What is the legal loading pattern for 12 pallets of water weighing 2100 pounds each on a 53 foot trailer?

Answer 1

What's legal is that the load is secured so that it stays on the trailer and your axle and gross weights are legal and distributed in accordance with bridge law formula. That's pretty much the extent as far as the law is concerned. Assuming you're running a van (dry or reefer, it doesn't really matter), you'll go from front to rear and slide your tandems as you need to in order to make that happen. You're only looking at 25,200 lbs. all told, so it shouldn't be a problem. I don't have much experience with dry van - I'm an open deck driver, but I do have some, running pallets of those wood pellets for wood stoves, grills, etc., and so I'll load the first two at the front, staggered all the way to the left, the next two will be staggered all the way to the right, and I'll repeat that pattern, rather than keeping them all centered in the trailer. Then you place your load locks after the last pallets.