What Is Power-Only Transportation? A Shipper's Guide

Power-only is one of the fastest-growing services in freight — and one of the most misunderstood. The concept is simple: you supply the trailer, we supply the power. A qualified carrier brings the tractor and the professional driver; the trailer being pulled is yours, your customer's, or leased.

How Power-Only Works

In a typical power-only move, a loaded (or empty) trailer is waiting at a facility. A vetted power-only carrier arrives with a tractor, hooks to the trailer, and hauls it to its destination — where it can be dropped, swapped, or unloaded on your schedule.

When Power-Only Makes Sense

• You have a private trailer fleet. Trailers are an asset only when they're moving. Power-only keeps your equipment productive without owning tractors or employing drivers.
• Drop-trailer and drop-and-hook programs. Pre-loaded trailers mean no live-load waiting: drivers hook and go, docks stay efficient, and detention costs shrink.
• Trailer repositioning. When equipment stacks up in the wrong place, power-only rebalances your network without burning your own resources.
• Seasonal surge capacity. Peak season demand can outrun your fleet. Power-only scales your hauling capacity up and down without long-term commitments.

The Benefits Shippers See

• Lower fixed costs — no tractor purchases, maintenance, or driver payroll
• Flexibility — capacity that expands and contracts with your actual demand
• Dock efficiency — drop programs eliminate live-load bottlenecks
• Better trailer utilization — equipment spends its life moving freight, not parked

What to Look For in a Power-Only Partner

Power-only puts someone else's tractor under your trailer, so carrier quality matters even more than usual. You want verified authority and insurance, drivers experienced with drop-and-hook operations, clear communication on trailer condition, and real-time visibility on every move — the same standards we apply to every carrier in our network.

Power-Only With US Veteran Logistics

We connect shippers with vetted, insured power-only carriers across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico — for one-off repositioning moves or full drop-trailer programs, with one dedicated point of contact from hook to drop.