Heavy machinery transport in Portugal: hauliers, special permits, prices and shipping to Madeira and the Azores (2026)

In short: in Portugal a construction machine travels by road on a plant trailer or a low-bed semi-trailer and only needs a Special Traffic Authorisation (AET) from the IMT when the combination exceeds 2.55 m in width, 4 m in height or 16.5 m in length, or when the load projects more than 1 m beyond the front or rear of the deck. Above 3 m in width a pilot car is mandatory, and only above 4.5 m in width or 5 m in height does a GNR police escort come in. No Portuguese haulier publishes a price list: expect €600 to €1,500 to move a 7 to 15 t platform from Lisbon to Porto, and €2,000 to €6,000 to ship it to Madeira or the Azores, where there is no freight ferry and machines go in containers, on flat racks or on the deck of container ships, with 2 days at sea to Madeira and 3 to São Miguel and Terceira.

This guide explains how to choose and hire a heavy-machinery haulier, which licences and permits are needed, what it usually costs and how shipping to the islands works. Figures are from October 2026 and the legal rules are those of the Highway Code, Decree-Law 132/2017 and the Special Traffic Authorisation Regulation. It is not legal advice: always confirm with the haulier and the regional IMT office.

Which vehicle carries your machine

The first question any haulier asks is "how much does it weigh and how big is it". That decides the vehicle, and the vehicle decides the price and the paperwork. These are the four types you will find in Portugal:

Do the height sum before asking for a quote. A JLG 450AJ articulating boom is about 2.1 m high when stowed: on a 0.9 m low-loader it stands at 3.0 m, well inside the 4 m limit. A 60 ft telescopic boom at 2.6 m comes to 3.5 m. A 20 t excavator with a 3.16 m transport height, however, reaches 4.02 to 4.06 m on a normal low-loader and now needs an annual authorisation; on a 0.4 to 0.55 m drop deck it stays at 3.6 to 3.7 m and travels with no paperwork. That is why the same machine can cost twice as much to move depending on which trailer the haulier has free.

Weight matters too: a 21.6 t excavator on a 12 t three-axle low-loader pulled by an 8 t tractor comes to about 42 t, right at the 44 t limit for combinations with five or more axles.

When transport is "normal" and when it is "special"

Decree-Law 132/2017 (which replaced the old Decree-Law 133/2010 and was amended by Decree-Law 59/2023) sets the maximum weights and dimensions of any vehicle on the road. Inside these limits your machine is cargo like any other.

When the load is an indivisible object (the law defines it as something that "cannot be split without loss of its economic value or function", and a machine is the classic example) and the combination exceeds these limits, article 58 of the Highway Code requires a Special Traffic Authorisation. The regulation that spells it out is the RAET, approved by Ministerial Order 472/2007 and amended in 2009 and 2021.

Article 13 of the RAET contains an important tolerance: no AET is needed if the indivisible object, carried on an open body or flat deck, projects no more than 1 m at the front and/or rear and no more than 0.30 m on each side of the deck, as long as the height stays within 4 m. A boom that overhangs the trailer by half a metre therefore does not trigger an authorisation.

The Special Traffic Authorisation (AET)

It is issued by the IMT through the Regional Mobility and Transport Directorate for the applicant's head office (North, Centre, Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Alentejo or Algarve). The GNR and PSP police do not issue authorisations, they only escort; Infraestruturas de Portugal does not issue them either but must be notified. There are three types:

• Annual authorisation. For a specific vehicle or combination, loaded or empty, valid for up to one year. It covers indivisible objects that project beyond the deck or exceed 4 m in height, up to 25.25 m long, 4 m wide, 4.60 m high and 60 t. This is what machinery hauliers hold for their low-loaders, which is why in practice the customer rarely deals with any paperwork.
• Occasional authorisation. For a single move that exceeds the annual limits (over 4 m wide, over 60 t, axle weights above the regulation). It requires a 1:100 scale dimensioned drawing of the combination with its load, a route description with junctions and kilometre points and, before departure, a copy sent to Infraestruturas de Portugal.
• Short-term authorisation. Up to six months, for several identical moves on the same route, for instance when the same trip is made week after week to a site.

