There is no single flat rate, and any carrier that quotes you one before seeing your load is guessing. Freight pricing in Canada is built from a few moving parts: the distance and lane, the weight and dimensions of the shipment, the trailer type, the current fuel surcharge, and any accessorials like tailgate service, inside delivery, or waiting time at the dock.
As a rough guide, less-than-truckload (LTL) freight is priced on weight, freight class, and distance, so you pay for the space you use. Full truckload (FTL) is priced per lane for the whole trailer. The only way to get an accurate figure is a quote built around your actual freight, so send us your pickup, delivery, and pallet count and we will price it, or call S&R Trucking at 905-951-2951.
The cheapest option is almost always the one that matches the mode to the load. If you have a pallet or two, LTL is usually the lowest cost because you share the trailer. If you have more than a few pallets but not enough to fill a truck, a partial load or volume LTL often beats both. When the trailer is full, fragile, or on a deadline, FTL is the better value even if the sticker looks higher, because you avoid re-handling and damage claims.
Two habits keep costs down over time: give accurate weights and dimensions so you are not reclassified at a higher rate, and stay flexible on pickup dates when you can, since tight windows cost more.
Start with the freight itself: total weight, and the dimensions of each piece or pallet. For LTL, those dimensions set your density, which sets your freight class, which drives the rate. Canadian carriers classify freight by density and handling requirements, similar to the US approach but without the formal NMFC (National Motor Freight Classification) class numbers. Then layer on the lane distance, the mode, the fuel surcharge, and any accessorials. Cross-border loads add customs and brokerage.
The single biggest mistake shippers make is estimating dimensions. If the freight measures larger or denser than quoted, the invoice gets corrected upward. Measure once, quote once.
It depends on the terms you agree to and what is written on the bill of lading (BOL), the shipping document that travels with the freight. Prepaid means the shipper pays, collect means the receiver pays, and third-party billing sends the invoice to someone else entirely, like a broker or head office. For cross-border and international moves, the Incoterms in your sales contract decide who owns the freight cost at each leg. Whatever you choose, spell it out on the BOL so there is no surprise at delivery.
Drayage is priced per move, not per kilometre, because it is a short trip with a lot of variables around it. The main cost drivers are the distance between the terminal and your facility, the container size, whether a chassis is included, waiting time at the terminal, and the risk of demurrage or detention if the box is not picked up in time. Demurrage is the fee charged when a container sits at the terminal too long, and detention is the fee for keeping the container or chassis beyond the allowed free time.
A clean same-day move off a Toronto intermodal terminal looks very different from a box stuck behind a customs hold, so if your containers are sitting at the terminal and the free-time clock is running, our drayage team can get them moving on a quote.
Full truckload is priced per lane for the entire trailer, so you are buying the truck, not the space. The rate reflects distance, the equipment you need, the fuel surcharge, and the market: capacity, season, and how busy that lane is. A run between the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Montreal is priced very differently from a run into a remote region during a produce surge. Because there is one shipper on the trailer, you also save on the re-handling and damage risk that comes with shared freight.
LTL is priced on four things: the weight, the freight class (which comes from density and how hard the freight is to handle), the distance, and any accessorials such as liftgate or residential delivery. You pay for the portion of the trailer your freight occupies, which is what makes it economical for small shipments. Give accurate dimensions, because an incorrect class is the most common reason an LTL invoice comes back higher than the quote.
Flatbed pricing follows the load. Standard open-deck freight is priced on dimensions, weight, and distance. Once the load goes oversized or overweight, the cost climbs because you add permits, sometimes pilot or escort vehicles, tarping, and specialized securement. Time of year matters too, since flatbed capacity tightens during construction and project season.
Moving a container comes down to whether it is loaded or empty, how far it is going, the container size, and the port or terminal fees attached to it. A short local drayage move is a different price than a long-haul or intermodal move across provinces. A 40ft or 40ft high-cube box also needs the right chassis and factors weight limits into the routing. The honest answer is that it is quoted per move, and we would rather price your specific box than hand you a number that does not fit.
The best carrier is the one that fits your freight, not the one with the biggest fleet. What actually matters is whether they run the right equipment for your loads, cover your lanes, carry proper insurance, and pick up the phone when something changes. S&R Trucking has been part of an intermodal network since 1992 and moves FTL, LTL, drayage, flatbed, and container freight across Ontario, into Quebec, and cross-border to the US. For most shippers, a carrier that communicates and prices honestly beats a big name that treats your load as a number.
Run through a short checklist before you book. Confirm they hold proper operating authority and cargo insurance. Check that they run the equipment your freight needs and actually service your lanes. Ask how they communicate: do you get tracking, and is there someone reachable after hours? Then look at the quote itself, because a transparent quote with no vague fees tells you more about a carrier than any sales pitch. If you want to test those answers on a real carrier, call S&R Trucking at 905-951-2951 and ask us about your lanes, equipment, and insurance.
