South Carolina LTL Freight Rates & Quotes

Shipping LTL freight to or from South Carolina? Rates depend on your specific route, freight class, and how close your pickup or delivery point is to the nearest LTL terminal. South Carolina is the fastest-growing state in the country, with about 5.6 million residents, and its freight network is built around the Port of Charleston, the BMW plant in the Upstate and five interstates: I-95 along the east, I-26 from Charleston to the mountains, I-85 through Greenville and Spartanburg, and I-20 and I-77 crossing at Columbia. It is also hurricane country, and a flood in 2015 shut I-95 for more than a week. Here’s what actually affects your rate.

LTL trucking regulations in South Carolina

A standard LTL tractor-trailer within legal size and weight limits does not need a permit in South Carolina. Permits matter for oversize or overweight freight, and South Carolina’s current rules include a few that surprise shippers:

• Permits come from SCDOT. The South Carolina Department of Transportation’s Oversize/Overweight Permit Office issues them through its online SafeHaul system, and each company sets up an account to order permits.
• Fees are published and low. SCDOT’s fee schedule lists a $30 single-trip permit, with extra charges for excessive width: $35 over 16 ft, $40 over 18 ft, $45 over 20 ft and $50 over 22 ft. An annual multiple-trip permit is $100.
• Oversize loads move from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. SCDOT’s March 2026 guidelines allow loads up to 12 ft wide to travel Monday through Sunday, sunrise to sunset.
• Wider loads have urban curfews. Loads over 12 ft and up to 15 ft wide are barred near large urban areas from 7 to 9 a.m. on weekdays and from 3 to 6 p.m. on school days (4:30 to 6 p.m. on non-school days). Loads over 15 ft wide may move only from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school days and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on other days.
• Six holidays and summer weekends are off limits. No oversize travel is allowed on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, movement is also prohibited on Saturdays and Sundays east of I-95 on routes in the Myrtle Beach area, including US-501 and US-17 from the North Carolina line toward Georgetown.
• Overweight loads can keep moving. Loads grossing up to 130,000 lbs can travel continuously on request, and heavier loads need extra routing analysis that can take three to five business days.
• Tolls are limited. The Southern Connector, a tolled stretch of I-185 near Greenville of about 14 miles, accepts Palmetto Pass or cash, and tolls rise with the number of axles.

Current permit fees and rules are public record:

SCDOT Oversize/Overweight Permits →

What affects your South Carolina 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 — I-26 runs about 221 miles across South Carolina and I-95 about 199 miles, so a run from the coast to the Upstate or from the Georgia line to the North Carolina line covers a long stretch of the state.
• Metro vs. rural — Charleston, Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg are well served by carriers, while the rural Lowcountry, the Pee Dee and the Sandhills typically see fewer terminals and options.
• Terminal proximity — the more carrier terminals near your pickup or delivery point, the more quotes you see.
• Accessorials — liftgate, residential, or inside delivery add to the base rate, same as anywhere else.

Did you know?From 6 real South Carolina lanes and 30 quotes

1. 16× the cost per mile

   The shorter haul cost far more per mile

   A 2,400 lb shipment moving 208 miles (Olar, SC to Forest Park, GA) had a lowest quote of $881, or $4.24 a mile. A 558 lb shipment moving 2,414 miles (Pomona, CA to Sumter, SC) had a lowest quote of $632, or $0.26 a mile.

2. $397 to arrive 7 days sooner

   Speed has a price

   On Dillon, SC to Cisco, TX (1,235 miles, 710 lb), the cheapest quote at $741 took 9 days. The fastest, at 2 days, cost $1,139. On Pomona, CA to Sumter, SC, 4-day delivery cost $800 against $632 for 8 days.

3. 5 carriers had the lowest quote

   Five different carriers won six South Carolina lanes

   ABF Freight had the lowest quote on two lanes. AAA Cooper, STG Logistics, Southeastern, and Ward Transport & Logistics each had the lowest quote on one lane. Across the lowest quotes on every lane, 14 different carriers appeared.

