Sprinter Van.
Small Loads, Moving Now.

A standard cargo van holds two to three standard 40 by 48 inch pallets, and a Mercedes Sprinter 170 inch extended high roof holds up to four to six, loaded single file. Pallet count is governed by the cargo floor length and the roughly 52 to 56 inches between the wheel wells, not by raw cube. A 40 by 48 pallet has to load with its 40 inch face forward; you cannot turn pallets sideways or run two side by side in a van, so the wheel-well width is the real limit.

Plan on about 2,500 pounds of usable payload for a cargo van and up to roughly 3,500 to 4,000 pounds for a 3500-class high roof. Brochures advertise a higher rated payload, often 4,300 to 4,800 pounds, but that is before shelving, the upfit, the driver, and fuel. The usable expedite figure is what actually ships, so that is the number we quote. Over about 4,000 pounds, the load steps up to a hotshot or box truck.

A Sprinter 170 inch extended high roof gives about 15.7 feet of cargo floor, roughly 52 to 56 inches between the wheel wells, about 77 to 79 inches of stand-up interior height, and up to around 533 cubic feet of space. A standard cargo van is closer to 320 to 370 cubic feet, a Ford Transit extended high roof about 425, and a ProMaster super high roof extended about 463. The 533 figure is the largest Sprinter specifically, so we size the van to your actual freight.

Almost always, on direct lanes. LTL freight moves through two to five terminals between pickup and delivery, and your shipment waits at each one, which is why standard LTL runs one to two days regional, two to four days mid range, and four to seven days cross country. A sprinter van drives your load straight from dock to dock, so the transit is just drive time plus a short dispatch lead. On a typical lane that is a savings of two to four days. The tradeoff is cost: LTL is cheaper when a day or two of flex is fine.

A sprinter van is an enclosed cargo van carrying up to about 2,500 pounds and six pallets, loaded at car height. A box truck, or 24 to 26 foot straight truck, carries roughly 10,000 to 12,000 pounds, holds seven to twelve pallets, has a taller box for stacked freight, and usually offers a liftgate and dock-height loading. If your load is over about 4,000 pounds, taller than around 79 inches, or needs a liftgate, a box truck is the move.

Use a sprinter van for a clean, enclosed, weather-protected load up to about 2,500 pounds and six pallets, the kind of urban, medical, aerospace, or electronics freight that has to stay dry. Use a hotshot when the load is heavier or bulkier, up to about 16,500 pounds on an open gooseneck deck, like oilfield, construction, or industrial freight. The simplest rule: enclosed and light is a sprinter, heavy and open deck is a hotshot.

Yes, on lanes up to roughly 450 miles, a single sprinter driver can pick up and deliver the same day, given an early pickup. Up to about 650 miles a solo driver can usually deliver next day, and beyond that two team drivers run nearly continuously to hold the next-day window on longer lanes. Past about 850 miles with a hard next-morning requirement, an air charter sometimes beats a single driver, and we will tell you when that is the case.

Expedited LTL means moving a small, palletized shipment, the same one to six pallets you would otherwise put on a standard LTL line, but on a dedicated sprinter van that drives it direct instead of routing it through the terminal network. You use it when the freight is too time critical, too fragile, or too high value to sit at terminals, but too small to justify a full truck. It is the core of what a sprinter van does: LTL-sized freight at dedicated-truck speed.

You do not need one. AFX Logistics is the broker that sources sprinter and cargo van capacity for you. Rather than posting your load to a board and waiting for a carrier to find it, we tap a vetted carrier network, run the driver through an FMCSA and identity check, and have a truck dispatched in about one to two hours. You get a quote and a tracked, exclusive-use van, not a listing.