Transporting products by road or rail for a fee is known as haulage, and these items can be made up of a variety of different things. This can include everything from food supplies to fuel, equipment, and even automobiles. Road haulage guarantees dependable and timely delivery of goods. Because it is an essential service, haulage businesses will provide a range of haulage services to manufacturers and large corporations to transport their goods across nations. Therefore it means a useful method of moving items like farm products, furniture, machinery, equipment, and crude oil.

Haulage is essentially the transfer of a container from one location to another, from the point of manufacturing to a consumer or distributor. There are two basic types of haulage: merchant haulage and carrier haulage. Merchant haulage refers to the transfer of the container by the consignee utilizing a designated haulage contractor, as opposed to carrier haulage, which is when a shipping company manages the transport of the container.

History

The word haulage gets its name from the late 16th-century verb hall, which means to "pull or draw forcibly." Halen, which means "to drag, pull," is a variation of the Middle English word hall. The actual word "haulage" was first used to refer to the "activity of hauling" in the early 19th century.

About the term

The meaning of the word has remained constant over the course of its history. Today, the term "haulage" still refers to the act of pulling, but it now specifically refers to the dragging or hauling of items by means of larger and more powerful vehicles - such as trains, trucks, tippers, trailers, vans, lorries, buses, and motorcyclists.