Dedicated freight reserves a specific trailer, a specific driver, and a recurring lane for your freight, exclusively for one operator, on the days and times you need it. It is capacity-as-a-service: instead of buying a truck, you buy the output that truck produces, and Kargoza handles the equipment, the driver, the maintenance, and the compliance.
What Dedicated Service Includes
A dedicated contract is built around your lane, your volume, and your service level. It typically covers:
- A defined equipment package (tractor and one or more trailers) assigned to your account.
- A primary driver or driver team, with backup drivers for PTO, sickness, and HOS compliance.
- A recurring origin-destination pair (or rotation) executed on a fixed schedule.
- Routine and preventive maintenance on equipment reserved for your freight.
- Continuous communication, KPIs, and a quarterly business review.
Where spot and contract Full Truckload fluctuate with the market, dedicated capacity is fixed in cost and predictable in performance.
When Dedicated Is the Right Choice
Dedicated service pays off when the lane is consistent enough to keep equipment productive. Strong candidates include:
- Daily or weekly moves between the same plant and the same distribution center.
- Retail replenishment loops where the receiver expects the same face at the dock every morning.
- Manufacturing operations with just-in-time components where a missed delivery shuts a line.
- Shippers that need branded equipment with their logo on the trailer.
- Specialized requirements such as food-grade wash-outs, hazmat endorsements, or specific lift-gate configurations.
For lanes that change week-to-week, a flexible regional or long-haul service is usually more efficient.
Branded and Custom Equipment
Dedicated trucks can be wrapped in your brand. Branded equipment reinforces your company presence along the lane, eliminates confusion at the receiver, and reduces dwell time because drivers and dock workers recognize the truck. We can also configure trailers for specific commodities: liftgates, refrigeration units, pup trailers, or special securement.
Capacity-as-a-Service
Buying your own trucks and hiring your own drivers ties up capital in equipment, terminals, fuel, insurance, and compliance. A dedicated contract converts that capital cost into a variable operating cost. You pay for the capacity you use, you scale it as your volume changes, and you avoid the fixed overhead of running a private fleet.
Driver Quality and Continuity
The driver matters as much as the truck. Dedicated drivers learn your dock, your paperwork, and your expectations. They become an extension of your operation, which is why we match drivers to accounts and keep them there for the long term.
Performance and KPIs
Every dedicated contract is measured. Standard KPIs include on-time pickup, on-time delivery, exception rate, fuel efficiency, and tender-to-invoice cycle time. We report these monthly and walk through them quarterly so you always know what the network is doing for your freight.
Coverage
Dedicated service runs anywhere in the lower 48. It is most common on regional lanes under 500 miles that run daily, but it also covers long-haul loops with team drivers on multi-day rotations. For a broader overview of dedicated transportation as a supply-chain model, see our Dedicated Transportation solution page.
If your freight needs a guaranteed truck, a known driver, and a predictable schedule, a dedicated freight contract is the most reliable way to move it. Send us your lane, volume, and service-level requirements and we will design a capacity package tailored to your operation.
Frequently asked questions
How is dedicated freight priced?
By truck, by week or month, based on equipment type, driver count, lane, and required days of operation. We will model your volume into a dedicated package and compare it against spot and contract FTL alternatives.
Do you provide the driver?
Yes. Drivers are Kargoza employees (or carrier-employed), not owner-operators. We handle hiring, training, HOS compliance, and benefits.
Can the equipment be branded with our logo?
Absolutely. Wrapped tractors and trailers are a standard option on dedicated contracts.
What if our volume changes?
Dedicated contracts are flexible. We can add or remove trucks, adjust lanes, or shift between dedicated and spot capacity as your business evolves.