Dry Van Length - Almost all trailers are either 48 feet long or 53 feet long. That is the outside dimension, though, and 53-foot vans is the maximum allowed by law. The inside shipping platform is actually 1 foot shorter than advertised. You must take that into consideration when tallying up your dimensions. Obviously, if you require more room than provided by one trailer you will need the use of a second trailer.

Dry Van Height - Most have an outside height of 110" with an inside height of 108". You should always measure your goods for shipping height with the skid or unit-shipping platform included in your shipping measurement. Sometimes people measure their item and determine that it is 107" tall and forget to take into consideration the skid or unit-shipping platform and request a van trailer. Upon arrival of the van trailer to pick up your item, your item does not fit into the trailer because the item was then placed atop a 4 inch-high pallet and no one is happy.

Dry Van Width - Most have an outside width of 102" (that is the maximum allowed by law) with an inside width of 98"-100". Why is that? Well, for some reason everyone uses the trailer manufacturer dimensions. I don't know how or why this got started some years ago, but I'd sure like to find the person that started it. Anyway, for obvious reasons the inside width is narrower than the outside width because, well, you have to take into account the thickness of the walls of the trailer and that us usually 1" - 2" for each wall or 2" - 4" narrower than that pesky 102" dimension everyone speaks of.