Vehicle Types in European Road Freight

Semi-Trailer

A semi-trailer is a freight trailer with no front axle that relies on the tractor unit to support a portion of its weight — the standard trailer format for European long-haul road freight.

The semi-trailer is the cargo platform in every articulated road freight vehicle. It connects to the tractor unit at the kingpin; the tractor carries the front weight through the fifth wheel coupling. Standard internal length: 13.6 m (13.6 LDM). The trailer body type — curtainsider, box body, flatbed, or open-top — determines the cargo type and loading method. All trailer body configurations share the same semi-trailer base structure, making it the common platform across every trailer type in this cluster.

The semi-trailer provides the platform — combined with a tractor unit it forms the complete articulated vehicle that carries freight across European borders.

Semi-Trailer Truck

A semi-trailer truck is the complete articulated road freight vehicle — the tractor unit and semi-trailer together — and the standard configuration for FTL and LTL freight movements across European borders.

Also called an articulated lorry or artic. Maximum permissible overall length in the EU: 18.75 m. Maximum gross vehicle weight: 40 tonnes — or 44 tonnes for combined rail-road transport in select member states. The tractor unit provides drive, steering, and braking; the semi-trailer carries the load. A standard curtainsider semi-trailer truck carries 33 Euro pallets in a single layer with a payload of approximately 24 tonnes — the benchmark configuration for cross-border LTL groupage across Europe.

The body type mounted on that semi-trailer determines everything about how cargo loads and what it can carry — and the tautliner is the body type that serves the majority of European palletised freight.

Tautliner

A tautliner is a semi-trailer with retractable fabric curtain sides on a fixed frame — the most common trailer type for palletised freight in European road freight, also called a curtainsider.

Internal dimensions on a standard 13.6 m tautliner: 2.48 m wide × 2.70 m high. Carries 33 Euro pallets in a single layer with a payload of approximately 24 tonnes. The curtain sides draw back along the full trailer length for forklift side loading at any position — the operational advantage that makes the tautliner the default vehicle for pallet distribution across Europe. The rigid roof stays in place during loading and transit. Rear loading is also available through the trailer's rear doors.

The tautliner maximises loading flexibility — the box body is its counterpart, built for the opposite priority: maximum cargo enclosure and protection.

Box Body

A box body is a rigid, fully enclosed freight body with fixed solid walls, a fixed roof, and a sealed rear loading door — accessible only from the rear.

High-value cargo, electronics, textiles, furniture, and fragile goods travel on box bodies where a curtainsider's curtain sides are not appropriate. Rear loading only — by dock leveller, tail lift, or walk-in ramp. Available on rigid chassis for urban and regional deliveries and as semi-trailers in the standard 13.6 m configuration for long-haul routes. The sealed environment of the box body provides weather protection and cargo security that no curtain-sided trailer can match.

The box body and tautliner together handle the majority of European road freight — the remaining vehicle types in this cluster serve specific cargo categories or loading requirements that neither configuration can accommodate.

Open Truck

An open truck is a road freight vehicle where the cargo area has no fixed roof or solid side walls, allowing loading from the side, top, or rear without the restrictions of a sealed body.

The category covers 3 main configurations. The tautliner (curtainsider) has sliding curtain sides for forklift side access. The flatbed has no sides or roof at all — used for machinery, steel, and construction materials secured with straps and chains. The open-top has a removable or retractable roof for overhead crane loading. Most palletised B2B freight in Europe moves on open trucks — specifically curtainsiders. The category defines European road freight precisely because side-loading access determines whether a warehouse can load or unload a vehicle within a practical operating window.

The open truck category covers large freight configurations — the vehicle range steps down in size to the van-based vehicles that serve courier, express, and small consignment movements.

Panel Van

A panel van is a rigid-bodied enclosed delivery vehicle with a van cab and a sealed load area behind the driver compartment — used for courier deliveries, document deliveries, and small consignments below truck freight thresholds.

