Military Freight for Truckers: What It Is and Why Most Carriers Don't Know About It

Somewhere right now, a truck is hauling office furniture to a military base in Texas. Another is moving food service supplies to a facility in Georgia. A third is delivering maintenance equipment to a base in California.

None of these loads involve tanks, weapons, or anything classified. They're ordinary freight moving to government facilities. And the carriers hauling them aren't giant defense contractors. Many are small trucking companies, including owner-operators with a single truck.

This is military freight. Not the dramatic stuff you see in movies. Just regular cargo that happens to be going to military installations. The U.S. Department of Defense moves enormous volumes of this freight every year, and they pay trucking companies to haul it.

Most carriers have never heard of this. The ones who have often assume it's only for large fleets with government connections. Both assumptions are wrong.

What Military Freight Actually Means

When truckers hear "military freight," they usually picture convoy operations, armored vehicles, or sensitive equipment requiring security clearances. That freight exists, but it's a small slice of what the military actually moves.

The vast majority of military freight is FAK: Freight All Kinds. This is general commodity freight, the same type of cargo you'd haul for any commercial shipper. Food and beverages for base dining facilities. Office supplies and furniture. Maintenance parts and equipment. Clothing and uniforms. Medical supplies. Construction materials. Household goods for service members relocating between duty stations.

The military operates over 450 installations across the United States. Each of these bases functions like a small city, requiring constant resupply of everything a community needs to operate. That resupply happens on trucks, and those trucks are driven by civilian carriers.

Higher-security freight categories do exist. TPS (Transportation Protective Services) covers sensitive cargo requiring additional security measures. AA&E (Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives) involves weapons and related materials with strict handling requirements, team drivers, and significantly higher insurance. But these specialized categories require additional certifications beyond the basic military freight approval. Most carriers hauling military freight never touch them.

The entry point for most trucking companies is FAK freight: regular cargo, regular trailers, regular operations. The difference is who's paying you and how.

The Scale of DOD Freight Movement

The Department of Defense is one of the largest shippers in the world. The military's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, known as SDDC (and transitioning to the name ARTRANS), manages the movement of freight across the country and around the globe.

This isn't a small operation filling occasional gaps. It's a continuous, massive logistics network that requires trucking capacity every single day. Bases need supplies. Equipment needs to move between facilities. Service members need their household goods transported when they receive new orders. The volume never stops.

Unlike commercial freight, military freight volume doesn't fluctuate with consumer confidence or retail sales cycles. The military's transportation needs are driven by operational requirements and congressional appropriations, not economic conditions. When the spot market crashed during the freight recession, military freight kept moving at the same pace.

This counter-cyclical nature is part of what makes military freight valuable for carriers looking to diversify. It's freight that doesn't correlate with the same factors that drive commercial market volatility.

Who Actually Hauls This Freight

Large carriers do haul military freight. National fleets with hundreds or thousands of trucks participate in the program. But they're not the only ones.

Small carriers, including owner-operators, haul military freight every day. The military's carrier registration program doesn't have a minimum fleet size requirement. If you meet the qualifications and complete the registration process, you can participate regardless of whether you have one truck or one hundred.

The mix of carrier sizes exists because the military's freight needs are diverse. Some shipments are large volume moves that make sense for big fleets. Others are smaller loads in specific lanes where a regional carrier or owner-operator is the right fit. The system accommodates both.

Small carriers often find advantages in flexibility and responsiveness that larger operations can't match. A three-truck company can adjust quickly to take an available load. They can provide personal attention that gets lost in larger organizations. For certain freight and certain lanes, small carriers are exactly what the military needs.

Why Most Carriers Don't Know About This

If military freight is real and accessible to small carriers, why isn't everyone doing it?

Part of the answer is visibility. Military freight doesn't show up on DAT or Truckstop. It moves through a separate system with its own platforms and processes. If you've spent your career on commercial load boards, you've never seen these loads. They exist in a parallel freight universe you didn't know was there.

Part of the answer is assumption. Carriers who have heard about government freight often assume it requires special connections, political relationships, or corporate scale. They picture complex federal contracting processes designed for defense giants, not trucking companies. These assumptions are mostly wrong, but they're persistent enough to keep people from looking further.

Part of the answer is the barrier to entry. Becoming an approved military freight carrier isn't as simple as signing up for a load board. There's a real registration process with specific requirements, documentation, and compliance obligations. It takes time and effort. Many carriers either don't know the process exists or assume it's too complicated to bother with.

The result is that military freight remains relatively unknown in the broader trucking industry. The carriers who do know about it often learned through word of mouth, industry connections, or stumbling across information by accident. There's no widespread awareness because there's no marketing. The military isn't advertising for carriers. They have enough capacity from the ones who already know.

The Basic Appeal: Why Carriers Pursue This

Carriers who haul military freight consistently point to a few key benefits that differentiate it from commercial work.

