This article provides an overview of the most commonly used road freight vehicles and handling equipment for commercial purposes internationally. Commercial road freight vehicles (trucks) can be divided into rigid vehicles and combination vehicles. The investigation has indicated that subsequent to the economic deregulation of freight transport, there are 12 types of trailers and semitrailers commonly used internationally. They are (1) van; (2) refrigerated van; (3) container carrier; (4) flatbed trailer; (5) low-bed semitrailer; (6) tanker; (7) livestock trailer; (8) dry bulk (hopper) trailer; (9) furniture van (pantechnicon); (10) motorcar carrier; (11) side stanchion trailer; and (12) open-top trailers. The study revealed that the following two factors mainly dictate road freight vehicle design: (1) characteristics of the freight to be transported; and (2) the type of freight terminals and handling equipment necessary to efficiently and effectively accommodate and support road freight transport. These two factors are discussed in the article.

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