Payload capacity: 800 kg to 1,500 kg. The load area is sealed and accessible from the rear. Panel vans bridge the gap between passenger vehicles and small rigid trucks in the freight vehicle range. Go Trans carrier partners deploy panel van configurations across their European networks for consignments that sit below the pallet freight threshold — connecting the courier service range to the freight vehicle range across 29 European countries.

The panel van operates with a sealed rear body — the tarpaulin sprinter is its van-range counterpart for consignments that require top or side loading access rather than rear-only entry.

Tarpaulin Sprinter

A tarpaulin sprinter is a large van — typically a Mercedes Sprinter or equivalent — with a tarpaulin cover over the load bed rather than a rigid enclosed body, allowing top and side loading access.

Payload capacity: 500–800 kg. The tarpaulin provides weather protection while keeping the load bed open to side and top access — a configuration not available on a sealed panel van. The tarpaulin sprinter covers the gap in the vehicle range between a panel van and a curtainsider truck — large enough for consignments that outgrow a standard van, small enough for collections at sites without truck access, and flexible enough for addresses with no rear-loading infrastructure.

Beyond the van-range vehicles, the cluster covers specialist configurations used in intermodal and oversize freight — starting with the swap body that moves between road and rail.

Swap Body

A swap body is a standardised freight container designed to transfer between road trailers, rail flatcars, and intermodal platforms without unloading the cargo inside.

Folding legs allow the swap body to be placed on the ground and exchanged between vehicle units at rail terminals, intermodal hubs, and combined transport depots. The cargo stays loaded throughout the modal transfer — truck to rail and back to truck — without repacking or reloading. Standard European swap body dimensions align with the 13.6 m semi-trailer format, making them directly compatible with curtainsider and box body trailer frames used across the European road freight network. The swap body is the primary unit load carrier in combined rail-road transport operations across the EU.

The swap body operates on standard road and rail infrastructure — the low loader serves the opposite need: cargo dimensions that exceed what any standard vehicle can carry within legal height limits.

Low Loader

A low loader is a semi-trailer with a very low loading platform — achieved using drop axles or a well between axle groups — enabling oversize, tall, or heavy cargo to be transported within legal overall height limits.

Also called a low-bed trailer. Platform height: typically 600–800 mm above road level, compared to 1,200 mm on a standard semi-trailer. Construction machinery, industrial transformers, wind turbine components, and pre-fabricated concrete sections are standard low loader consignments. The reduced platform height allows cargo that would otherwise exceed the 4.0 m overall vehicle height restriction to move within legal limits. Oversize loads require advance route surveys and movement permits in each country of transit.

The low loader handles the heaviest oversize category — the in-loader serves the gap between standard trailer height and full low-loader specification for cargo that needs height reduction without full oversize permitting.

In-Loader

An in-loader is a specialised trailer with a sunken or recessed deck where the load sits below the level of the trailer frame, reducing the overall transport height for oversize cargo.

The recessed deck is the defining structural feature. The cargo drops into the trailer frame rather than resting on top of it, gaining height clearance without the extreme low platform of a full low-bed trailer. The in-loader sits between the standard semi-trailer and the low loader in the European vehicle range — the correct configuration for tall but not exceptionally heavy cargo that needs height reduction without full oversize permitting. Industrial equipment, large reels, and tall pre-fabricated units are typical in-loader consignments.

The in-loader reduces height through a recessed deck — the Edscha body addresses a different loading problem: cargo that is dimensionally standard in height but requires overhead crane access to enter the trailer.

Edscha Body

An Edscha body is an open trailer with a sliding or folding roof system that retracts to expose the full trailer length for crane or overhead loading of cargo.

Named after the German manufacturer Edscha, the system uses a sliding roof track mechanism that retracts the roof panels along the full 13.6 m trailer length. When closed, the trailer provides weather protection comparable to a standard curtainsider. When open, it delivers the same overhead crane access as a flatbed. The Edscha body fills the gap between a curtainsider and a fully open flatbed — the correct vehicle for industrial equipment, structural steelwork, and large cable reels that require crane loading at origin and weather protection during the cross-border journey.

Cross-Border Freight Across Europe