North Carolina runs freight from its ports inland. Ports work at Wilmington and Morehead City with roll-on/roll-off terminals at both and petroleum terminals at Wilmington and Beaufort. Intermodal ramps run at Charlotte, Greensboro and Wilmington, flour mills at Charlotte, Statesville, Mooresville and Spindale, and liquid-bulk terminals at Charlotte, Fayetteville and Goldsboro. Crushed-stone quarries are spread widely, and rail yards run at Asheville, Cary, Durham and Bostic.
A Volvo sleeper off a Charlotte ramp, a Peterbilt day cab out of Greensboro, a Mack dump truck near Raleigh or a Ford dually out of Wilmington go through the same steps: send photos and the details, an offer comes back, and if you like it we'll come to you, buy it remotely, or you can bring it to us.
North Carolina’s trucking industry is one of the fastest-growing freight markets in the Southeast with major manufacturing, logistics, and port activity.
Thirty-eight thousand on a tandem, and a tolerance that stops at the axle
The statute is the same in every county. N.C.G.S. section 20-118 sets 20,000 lb on a single axle and 38,000 lb on a tandem, with gross weight varying by axle-group distance up to 80,000 lb. The tandem figure is the one to notice. Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania carry 34,000 lb there, so North Carolina allows four thousand pounds more on a tandem. The same section grants a ten per cent tolerance on axle-group weights, and then writes down exactly what the tolerance does not reach: not the single-axle limit, not the tandem limit, not the 80,000 lb gross, not a posted bridge, and not the interstate system.
N.C.G.S. § 20-118. Information, not legal advice, and only as current as the date the statute was last read.
North Carolina paperwork
In North Carolina, a lien is held by any person who repairs, services, tows, or stores motor vehicles in the ordinary course of business pursuant to a contract with an owner or legal possessor (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-2). In North Carolina, this lien has priority over perfected and unperfected security interests (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-2). In North Carolina, the facility must notify DMV of intent to assert the lien; DMV then sends notice to interested parties, including the vehicle owner (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-2).