The biggest carriers by fleet size include names like TFI International, Day & Ross, Mullen Group, Bison Transport, and Canada Cartage. They are large national operators, and for certain volumes that scale is useful. But biggest is not always best for a specific lane or a shipper who wants attention. Regional and intermodal-focused carriers like S&R, working the GTA, Ontario to Quebec lanes, Port of Montreal drayage, and cross-border US runs, often give you faster answers and more flexibility on the loads that matter to you.
Drayage is the short-haul trucking move that carries a shipping container between a port or rail terminal and a nearby facility. Montreal is the primary port for Ontario importers, so a container arriving from Europe or Asia often lands there before its short drayage move inland. It is a short trip, but it is time-sensitive: terminals give you limited free time, and demurrage and detention fees start stacking up the moment you run past it. Good drayage is really about timing, not distance.
Full truckload means the whole trailer is dedicated to your shipment, from pickup straight to delivery with no other freight aboard. Choose FTL when you have enough to fill or nearly fill a trailer, when your freight is fragile or high-value and you want as few touches as possible, or when you are on a deadline and need a direct run. LTL makes more sense when you only have a few pallets and can share the trailer. As a rough rule, once you are past six pallets, FTL often becomes cost-competitive anyway.
Less-than-truckload shipping puts your freight on a shared trailer alongside other shippers loads, and you pay only for the portion you use. It is the go-to for one to six pallets. Because the trailer makes multiple stops and freight passes through terminals along the way, transit runs a little longer than a direct truck, but the cost savings on small shipments are worth it for most businesses.
Container transport is the movement of shipping containers, loaded or empty, by truck, often combined with intermodal rail for the long-haul portion. A typical import journey lands a container at a Canadian port, moves it inland by rail, and finishes with a truck for the final delivery. It is the backbone of how overseas goods reach Canadian warehouses.
Most Canadian freight moves one of a few ways: full truckload (FTL) for whole-trailer loads, less-than-truckload (LTL) for shared small shipments, partial or volume loads for the middle ground, intermodal and container transport for boxes moving by rail and truck, and flatbed or open-deck for freight that will not fit in an enclosed trailer. Picking the right one is the difference between a fair rate and an overpriced move.
The process is straightforward once you have done it. First, measure and weigh the freight. Second, pick the mode that fits: LTL, partial, FTL, flatbed, or container. Third, get a quote. Fourth, book the load and complete the bill of lading. Fifth, package or palletize so it survives handling. Then the carrier picks up, you track it, and you confirm delivery with a proof of delivery. If it is your first time arranging freight, call S&R Trucking at 905-951-2951 and we will walk you through it and handle the paperwork.
Many do, and it is one of the most useful add-ons. Alongside the terminal pickup, a full-service operator can store your container in the yard, transload the contents from the container into a trailer, or hold freight short-term until your facility is ready to receive it. That flexibility is what keeps demurrage down when your dock schedule and the terminal schedule do not line up.
The drive itself is short and often same-day once the container is released, especially within the GTA. What actually sets the timeline is everything around the drive: whether the box is available at the terminal, whether customs has cleared it, and whether you can get an appointment window. Fast drayage is less about horsepower and more about staying ahead of the free-time clock so you never pay demurrage.
FTL is the quickest option over the road because it runs direct with no terminal stops. Speed is capped by federal hours-of-service rules, which limit a driver to 13 hours of driving in a day, so a single driver covers roughly 800 to 900 kilometres before a mandatory rest. A GTA to Montreal run is typically next-day, while a cross-country move takes several days. Team drivers can move coast to coast faster by trading off within the rules.
LTL runs a little longer than a direct truck because your freight is consolidated with other shipments and passes through terminals along the route. Within Ontario and on Ontario to Quebec lanes, it is often a couple of business days. Cross-country LTL takes longer. If a deadline is tight, that is usually the moment to compare LTL against a partial load or FTL.
Yes. Cross-border freight is a core part of what Canadian carriers do, and it needs the right paperwork to move cleanly: a commercial invoice, customs pre-clearance through PAPS (Pre-Arrival Processing System) for US-bound freight or PARS (Pre-Arrival Review System) for Canada-bound freight, and electronic manifests through ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) in the US and ACI (Advance Commercial Information) in Canada. A carrier set up as bonded and experienced with the border keeps your load from sitting at the crossing. S&R Trucking runs cross-border loads between Ontario and the US regularly, so get a quote and we will handle the border paperwork so your freight keeps moving.
Yes, and for cross-border work it is often the smart choice. A dedicated full truckload stays sealed from pickup to delivery, which means fewer touches, a cleaner customs trail, and less chance of a delay caused by other freight on the trailer. With pre-clearance arranged ahead of the crossing, a dedicated truck spends less time at the border.
Absolutely. Flatbed is the standard for machinery, steel, building materials, and other freight that will not fit in an enclosed trailer, and plenty of that moves across the border. The extra step is compliance on both sides: oversized or overweight loads need permits for each jurisdiction they pass through, and the securement has to meet both Canadian and US standards.
