Drayage is the transportation of products in a container hauled by truck in the shipping and logistics industry. It is one major part of an overall larger journey for imported, exported, or railed container shipments, such as to and from a warehouse, coming from a vessel ship in an ocean port, and a rail intermodal terminal.
A drayage load can have different connotations. Therefore, there tends to be confusion among carriers on how to classify it. Some equate “drayage” with port shipments, which isn’t always the case. While all drayage loads tend to originate at a port of entry, there can be several legs of a drayage load (port, yard, warehouse, rail) before the container arrives at its final destination.
In the shipment process, drayage is a necessary trucking service that keeps everything moving towards its final inland destination from an ocean port or rail terminal sometimes known as an intermodal terminal.
Why is drayage important?
Drayage plays a vital role in transporting cargo. It creates a bridge for the final miles of import, export and shipments by rail. While drayage may seem like a small step of the process, it’s an integral part of the logistics industry and vital to the overall supply chain management process. In other words, using a drayage trucking company sets the tone for the entire journey from ship to shelf. Without a drayage trucking company movements of shipments from any terminals are nearly impossible.
Drayage Classifications
Inter-carrier Drayage involves the movement of goods short distances between different carriers. One example is the short hauls between trucks and the railway system.
Intra-carrier Drayage involves taking freight to two different locations owned by the same carrier. In this case, cargo can be transported from an intermodal hub to a rail station.
Door-to-door Drayage: Goods are delivered from the sender directly to the customer through roadways.
Pier Drayage: when a truck utilizes highways and roads to transport intermodal units to a dock or pier from a previous rail hub.
Expedited Drayage: Freight containers are transported quickly. This best applies to time-sensitive shipments.
Shuttle Drayage: when an intermodal unit is temporarily taken to a parking lot due to overcrowding at the origin hub. This happens for both empty and loaded units.
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