North Dakota's freight is coal, grain and rail. Coal mines work at Beulah, Center and Coleharbor, flour mills at Grand Forks, Minot, Carrington and Fairmount, and liquid-bulk terminals at Fargo, Grand Forks and Trenton.
A Kenworth day cab out of Fargo, a Western Star haul truck off a Beulah pit, a Freightliner sleeper running through Bismarck or a Chevrolet dually out of Minot are all handled the same way: photos and details come to us, an offer goes back, and from there we can collect it, buy it remotely, or you can drive it in.
North Dakota’s trucking industry is an energy-rich state where heavy commercial trucks are critical for oil, agriculture, and freight transport across wide open terrain.
Three ceilings, and the third one is a local decision
Under N.D. Cent. Code § 39-12-05.3 the gross weight ceiling is 105,500 lb on state highways and 80,000 lb on all other highways — unless local authorities designate otherwise, for up to 105,500 lb. Underneath it: 20,000 lb on a single axle, 10,000 lb wheel load, 34,000 lb tandem, and 48,000 lb for three or more axles. Directors and local authorities may permit farmers and motor carriers to exceed the limits by ten per cent up to that 105,500 lb ceiling, and the highway patrol issues those permits. The interstate is governed separately under § 39-12-05.
N.D. Cent. Code § 39-12-05.3.
North Dakota seasons
The thaw levels come with axle weights attached
Under § 39-12-03 the state posts named restriction levels on the state highway system — Legal Weight, then 8-Ton, 7-Ton, 6-Ton and 5-Ton — and these carry actual axle weights rather than a vague warning. At the 8-Ton level that is 16,000 lb on a single axle and 32,000 lb on a tandem. If you are hauling in the spring, read the posted level rather than doing the arithmetic.
N.D. Cent. Code § 39-12-03, administered by NDDOT on the state highway system. Only the 8-Ton figures were captured.