The application is made on IMT form Model 17 with annex 17A (route description, axle weights, loaded and empty itinerary and a declaration of responsibility for load securing). Each authorisation can cover up to 15 tractors and 15 trailers. The RAET sets no decision deadline and, as far as we could find, there is no dedicated online platform: hauliers file at the regional office and allow one to two weeks for occasional requests. The fee in the IMT fee table (Ministerial Order 1165/2010, item 6.1) is €75 per authorisation; it may have been updated by IMT board decision, so check. Re-routing an existing AET because of road closures is free, according to IMT information circulated by the hauliers' association ANTRAM in 2026.

Pilot cars and police escorts: from which dimensions

This is where the price of a special transport jumps, because every escort vehicle is billed per kilometre and per hour. The thresholds are in articles 17 and 19 of the RAET:

For almost all aerial work platforms and telehandlers, at 2.3 to 2.5 m wide, this means no pilot car. A 20 t excavator on 2.98 m tracks still escapes; with 3.0 to 3.2 m tracks it takes one. GNR outriders are reserved for cranes, generators and one-off industrial pieces.

If you do need them, the GNR charges the "paid services" of its fee table (Ministerial Order 298/2016, March 2024 values): €43.89 per officer per 4-hour block on weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm, €63.17 at night, at weekends and on holidays, plus €11.15 or €16.42 per extra hour, €2.36 in administrative costs per officer and €10.57 for the first 10 km of each vehicle and €0.79/km after that. We could not confirm that the GNR applies exactly this table to special-transport escorts, but it is the public reference that exists.

When you cannot drive

Article 20 of the RAET bans vehicles under an AET from motorways, expressways, main and complementary routes, the Tagus bridges in Lisbon and their approaches and several stretches of national roads (EN 1 between Vila Franca and Gaia, EN 6, EN 10, EN 13, EN 14, EN 125 between Lagos and Vila Real de Santo António, among others):

• from 4 pm to 10 pm on Fridays and Sundays;
• from 4 pm to 10 pm on national holidays and their eves;
• from 8 am to noon and 4 pm to 10 pm on 24 December, 8 am to noon on 26 December and 8 am to 10 pm on Easter Monday.

The IMT authorisations themselves carry printed conditions worth knowing when the machine is going to the south bank or central Lisbon: on the 25 de Abril Bridge, loads over 3 m wide may only cross between midnight and 6 am, never on Saturdays or Sundays, and the operator Lusoponte must be warned one hour ahead; in the city of Lisbon, special transports may only move between midnight and 6 am; the Gardunha tunnel (A23) takes nothing over 4.5 m high or 3.7 m wide and the Marão tunnel (A4) nothing over 4.5 m high. The RAET imposes no general ban on night or fog driving, but requires marker lights on the load whenever lighting is compulsory.

Which licences the haulier must hold

Before asking for quotes, know what separates a licensed haulier from "a friend with a trailer":

• Operator licence or Community licence issued by the IMT (Decree-Law 257/2007, republished in 2009, and Regulation (EC) 1071/2009). It is mandatory for any hire-and-reward transport with vehicles of 2,500 kg gross weight or more, lasts five years and costs €350 to issue. The company needs a transport manager with a Certificate of Professional Competence, financial standing of €9,000 for the first vehicle and €5,000 for each additional heavy vehicle, and a licence per vehicle (€30 each). Operating without a licence carries a fine of €5,000 to €15,000 for a company, and the customer is liable if the move is done under someone else's licence.
• Driver with category C and C+E licences for articulated combinations, with code 95 (driver qualification certificate) on the licence under Decree-Law 126/2009 as republished by Decree-Law 102-C/2020, and a tachograph in order. ADR does not apply to machinery transport.
• Annual RAET authorisation for the low-loaders that need it (see above) and, ideally, its own pilot car.
• Goods-in-transit insurance, which many sell to the customer as an option. See why in the price section.

What if the construction or rental company itself moves its machines on its own trailer? That is own-account transport (article 2 of Decree-Law 257/2007) and needs no operator licence, provided the machines are its own or rented by it, the vehicle is owned, leased or hired without driver, the driver is its employee and transport is ancillary to the main business. It still needs an AET if it exceeds the limits, a qualified driver and load securing to the legal standard. If a third party with a truck carries the customer's machine, that third party needs the licence.

