Rhode Island LTL Freight Rates & Quotes

Shipping LTL freight to or from Rhode Island? Rates depend on your specific route, freight class, and how close your pickup or delivery point is to the nearest LTL terminal. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country — about 48 miles top to bottom — but it packs a real deep-water port, a major submarine manufacturing plant, and a dense Providence-centered carrier network into that small footprint. Here’s what actually affects your rate. You can also compare live LTL freight rates across carriers.

LTL trucking regulations in Rhode Island

Standard interstate trucking limits generally apply in Rhode Island: 80,000 lbs gross vehicle weight and 8.5 feet width for most routes (some roads cap width at 8 feet), with single-unit vehicles limited to 40 feet and semi-trailers to 55 feet. Most LTL shipments fall well within these limits — this mainly matters if your freight is unusually large or heavy.

Loads that exceed the standard limits need an oversize/overweight permit — and, as in several other states, Rhode Island splits that requirement across two authorities:

• RIDOT issues Oversize/Overweight permits for state roads through its Oversize & Overweight Division, and maintains a running list of posted bridge and width restrictions — several Providence-area highway segments are currently narrowed for construction, and the Route 195 Washington Bridge is restricted to 48 tons and closed to oversize vehicles entirely through an anticipated timeframe of December 2028.
• The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority requires its own separate permit for oversize/overweight vehicles crossing the Newport Pell Bridge or the Mount Hope Bridge, on top of whatever state-level RIDOT permit already applies — relevant if your route serves Newport County or Aquidneck Island.

Exact current requirements, restriction maps, and applications are available directly from RIDOT:

RIDOT Statewide Truck and Bridge Restrictions →

What affects your Rhode Island LTL rate

• Freight class — density, handling, and liability determine your NMFC class, the single biggest factor in your rate. See our freight class guide.
• Distance — Rhode Island itself is tiny, so most in-state moves are short regional hops; the rate that matters is usually driven by how far your shipment travels outside the state, toward Boston, Connecticut, or beyond.
• Terminal proximity — pickup or delivery points in or near Providence see the most carrier options and fastest transit; addresses in Washington County (South County) or on Aquidneck Island see fewer options and can carry bridge-crossing considerations.
• Accessorials — liftgate, residential, or inside delivery add to the base rate, same as anywhere else.

Did you know?From 6 real Rhode Island lanes and 30 quotes

1. 15× the cost per mile

   A short, light shipment cost more per mile than a long, heavy one

   A 62 lb shipment moving 188 miles (North Arlington, NJ to Providence, RI) had a lowest quote of $394, or $2.09 a mile. A 140 lb shipment moving 2,981 miles (Woonsocket, RI to San Diego, CA) had a lowest quote of $415, or $0.14 a mile.

2. $81 to arrive 5 days sooner

   Speed has a price

   On Napa, CA to Warren, RI (3,080 miles, 699 lb), the cheapest quote at $789 took 10 days. The fastest, at 5 days, cost $871.

3. 5 carriers had the lowest quote

   Five different carriers won six Rhode Island lanes

   Estes had the lowest quote on two lanes. A. Duie Pyle, Central Transport, Roadrunner, and STG Logistics each had the lowest quote on one lane. Across the lowest quotes on every lane, 13 different carriers appeared.

4. $214 from lowest to fifth-lowest

   Same shipment, quotes $214 apart

   For 300 lb from Goldendale, WA to Westerly, RI (2,944 miles), the lowest quote was $652 and the fifth-lowest was $866, a 33% gap.

Get quotes for your lane →

Regional carrier coverage across Rhode Island

Rhode Island is small enough that it doesn’t split into the number of distinct freight regions a larger state does, but real coverage differences still exist:

• Greater Providence — the deepest carrier network in the state by far, anchored by ProvPort and the I-95/I-195/I-295 interchange, home to most of Rhode Island’s population and freight activity.
• Kent County (Warwick, Cranston) — strong coverage close to Providence, benefiting from proximity to T.F. Green Airport and the Quonset Point industrial park.
• Washington County / South County — more rural and coastal, with fewer terminals and a seasonal swing in demand tied to the summer tourism economy.
• Newport County & Aquidneck Island — accessible primarily via the Newport Pell and Mount Hope bridges, which carry their own permit requirements for oversize loads (see above); coverage is workable but noticeably thinner than the mainland.

