Routing the load…
Blog · Dispatch-desk notes
Notes from the desk.
Heavy haul, ocean, AI.
Working notes — heavy-haul permitting math, what actually clears at the border, where ocean freight to Africa stops being routine, and where AI actually moves the dispatcher's day. No content marketing.
Desk notes · dispatch floor · LASLINT
Featured · Cross-border
USMCA Certificate of Origin: when your cross-border load qualifies.
Get it right and your goods clear US ↔ MX ↔ CA at preferential duty. Get it wrong — or skip it — and you overpay tariffs or stall at customs. Here's how the qualification actually works.
LASLINT Dispatch · 4 min read · 2026-06-11
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Heavy haul
How to ship a power transformer: weight, route survey, and lead time.
A grid-scale transformer can run 200,000–400,000 lb and route only on engineered paths. Here's what moving one actually involves — and why the lead time is measured in weeks, not days.
4 min · 2026-06-09
Cross-border
Carta Porte: the document that stops US loads at the Mexican border.
Mexico's SAT requires a Complemento Carta Porte on freight moving inside the country. If it's wrong or missing, your load sits — and the fine lands on the carrier. Here's what US shippers need to know.
4 min · 2026-06-10
Heavy haul
What makes a load a superload — and why the route survey takes weeks.
Above roughly 200,000 lb or 16 feet wide, permitting stops being paperwork and becomes engineering. Here's where heavy haul ends and superload begins, and why the timeline jumps.
4 min · 2026-06-08
Equipment
RGN vs lowboy vs multi-axle: which trailer your load actually needs.
Most shippers don't need to know the difference — that's the broker's job. But if you want to, here's how the three heavy-haul workhorses differ and when each one wins.
4 min · 2026-06-05
Heavy haul
How heavy-haul permitting actually works.
Single-state permits clear in days. Multi-state moves stack lead times. Superloads run weeks. Here's the math your dispatcher is doing while you wait for the quote.
4 min · 2026-06-01
Ocean
Ocean to Africa — where most brokers stop quoting.
Lagos has a reputation. Tema clears faster. Mombasa needs PVoC documentation. Why most US brokers route around the African lane — and why we run it on purpose.
3 min · 2026-05-25
Cross-border
Cross-border to Mexico — the paperwork that actually clears.
Carta porte, pedimento, USMCA Certificate of Origin. What documentation makes it through Laredo without the load sitting at the bridge.
3 min · 2026-05-15
AI in freight
AI quoting — honestly, what it does (and doesn't).
AI doesn't replace a dispatcher. It clears the desk of the lookup work — permits, escort thresholds, carrier vetting — so the dispatcher's runway is spent on the calls that matter.
4 min · 2026-05-05
Heavy haul
How to pick a heavy-haul broker.
MC and DOT verification, bond size, insurance limits, named lanes, named carriers. The five things a procurement desk should look for that most brokerages don't lead with.
5 min · 2026-04-28