The good news is that flatbed trailers are versatile and adaptable to loads that vary in both size and weight. The bad news? Over 60 percent of flatbed loads require comprehensive tarping. Manually tarping flatbeds is an ergonomic nightmare and a worker's comp attorney’s dream. The requirement to heave unwieldy tarps as heavy as 100 pounds while perched precariously atop a flatbed excludes many otherwise competent professional drivers from hauling flatbed jobs. It's also a major turn-off to potential new hires, as well. It is no wonder that curtain side trailers—which totally eliminate the need for manual tarping—have achieved major market penetration in the U.S. trucking industry, in a relatively short time.
A curtain side truck is all about options—more rather than fewer. A curtain van can load/unload standard freight through the rear door like a conventional van or body. But a curtainsider doesn’t have to. It can take on large or odd-sized loads from the side like an open flatbed, if that’s what you need to haul at the moment. Street-side loading with no loading dock... no problem at all.