Securing and preparing the machine

Article 56 of the Highway Code requires "retaining straps or a similar device" for indivisible loads on open platforms, and Decree-Law 144/2017 (transposing Directive 2014/47/EU) requires the lashing to withstand 0.8 times the load weight forwards and 0.5 times sideways and backwards, calculated to EN 12195-1, with straps and chains to EN 12195-2 and 12195-3. Breaching the load arrangement rules carries a fine of €120 to €600, exceeding weights or dimensions without authorisation €600 to €3,000, and driving outside the AET conditions €120 to €3,000, with possible immobilisation in every case. On the IMT forms, lashing is the responsibility of the vehicle owner, that is, the haulier. But the machine has to arrive ready:

• Boom stowed and basket down, with the transport height and weight from the manual at hand for the driver; the platform should go with the parking brake on and the key out of the ignition.
• Diesel tank as empty as possible and leak-free; battery isolated or disconnected on electric machines, especially if they will be shipped afterwards.
• The manufacturer's tie-down points clean and visible, at least four, with crossed chains and chocks in front of and behind every wheel or track.
• Steel tracks on a steel deck need rubber or another anti-slip layer; tracks that will roll onto asphalt at the destination mark it, so arrange mats or an unpaved unloading spot.
• Someone at the destination with authority to receive the machine and, if the truck has no ramps, a crane or forklift able to unload it. Waiting hours are billed.
• Re-tighten the lashings after the first kilometres, as every transport manual recommends.

What it costs to move a machine in Portugal

The honest answer: no Portuguese haulier publishes a price list. All 17 companies we checked work on quotation, because the price depends on the trailer, the distance, whether there is a return load, loading and unloading hours and escorts. What exists are indirect references, useful to judge whether a quote is reasonable:

Applying these references to the most common trip, Lisbon–Porto (about 315 km) with a 7 to 15 t platform on a three-axle low-loader: a freight-exchange load with a return cargo comes to €200 to €700; a dedicated truck that goes and comes back empty, billed per day and per kilometre as in Madrid, approaches €1,600 to €1,750. Portuguese quotes usually fall between the two, at €600 to €1,500. Within the same metropolitan area, an electric scissor on a truck with ramps runs €100 to €250 per leg, which matches the transport fee charged by rental companies (see the guide on how much it costs to rent an aerial work platform). A special transport with a pilot car, an occasional authorisation and night-time hours can exceed €3,000 on a 300 km trip.

Three things inflate a quote more than the kilometres: hours standing idle waiting for a crane or ramp at the destination, requests with less than 48 hours' notice, and the May to July season, when every low-loader is on a site. Always ask the quote to state the loading and unloading time included and the price of an extra hour.

Insurance is your problem, not the haulier's

In domestic transport the carrier's liability for loss or damage is capped by Decree-Law 239/2003 at €10 per kilogram of gross weight, unless a value is declared with a price supplement or there is wilful misconduct. In international transport the CMR Convention caps it at 8.33 special drawing rights per kilo, about €9.97/kg at the September 2026 rate. A 1.5 t scissor is thus covered up to €15,000 and a 7 t articulating boom up to €70,000, which may be enough; but a 10 t telescopic boom worth €150,000 is only covered up to €100,000, and a new, light machine is always exposed. The answer is goods-in-transit insurance, which some hauliers sell as an extra and your fleet insurer also writes. The guide on insurance for construction machinery and equipment explains the differences between the policies.

Heavy machinery hauliers in Portugal

This list is neither exhaustive nor a recommendation by Trapézio de Prismas; these are companies that, in October 2026, advertise plant trailers, low-loaders or special transport on their websites, grouped by head-office region. Always get two or three quotes and check the operator licence on the IMT portal.