4. $400 from lowest to fifth-lowest

   Same shipment, quotes $400 apart

   For 710 lb from Dillon, SC to Cisco, TX (1,235 miles), the lowest quote was $741 and the fifth-lowest was $1,142, a 54% gap. On Slidell, LA to Graniteville, SC, all five quotes landed within $55 of each other.

Get quotes for your lane →

Where freight moves in South Carolina

South Carolina’s freight geography follows its interstates and its ports:

• Charleston & the Lowcountry — the Port of Charleston, I-26 and I-526, and manufacturing in North Charleston, Ladson and Ridgeville, including Boeing, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Volvo Cars.
• Greenville-Spartanburg (the Upstate) — I-85 and I-26, the BMW plant in Spartanburg County and Inland Port Greer, a rail-served port linked to Charleston.
• Columbia & the Midlands — the state capital, where I-26, I-20 and I-77 meet.
• The I-95 corridor & the Pee Dee — I-95 north-south along the east side of the state, with Inland Port Dillon near the North Carolina line.
• Myrtle Beach & the Grand Strand — a tourism region reached by US-501 and US-17, where oversize loads face summer weekend bans.

Weather and transit reliability

South Carolina’s coast takes hurricanes and its interstates take floods. Hurricane Hugo made landfall near Sullivan’s Island around midnight on September 22, 1989, as a Category 4 storm with winds of 135 to 140 mph, produced the highest storm tide ever recorded on the U.S. East Coast and sent hurricane-force gusts as far inland as western North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. In October 2015, historic flooding closed I-95 between I-26 and I-20 for more than a week, pushing trucks onto a detour of almost 170 miles through Columbia instead of the normal 75-mile drive, with about 225 state roads closed and nearly 100 bridges flooded or under assessment at the time, according to NBC News. The first 13 miles of southbound lanes reopened on October 12. When a hurricane threatens, state officials can reverse I-26 so traffic flows away from Charleston toward Columbia. Winter reaches the Upstate too: during the January 31, 2026 snowstorm, a tractor-trailer wreck closed I-85 in Spartanburg County while the Highway Patrol discouraged travel, according to local news reports. For LTL shippers the practical advice is simple: during hurricane season and winter weather, build extra transit time into anything headed to or through South Carolina.

Sample South Carolina LTL rates by route

Real quotes pulled from our platform for six different South Carolina lanes — same process, different carriers each time, spanning a range of weights and distances. 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, a short, heavy hop into Georgia stands out from everything else in the data:

Route	Distance	Weight	Price range	Transit range	Price per mile
Olar, SC → Forest Park, GA	208 mi	2,400 lb	$881–$1,201	1–2 days	$4.24–$5.77
Slidell, LA → Graniteville, SC	599 mi	58 lb	$447–$502	2–4 days	$0.75–$0.84
Newark, NJ → Indian Land, SC	654 mi	340 lb	$358–$423	Same day–2 days	$0.55–$0.65
Simpsonville, SC → Randolph, NY	717 mi	30 lb	$531–$632	2–4 days	$0.74–$0.88
Dillon, SC → Cisco, TX	1,235 mi	710 lb	$741–$1,142	2–9 days	$0.60–$0.92
Pomona, CA → Sumter, SC	2,414 mi	558 lb	$632–$800	4–8 days	$0.26–$0.33