Weather and transit reliability

Rhode Island’s biggest weather risk isn’t snow — it’s its coastline. As a fully coastal state, Rhode Island sits in the path of Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms during the June-through-November season, which can bring high winds, flooding, and bridge closures (including the Newport Pell and Mount Hope bridges, which post their own high-wind travel restrictions). Winter brings nor’easters rather than the lake-effect snow that hits western New York or Pennsylvania — usually less severe, but capable of shutting down the Providence area for a day at a time. Build in extra buffer time for shipments timed around hurricane season or major coastal storms.

Sample Rhode Island LTL rates by route

Real quotes pulled from our platform for six different Rhode Island lanes — same process, different carriers each time, covering both directions and the length of the country. Rates shift with capacity and fuel costs, so treat these as a snapshot rather than a guarantee for your shipment; get an instant quote for your exact route.

Rate, transit, and price-per-mile summary

Pulling the six lanes above together shows how much distance and shipment weight actually drive Rhode Island LTL pricing — and where “price per mile” stops being a useful way to think about it:

Route	Distance	Weight	Price range	Transit range	Price per mile
Goldendale, WA → Westerly, RI	2,944 mi	300 lb	$652–$866	6–7 days	$0.22–$0.29
Napa, CA → Warren, RI	3,080 mi	699 lb	$789–$967	5–10 days	$0.26–$0.31
Crystal River, FL → Harrisville, RI	1,239 mi	40 lb	$588–$751	3–7 days	$0.47–$0.61
Johnston, RI → Orlando, FL	1,261 mi	500 lb	$495–$600	3–4 days	$0.39–$0.48
Woonsocket, RI → San Diego, CA	2,981 mi	140 lb	$415–$486	5–8 days	$0.14–$0.16
North Arlington, NJ → Providence, RI	188 mi	62 lb	$394–$474	1–3 days	$2.10–$2.52

The same pattern shows up here as in every other state we’ve covered: price per mile drops sharply as distance increases, with our three longest hauls (all 1,200+ miles) settling well under $0.65/mile, and the two cross-country lanes near 3,000 miles landing under $0.31/mile. The short 188-mile lane from North Arlington, New Jersey tells the opposite story — a regional Northeast move can cost over $2 a mile once minimum handling and delivery charges are factored in, more than eight times the per-mile rate of our longest haul. For short Rhode Island routes especially, freight class and weight matter far more than mileage.

Major shipping hubs in Rhode Island

Rhode Island’s carrier terminal network is concentrated around a few key points, which generally means faster pickup windows and more carrier options the closer you are to one of these:

• Providence — the state’s primary freight gateway, home to ProvPort, a 140+ acre deep-water terminal handling roughly 450 vessels a year — primarily petroleum, cement, salt, and scrap metal (the port’s largest export).
• Warwick — home to T.F. Green Airport (Rhode Island’s main air cargo gateway) and strong highway access via I-95 and Route 37.
• North Kingstown (Quonset Point) — an industrial park anchored by General Dynamics Electric Boat’s submarine manufacturing facility, a 400-acre site with over 7,000 workers undergoing a $792 million expansion — a major generator of industrial and specialized freight.
• Woonsocket — headquarters of CVS Health, employing roughly 7,000 people statewide including about 3,400 at its Woonsocket HQ, with a real pharmaceutical and retail distribution footprint.

Highway corridors serving Rhode Island

I-95 is Rhode Island’s freight spine, running the length of the state through Providence and connecting north to Boston and south to Connecticut and New York. I-195 branches off from Providence toward Fall River, Massachusetts and Cape Cod. I-295 forms a western bypass around Providence, useful for freight that doesn’t need to move through the city center. Beyond the interstates, Route 4 and Route 1 carry freight south toward Washington County, and the Newport Pell and Mount Hope bridges are the only routes onto Aquidneck Island and Newport County, which is why they carry their own separate oversize/overweight permit requirement.

What Rhode Island shippers move

Rhode Island’s freight mix is smaller in volume than its neighbors but genuinely distinctive. Defense manufacturing is a real driver: General Dynamics Electric Boat’s Quonset Point facility fabricates submarine hulls and components for the US Navy, generating specialized industrial and heavy freight tied to a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar Navy shipbuilding program. ProvPort moves bulk cargo — petroleum, cement, salt, and scrap metal — that feeds inland distribution and construction supply chains. CVS Health’s Woonsocket headquarters and distribution network generate steady pharmaceutical and retail freight. And Rhode Island’s historic jewelry and costume jewelry manufacturing base, once famous enough to earn Providence the nickname “The Jewelry Capital of the World,” still supports a smaller but real manufacturing and packaging freight niche today.

Rhode Island LTL freight: frequently asked questions

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