When will it get there? We plan it day by day.

Longer than the distance suggests. It moves only in daylight, on weekdays, at the speed its escorts allow: 70 km/h on the open road with no escort, 60 with one own escort, 50 with two, and up to 60 with traffic officers. Weekends, public holidays and the provinces’ embargo days add parked days. The move planner above works it out day by day from your start date.

In general, no. The permit conditions bar travel at the times lights are required, which is between sunset and sunrise, and the guidelines say night travel is not allowed for abnormal loads. The issuing authority can allow it, for example inside a metro, but you can’t plan on it.

Not unless the permit allows it. The guidelines allow Saturdays and Sundays to 14:00 for small loads on wide roads, and as an interim pilot for unescorted loads up to 3.35 m wide and 4.6 m high on the N1, N3, N6 and parts of the N2, N4 and N12. Public holidays only if the permit says so.

Days when abnormal loads may not travel, usually in school holidays and over long weekends. Each province compiles its own list every year, for a corridor or for all its roads, and metros may close peak hours such as 06:00 to 09:00 and 16:00 to 18:00. The permit lists the ones on your route.

Usually the load needs a permit for every province on its route, and we apply through all of them. A small load may qualify for a countrywide permit, issued by one province for the whole trip: class D1 or D2, no escort, no more than 4.6 m high, no mass exemption and a wheelbase up to 12.5 m.

By distance: up to 100 km, 2 days; 101 to 250 km, 3 days; 251 to 500 km, 4 days; 501 to 750 km, 5 days; over 750 km, 6 days. A move with traffic officer escorts gets up to 10 days. If weekends and holidays stretch the move past that, the dates need planning with the permit office.

The national guidelines set no fixed processing time for permits, and loads with police escorts need the officer in charge told at least 72 hours before the journey. Tell us the date the load must be there as early as you can, so the route, the permits and the escorts can be lined up before it.

Because an abnormal load rarely holds its top speed all day: it slows for towns, climbs, bridges and stops. Planning on 70% of the limit for its escorts gives a fair estimate. Big loads with traffic officers often go slower, at the pace the officers set.

Check its width, height, length and mass against the legal limits on our abnormal loads site, see which trailer suits a tall load on our lowbed site, and see which escorts it needs on our escort site.

See Abnormal Transporters

See Abnormal Lowbed Services

See Truck Escort Services

We review the shipment and do a risk analysis, apply for the permits through every province on the route, arrange police escorts where needed, and set it all down in a transport strategy and method statement. Our control centre tracks the move around the clock.

The load’s width, length, height and mass, where it goes, and the date it must be there. We don’t publish prices: answer the short questions in the quote form and we’ll quote on your actual move.