Cargo & Freight · Driver Training VideoCargo & Dunnage Securement at the Dock

Start with the basic rule: the combined working load limit of everything holding a load down has to equal at least half the weight of that cargo. Not half of what one strap can hold — half of the total weight, added up across every tiedown you're using.

The number of tiedowns is tied to size, not judgment. An article five feet or shorter that weighs 1,100 pounds or less needs one tiedown, minimum. Anything heavier than that, or anything longer than five feet, needs at least two.

Dunnage does a job a strap can't do. Blocking and bracing — the wood, airbags, or void-fillers packed between and around a load — stop it from shifting sideways or walking forward under braking, before a single tiedown even gets tightened.

Edge protection matters as much as the count. Any tiedown running over a sharp corner or an edge that can saw through webbing needs a corner protector or edge guard. A strap that gets cut at highway speed isn't a paperwork problem — it's debris in a live lane.

This isn't a one-time check at the dock. Inspect the load again within the first fifty miles of any trip — things settle and shift right after loading, more than at any other point.

Your company standard: verify the tiedown count and total working load limit against the load's actual weight before you leave the dock — read it off the placard or the bill of lading, not from memory.

None of this is about slowing down the dock. It's about a load that's still exactly where you strapped it when you get where you're going.