day against total miles driven, not on the headline rate of the best load in it.
Related terms
- DeadheadDeadhead is any distance a truck drives empty, most often between delivering one load and reaching the pickup for the next. Those miles cost fuel, hours and wear while earning nothing.
- Cost per mileCost per mile is a carrier's total operating cost divided by total miles driven, including empty ones. It is the number that decides whether a given rate is profitable.
- FlatbedA flatbed is an open trailer with no sides or roof, used for freight that cannot be loaded through the rear doors of an enclosed trailer, such as steel, lumber, machinery and building materials.
- TruckloadTruckload freight fills a whole trailer for a single customer and travels directly from origin to destination without being combined with anyone else's goods.
Knowing the term is the easy half
Knowing which carriers are worth calling this morning is the hard half.
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