By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 5, 2026
Delaware sells oversize and overweight hauling permits through DelDOT's online OSOW Permit System. A standard single-trip permit costs $30 and runs five days, sunrise to sunset; overweight moves add $10 for every 8,000 pounds over legal weight, and a superload (15 feet wide, 15 feet high, 120 feet long, or over 120,000 pounds) starts at $60. Delaware has no general annual or blanket permit for oversize freight: state law limits multi-trip permits to a short list of named uses.
Who issues what in Delaware
The permit pages
Delaware-specific requirements
Delaware issues no intrastate operating authority and no state carrier number to trucking companies; the authority question for property carriers is answered by federal registration plus state safety law (21 Del. C. ch. 47). One DMV unit, Motor Carrier Services in Dover, handles IRP, IFTA and UCR for Delaware-based carriers, while DelDOT's Hauling Permit Office sells oversize and overweight permits.
Two weight regimes, interstate and everything else
Off the interstate Delaware allows 22,400 lb on a single axle and 65,000 lb on a 3-axle truck, but on the interstate the limits fall to 20,000 lb single, 34,000 lb tandem and 54,000 lb for 3 axles with the bridge formula. A $1 single-trip interstate permit lets 3- and 4-axle trucks run their state-legal weights on the interstate.
No annual oversize permit for general freight
State law allows multi-trip hauling permits only for named uses (utility poles and piling, utility aerial vehicles, double-bottom route permits, and a blanket permit for self-propelled cranes), so most oversize freight moves on $30 five-day single-trip permits.
A Delaware base needs a real Delaware office
IRP and IFTA accounts require a Delaware physical address owned or leased by the business, proven by mail from two sources postmarked within 60 days, and at least one officer must hold a Delaware driver license. Virtual offices, shared offices and registered agents' addresses are refused.
Delaware title and Delaware inspection before plates
Every apportioned vehicle must be titled in Delaware and pass a Delaware DMV safety inspection that records unladen weight; a federal DOT inspection does not count. Dealer purchases carry a 5.25 percent document fee.
Intrastate drivers can start at 18
Delaware amends 49 CFR 391.11 so an intrastate commercial driver may be 18 with at least one year of driving experience, while interstate drivers must be 21.
Holiday blackouts start at noon the day before
Oversize and overweight loads may not move from noon the day before New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (and the day after) and Christmas until 9 a.m. the day after.
Farm produce and poultry trucks at 90,000 pounds
Five-axle live-haul poultry trucks traveling under 150 miles to the plant, and trucks hauling Delaware-grown fruits, vegetables or grain to processing, storage or an in-state export facility, may run at 90,000 pounds off the interstate if subject to MCSAP inspection and with axles at least 96 inches apart.
Hours of service adopted whole, with two Delaware carve-outs
Delaware adopts 49 CFR Part 395, ELD rule included, and changes it in only two places: the Director of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency may issue an emergency waiver of the 395.3(b) limits for energy supply deliveries such as heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas, and a utility driver restoring unexpected, unplanned or unscheduled utility service is exempt from Part 395 entirely. There is no separate intrastate hours schedule.
The Delaware permit system
- Apply or log in (DelDOT Oversize/Overweight (OSOW) Permit System (online account required))
- deldot.gov/osow/application/login
Who issues what
Size and weight belong to DelDOT. Its Hauling Permit Office runs the OSOW Permit System, which needs an online account, and permit services authorized by the state can buy permits for you.
Registration and fuel credentials belong to DMV Motor Carrier Services in Dover, which handles IRP trip permits, IFTA temporary permits and the temporary credentials for new fleets.
The permit types Delaware sells
For oversize and overweight loads: single-trip oversize, overweight, superload, manufactured housing and sealed container permits, plus a single-trip interstate permit for three- and four-axle trucks at their state-legal weight. Multi-trip permits exist only for uses the statute names, such as ship moves near the Port of Wilmington, poles and piling, self-propelled cranes and twin-trailer routes.
For registration: the IRP trip permit, the Temporary Operating Authority and the Hunter permit. The oversize and trip permit pages list each fee with its source.
When no permit is needed
A federally defined STAA vehicle at legal size needs no permit on Delaware's STAA network, which takes in the interstates and named stretches of US and state routes. Off that network the combination length limit is shorter, and a twin-trailer move needs a route permit.
Compare beyond Delaware
Running multi-state loads? The trucking permits by state table shows which permit families and issuing offices apply in every jurisdiction, the oversize permit costs by state table compares limits and fees across all 51 jurisdictions, and the permit cost estimator prices a specific load per state.