North

• Transmaia (Trofa, with bases in Maia, Castanheira do Ribatejo, Albergaria-a-Velha and Benavente): special transport with low-loaders up to 50 t and extendable to 26 m, 25 t winch, optional cargo insurance. transmaia.pt
• Transportes Ribeiro & Dourado (Barcelos): plant trailer and container service, industrial relocations, since 1993. transportesribeiroedourado.pt
• Transdefiro (Guimarães): low-loader with ramps and winch for machines and vehicles, 24 hours, domestic and international. transdefiro.pt
• Transportadora Central de Valongo (Valongo): plant trailers and special transport since 1994. tcvalongo.com
• Torrestir (Braga, 17 branches including the Azores and Madeira): general logistics group with a special transport line. torrestir.com

Centre

• Transportes Batata (Aveiro district): general and special cargo, oversized objects across mainland Portugal, crane trucks up to 18 t and plant trailers. transportesbatata.com
• Targa Transportes (Santarém district): 4-axle drop-deck plant trailer of 15.5 m and 70 t gross, 4-axle flat deck of 77 t, 6×4 tractors and its own pilot car. targatransportes.com
• Transgrua (Alcochete, with bases in Leça do Balio, Pombal, Sines and Quarteira): crane and platform rental company that also sells machinery transport with ramp trucks, crane trucks and low-loaders. transgrua.com

Lisbon and Tagus Valley

• LASO Transportes (Milharado, Mafra, with centres in Matosinhos, Aveiro and Albufeira): Portugal's largest special transport and heavy lift operator, with plant trailers, dollies, 15 semi low-loaders extendable to 21.1 m and about 20 pilot cars. Website: laso.pt.
• Ruben Ramos Transportes Especiais (Casal de Cambra, Sintra): plant trailers, semi-trailers extendable to 40 m, pilot cars, crane trucks and mobile cranes. rubenramostransportes.pt

Alentejo and Algarve

• Transportes Manuel Silvério (Portel, Évora): 32 vehicles, plant trailers of 9 to 13.6 m, extendable to 20 m, 4 axles up to 80 t, extendable drop deck of 21.5 m at 40 cm from the ground, rigid 3-axle truck up to 11 t with ramp and winch, pilot car. transmsilverio.com
• Gonçalves & Duarte (Portimão and Beja): special transport of machines, combine harvesters and precast elements, 12 m platforms with 25 t payload. goncalveseduarte.pt
• Albumov (Silves): about 35 vehicles, ramp and flatbed trucks, semi-trailers with ramps and extendable decks, loads up to 22 t, 17.5 m and 4 m wide. albumov.pt

Rental companies with delivery and freight exchanges

Platform rental companies deliver their own machines to site for a transport fee, but under the general conditions of Equipa de Aluguer and Akiloc, transport, loading and unloading are at the hirer's expense unless agreed otherwise. For your own machines, the alternative to hauliers is a freight exchange such as Clicktrans.pt, where you post the load and receive two or three offers within 24 hours, usually from trucks already doing the route; it is cheaper, but check the licence and insurance of whoever bids. Large groups such as Transportes Paulo Duarte, TJA or Transportes Pascoal do not run plant trailers.

Shipping a machine to Madeira or the Azores

Here the logic changes: there has been no freight ferry between the mainland and the islands since 2019, when the seasonal Portimão–Funchal link was suspended. All cargo goes on geared container ships of three operators: GS Lines (Grupo Sousa, which merged Empresa de Navegação Madeirense and Box Lines), Transinsular (ETE group) and Mutualista Açoreana (Bensaude group), which share space among themselves. None publishes tariffs; you work with a quote from the agent at the port of origin or through a freight forwarder.

Sea time is misleading. The island cabotage law (Decree-Law 7/2006) requires cargo to be dispatched within 7 working days from origin to destination, and outside the peak season a door-to-door move takes 5 to 10 days to Madeira and 7 to 15 to São Miguel and Terceira. But in June 2024 the wait for deck cargo in Lisbon reached a month and in Leixões two weeks, because the three ships on the Madeira line were sailing full. Book two weeks ahead in winter and a month ahead between May and July.

How the machine travels on board

• Inside a 40 ft HC container (door 2.34 m wide and 2.58 m high, payload 28.6 t): electric scissors, vertical masts, mini excavators and forklifts. Several 19 ft scissors fit in one container and share the freight.
• Open top (tarpaulin roof, same door dimensions): machines that fit the width but exceed 2.58 m in height, loaded from above by crane.
• 40 ft flat rack (11.7 m long platform, about 2.3 m usable width, 40 t or more payload, 4 t lashing rings): articulating and telescopic booms 2.3 to 2.5 m wide, telehandlers, excavators up to 20 t. Anything beyond container dimensions is OOG ("out of gauge") cargo, subject to pre-acceptance and, at Transinsular, a surcharge of 20 % of the base freight for each side that exceeds.
• Conventional deck cargo: machines and heavy pieces lifted by the ship's own cranes (40 t on the Açor B and Rebecca S). This is the option for large excavators, cranes and anything that does not fit on a flat rack. GS Lines explicitly advertises "machines and heavy pieces on deck" and project cargo such as crushers, concrete plants and generators.