For many Ontario importers, a container shipped from Europe or Asia arrives at the Port of Montreal, moves inland by intermodal rail, and finishes with a drayage truck to the final warehouse. That intermodal-plus-drayage combination is exactly the kind of move S&R was built around.
LTL suits palletized or crated freight that is not urgent and does not fill a trailer, generally in the range of one to six pallets and up to roughly 15,000 pounds. Think packaged goods, parts, and stackable products that handle being loaded and unloaded at terminals. Freight that is extremely fragile, loose, or big enough to need a whole trailer is usually better on a partial or full truckload.
Flatbed is for anything that will not go in an enclosed trailer or has to be loaded from the side, top, or by crane. That covers construction machinery, steel, lumber and building materials, large equipment, and oversized pieces. Because the deck is open, securement and, for oversized loads, permits become part of the job.
Move to FTL when you have enough to fill a trailer, when your freight is fragile or high-value and you want the fewest possible touches, or when the delivery date leaves no room for terminal transfers. There is also a crossover point on volume: once you are shipping around six pallets or more, a full truckload is often close enough in price that the direct, single-touch move is the better deal.
Drayage runs out of every major Canadian gateway: the Port of Montreal, which serves a large share of Ontario importers, along with Halifax on the east coast and Vancouver and Prince Rupert on the west. Beyond the seaports, inland intermodal terminals around Toronto and Brampton handle rail containers that still need a truck for the final leg. S&R focuses on the Montreal and Toronto-area terminals that matter most to GTA shippers.
Yes, and that is exactly what intermodal transport is. A container comes off the ship, travels the long-haul portion by rail, and is then pulled by a drayage truck for the final delivery to your door. It is a cost-effective way to move boxes over long distances because rail carries the heavy line-haul and the truck handles only the short ends.
Full-service container carriers coordinate both. They combine rail line-haul with truck drayage on each end, so you deal with one operator instead of stitching together a railway and a separate trucker. That single point of contact is what keeps an intermodal move from falling apart at the hand-offs.
Yes. Depending on the distance and cost, a container moves either straight through by truck or, for longer hauls, by intermodal rail with drayage trucks at each end. Shorter regional moves usually go by road, while cross-province and coast-to-coast boxes lean on rail for the middle.
Ontario sets legal limits before a load counts as oversized: 2.6 metres wide, 4.15 metres high, 12.5 metres long for a single vehicle, and up to 23 metres for a vehicle-and-load combination. Go past any of those, or past the weight limits in the Highway Traffic Act, and you need an oversize or overweight permit from the province. Larger loads can also require pilot vehicles and approved routing, which is planned before the truck rolls.
Yes, and it is where an experienced flatbed operator earns its keep. Heavy-haul and oversized freight need the right permits for every province they cross, planned routing that avoids low bridges and weight-restricted structures, escort or pilot cars where the rules require them, and securement rated for the load. It is as much a planning job as a driving one, so if you have an oversized or heavy-haul piece to move, call S&R Trucking at 905-951-2951 and let us handle the permits and routing.
LTL generally tops out around 15,000 pounds or a handful of pallets. Once your shipment climbs past that, you are paying LTL rates for something a partial load or full truckload would carry more cheaply, and with fewer touches. If your freight sits right at that line, ask for both an LTL and a partial quote and compare.
The two workhorses are the 20ft and 40ft standard containers, with the 40ft high-cube adding extra height for lighter, bulkier freight. Beyond those you will see 45ft boxes, refrigerated reefers for temperature-controlled goods, and open-top or flat-rack containers for oversized cargo. Size and type affect which chassis is used and how the move is priced, so it is worth confirming the exact box before booking.
Canada's GST/HST system applies tax differently to domestic and international freight. Domestic freight transportation is taxable, and GST or HST applies based on the province, so a shipment within Ontario carries 13 percent HST, while other provinces apply their own rate. International freight is treated differently: freight moving into or out of Canada is zero-rated, meaning the service is taxable in principle but the GST/HST rate is zero, so no tax is charged on that international movement. If you are registered for GST/HST, you can still claim input tax credits on your related business costs.
Canadian hours-of-service rules limit how long a driver can operate each day. At the federal level, they cap a driver at 13 hours of driving and 14 hours of on-duty time in a day, with no driving permitted once 16 hours have elapsed in the daily window. Drivers must take at least 10 hours off duty each day, and they are limited to 70 hours on duty over any 7-day period, or 120 hours over 14 days with a required reset. These limits are set by the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations, and they are the reason honest carriers build realistic transit times instead of promising the impossible.
Yes. S&R Trucking is based at 10481 Highway 50 in Kleinburg, right on the edge of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). We work the GTA, Ontario to Quebec lanes, Port of Montreal and Toronto-area intermodal terminals, and cross-border US routes. If your freight starts, ends, or passes through the GTA, it is on our home turf, so call S&R Trucking at 905-951-2951 or get a quote to get it moving.