Why Shippers Pay for the Rolling Tarp
Hand tarping is the weak point of open deck freight: tarps abrade paint and machined finishes, water finds folds and seams, and every tarping and untarping cycle is time on the clock and hands on your cargo. A Conestoga carries its cover on a frame, so the freight is enclosed without a single strap or tarp touching it, loading crews work a completely bare deck, and receivers with no dock still take delivery of protected freight. For finished surfaces, precision components, and anything a claim would make expensive, that difference is exactly what you are paying for, and it is usually a modest premium over flatbed with tarps once tarping labor is counted.