Vehicles up to 2,500 kg travel as "vehicles" at a fixed price and at the owner's risk, uninsured; above that they are conventional cargo quoted case by case. In the Azores most commercial ports have no shore equipment, which explains why only geared ships operate and why the price per island varies.

What shipping costs

On top of the sea freight come the low-loader to the Santa Apolónia terminal in Lisbon or to Leixões (the road price table above), the low-loader on the island and, in Madeira, port handling at Caniçal by Grupo Sousa's OPM at unpublished prices. In Madeira the port charge on cargo was abolished in 2019; in the Azores it exists and is in the tariff.

Paperwork, VAT and preparing for the sea

• No customs. Madeira and the Azores are inside the EU customs and VAT territory; there is no customs declaration or fumigation for a shipment within Portugal.
• Transport document required. The goods-in-circulation regime (Decree-Law 147/2003) requires a transport or dispatch note, communicated to the Tax Authority before the machine leaves, even when it is only a transfer of your own equipment to a site on the island. In a binding ruling of June 2025 the Tax Authority clarified that, with a forwarder, the seller issues the document to the forwarder's premises and the next leg is the responsibility of whoever controls it.
• VAT. A machine sold from the mainland to a customer in Madeira or the Azores pays VAT at the rate of the place where transport begins, that is 23 %, not Madeira's 22 % or the Azores' 16 % (article 6 of the VAT Code). The transport service between the mainland and the islands is VAT-exempt under article 14(1)(t), so the shipping line's or forwarder's invoice comes without tax.
• Machine documents. Shipping lines ask for the registration document (livrete or Documento Único Automóvel) for registered vehicles and the invoice or dispatch note for unregistered machines. There is no inspection or re-registration on arrival in the islands.
• Fuel and batteries. Under the IMDG Code, a diesel machine travels outside dangerous-goods rules if it has no leaks, the tank does not exceed 450 litres and the battery is protected against short circuit; petrol engines must be drained. Machines with lithium batteries are class 9 cargo (UN 3556) and need a declaration. GS Lines asks for "as little fuel as possible" and nothing loose inside the machine.
• Insurance. The shipping lines state that cargo "travels on deck at the owner's risk". Goods-in-transit insurance on ICC (A) terms typically costs 0.2 % to 0.5 % of the machine's value for robust equipment, and up to 1 % for all-risks cover on delicate machines.

On the islands, the road leg follows the same rules as the mainland: the RAET applies throughout national territory and the regional governments of Madeira and the Azores have their own powers over their roads. In Madeira, LASO has already moved a generator from Funchal to Paul da Serra, and to Porto Santo the Lobo Marinho ferry carries heavy vehicles within legal weights, with loading and unloading at the customer's expense.

Checklist for requesting a quote

The more complete the request, the faster and cheaper the quote. Send the haulier or forwarder:

1. Make and model of the machine and the transport dimensions from the manual: length, width and stowed height, and transport weight with attachments.
2. Whether it is self-propelled, starts and drives, or needs a winch or crane to get onto the truck.
3. Exact loading and unloading addresses, with the type of ground, manoeuvring space and who will receive it.
4. Loading and unloading means at each end: truck ramps, crane, forklift or nothing.
5. Preferred dates and flexibility (a day's leeway can mean a return load and a lower price).
6. The machine's value for insurance purposes and whether you want goods-in-transit cover.
7. For the islands: destination port, whether transhipment is acceptable and whether the machine can go in a container, on a flat rack or on deck.

If you are buying the machine, ask the seller for a "delivered to site" price; Trapézio de Prismas delivers new and used JLG platforms anywhere in the country and arranges shipping to the islands through its forwarders. See also the checklist for buying a used platform, where transport is usually the forgotten cost.