The 208-mile run from Olar, South Carolina to Forest Park, Georgia is the outlier. At $4.24–$5.77 per mile for 2,400 lb, the heaviest shipment in the set, its five quotes of $881.09–$1,201.15 are priced far above the long-haul lanes, and even its cheapest quote is higher than the most expensive quote on four of the other five lanes, including the 2,414-mile run from Pomona, California to Sumter ($631.70–$799.59). Southeastern Freight Lines’ 1-day $881.09 was the lowest, with R+L Carriers just $13.72 higher at the same speed, and four of its five quotes were 1-day service. Dillon, South Carolina to Cisco, Texas (1,235 miles, 710 lb) has the widest spread: ABF Freight quoted $741.32 on 9-day service, the next-lowest quote, AAA Cooper’s 3-day $890.82, was about 20% higher, and Southeastern Freight Lines’ 2-day quote cost $397.22 more than ABF’s. Pomona to Sumter shows the same pattern on the longest lane: STG Logistics’ 8-day $631.70 was the cheapest, while the four other quotes, from ABF, Roadrunner, XPO and R+L, sat within $14.26 of each other ($785.33–$799.59) on 4 to 6 days. Weight is a weak guide to price. The lightest shipment, 30 lb from Simpsonville, South Carolina to Randolph, New York (717 miles), quoted $531.34–$631.52, and its most expensive quote was just 18 cents below the cheapest quote on the 558 lb, 2,414-mile Pomona lane. On Newark, New Jersey to Indian Land (654 miles, 340 lb), Ward Transport & Logistics quoted same-day service at $358.07, and the next-lowest quote, R+L Carriers’ 2-day $379.74, cost $21.67 more. The tightest lane was Slidell, Louisiana to Graniteville, where AAA Cooper, Estes and TForce quoted $447.26, $457.68 and $458.83 within $11.57 of each other. The lesson is the same on every lane: compare several carriers before you book.

Major shipping hubs in South Carolina

South Carolina’s freight moves through a deepwater port, two inland rail ports and three metro areas:

• Port of Charleston — SC Ports handled 2.6 million TEUs in fiscal year 2025, up 3% from the year before, plus 165,949 finished vehicles.
• Inland Port Greer — a record 205,523 rail moves in fiscal year 2025, up nearly 10%, between the Upstate and the Port of Charleston.
• Inland Port Dillon — 33,838 rail moves in fiscal year 2025, on the I-95 corridor.
• Greenville-Spartanburg — BMW’s only U.S. plant, in Spartanburg County, along I-85 and I-26.
• Columbia — the meeting point of I-26, I-20 and I-77, and the site of a Scout Motors electric vehicle plant under construction in Blythewood, with production projected to begin at the end of 2027.

Highway corridors serving South Carolina

I-95 (about 199 miles in South Carolina) runs north-south along the eastern side of the state from Georgia to North Carolina. I-26 (about 221 miles) runs from Charleston through Columbia and the Upstate to the North Carolina line. I-85 (about 106 miles) links Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg, I-20 (about 142 miles) crosses from the Georgia line through Columbia to I-95 near Florence, and I-77 (about 91 miles) runs north from Columbia toward Charlotte.

I-26, I-20 and I-77 at Columbia

Because Columbia sits where three interstates meet and I-95 runs through the middle of the state, a closure on one of them can ripple across a large part of the Southeast’s freight network. The 2015 flood showed how I-95 can be cut between I-26 and I-20, and hurricane evacuations can turn I-26 into a one-way route away from the coast.

What South Carolina shippers move

South Carolina’s freight is shaped by autos, tires, aerospace and chemicals. The state exported $38.5 billion of goods in 2025, led by $20.2 billion of transportation equipment, with chemicals at $4.2 billion, plastics and rubber products at $3.2 billion and machinery at $2.9 billion, according to the U.S. Trade Representative. Germany was the top export market at $5.2 billion, followed by Mexico and Canada. BMW Group says its Spartanburg County plant was again the largest automotive exporter by value in the United States in 2025. Boeing builds 787 Dreamliners in North Charleston, and Volvo Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans have plants in the Charleston area. Much of this moves in full truckloads, by rail or by ship, but the parts, tools, supplies and finished goods around these industries are where LTL fits.

South Carolina LTL freight: frequently asked questions

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