FLATBED TRUCK
A FLAT-BED truck is a type of truck which can be either “Articulated*” or “Rigid”. It has an entirely flat, level body with absolutely no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy loading and transport of containers or break-bulk goods, which are not delicate or vulnerable to rain, snow, or direct sunshine; goods such as construction equipment, pipes, metal bars, or stone blocks. They are also used to transport abnormal loads that require more space than is available on a closed body.
* Articulated: A semi-trailer* truck or tractor-trailer (colloquially known as an 18-wheeler, semi, orbig-rig in the U.S.; as a semi in Australia and Canada; and as an articulated lorry (artic), or truck and trailer in the U.K., Ireland, and New Zealand) is an artculated truck or lorry, consisting of a towing engine (tractor in the U.S., Prime Mover in Australia, and truck
in the U.K. and New Zealand),
and a semi- trailer (plus possible additional trailers) that carries the freight. In the U.K., the termjuggernaut is sumetimes used for specially large articulated lorries.
* Trailer: A large transport conveyance designed to be pulled by a truck or tractor.
NOTE: There are some trailers modified with side and roof metal struccture with wooden panels, coverable with tarpauline, to be shaped as a closed box. These trailers are used for more sensitive and/or goods required to be transported in a closed, protected box such as goods in transit under TIR Carnet.