Payment speed. Military freight pays through an electronic system called US Bank Syncada. Once you submit your documentation, payment typically arrives within 72 hours. Not 30 days. Not 45 days. Days. For carriers accustomed to factoring invoices just to maintain cash flow, this is transformative. No factoring fees. No chasing payments. No wondering if the broker will actually pay.

Payment certainty. The federal government pays its bills. There's no credit risk, no collections issues, no customers going bankrupt and stiffing you on invoices. When you complete a military shipment correctly, you get paid. Period.

Rate stability. Military freight operates on standardized rate structures rather than daily spot market fluctuations. Rates don't swing 20% in a week based on market conditions. This predictability allows carriers to plan and budget in ways that spot market dependency doesn't permit.

Consistent volume. Military bases need constant resupply. The freight keeps moving regardless of economic conditions, seasonal patterns, or commercial market downturns. For carriers seeking stable revenue streams, this consistency is the core appeal.

Professional recognition. Becoming an approved Transportation Service Provider (TSP) for the military carries credibility. It signals that your operation met federal requirements and maintains ongoing compliance. Some carriers find this status valuable beyond the freight itself.

Who This Is For (And Who It's Not For)

Military freight isn't for everyone. The requirements create natural filters that exclude many carriers.

This is for carriers with established operations. You must have at least three years of continuous, uninterrupted DOT operating authority. Not three years in trucking. Three years with your current authority, active the entire time, no gaps. This requirement has no exceptions, no waivers, no workarounds. If you got your authority in 2023, you're not eligible until 2026 at the earliest.

This is for carriers who can meet compliance requirements. The registration process involves multiple federal systems, specific insurance levels, performance bonds, and ongoing annual certifications. Carriers who struggle with paperwork and compliance will find this challenging.

This is for carriers seeking diversification, not replacement. Military freight can become a meaningful part of your revenue mix, but it probably won't replace your entire commercial business overnight. Carriers who approach this as one component of a diversified operation tend to have realistic expectations.

This is NOT for new carriers. The three-year requirement is absolute. No amount of experience, references, or business success can substitute for three years of continuous authority.

This is NOT for carriers with compliance issues. Federal debarments, suspensions, or exclusions disqualify you. Felony convictions create problems. If you have regulatory or legal issues in your background, this path may be closed.

This is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. The registration process takes 30 to 60 days when everything goes smoothly. Building meaningful volume takes longer. Carriers looking for immediate solutions to immediate problems should look elsewhere.

What's Required (High Level)

Becoming an approved military freight carrier involves several components. This isn't a complete guide, but it gives you a sense of what's involved.

Three years continuous DOT authority. This is verified through FMCSA records. Your MC or FF number must have been active, without interruption, for at least three years.

SCAC code. A Standard Carrier Alpha Code, which is a unique identifier for your company. This comes from the National Motor Freight Traffic Association.

SAM.gov registration. The System for Award Management is the federal government's contractor database. You need a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and active registration.

FCRP registration. The Freight Carrier Registration Program is the military's specific carrier approval process, managed by SDDC.

Performance bond. A surety bond guaranteeing your performance, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 depending on how many states you want to operate in.

Cargo insurance. Minimum $150,000 cargo coverage, which is higher than many carriers currently carry.

US Bank Syncada account. The electronic payment system, including mandatory training before you can receive payment.

ECA certificate. An External Certification Authority digital certificate for accessing military systems, which involves a background check.

Each of these components has its own requirements, timelines, and potential complications. The total process typically takes 30 to 60 days when everything goes correctly. Mistakes or missing information can extend that significantly.

Why It's Not As Simple As Just Signing Up

The registration process has real complexity. Multiple systems need to interconnect. Information must match exactly across all registrations. Deadlines exist that can't be extended. Documents must be submitted in specific formats by specific parties.

First-time applicants have a high rejection rate, usually due to preventable errors: mismatched company names across systems, missing documentation, missed deadlines, or submitting applications before completing prerequisites. The military's registration system isn't designed to be user-friendly. It's designed to verify that carriers meet requirements.

This complexity is part of why military freight isn't crowded with competitors. The barrier to entry filters out carriers who won't take the time to do it correctly. For carriers who do complete the process properly, that barrier becomes a competitive advantage.

The process is learnable. Carriers figure it out every year. But it requires attention to detail, patience with bureaucratic systems, and willingness to follow requirements precisely. Carriers who approach it casually tend to get rejected. Carriers who approach it systematically tend to get approved.

Is This Worth Exploring?

Military freight isn't a magic solution to trucking's challenges. It's a specific opportunity with specific requirements that works for certain carriers in certain situations.

If you have three or more years of continuous operating authority, clean records, ability to meet insurance and bonding requirements, and interest in diversifying your freight mix with stable government business, this is worth learning more about.

If you're a newer carrier, have compliance issues, or need immediate solutions to cash flow problems, this probably isn't your path right now.

The carriers who succeed with military freight are the ones who approach it with realistic expectations, willingness to complete a real process, and understanding that it's one piece of a broader business strategy.

Want to understand more about what you'd actually be hauling? Read What Kind of Freight Does the Military Actually Need Hauled? for a closer look at military freight categories.