Estimated reading time: 4 minutes 25 seconds
What are drayage services?
Every industry you come across comes with its terms and jargon. These industry-specific words seem foreign and mysterious unless you’re in the industry.
Let’s break it down.
In the most basic term, drayage services are when you move a container carrying goods a short distance. Often transporting goods from one mode of transportation to another or their final destination.
Most often, drayage services transport your container from the port to the next leg of its journey.
Large cargo ships bring containers across the globe and into many different ports. The containers are stacked on top of each other and are removed from the vessel using gantry cranes.
They are moved to the port storage area, ready for pickup.
This is where drayage trucking companies pick up your containers and start the next part of transportation. The container drayage is picked up and handled per the customer’s request. This trip is usually a very short one.
Contrary to long hauls’ cross-country trips when transporting goods, the drayage trucking routes are relatively short. They are usually kept in a single location and transported within one to two hours.
The containers are moved to docking terminals for transloading, warehouses for storage, or trucking company-owned container yards for further storage.
While drayage transportation most often starts with port drayage, it doesn’t only move containers from the port. Drayage shipping includes moving containers from the port, railway stations, or intermodal terminals.
What does drayage include?
There are six types of drayage services:
Pier drayage:
Transporting shipping containers by truck from a yard or railway station to a shipping dock or pier.
Expedited drayage:
Moving goods that are extremely time sensitive.
Intra-carrier drayage:
Moving freight to two locations that the same company owns.
Inter-carrier drayage:
Transporting freight between two carriers.
Shuttle drayage:
Moving an intermodal unit ( a loading unit used in intermodal transport ) to a parking lot temporarily due to overcrowding.
Door-to-door drayage:
When the products are delivered directly to the customer.
Why is drayage transportation important?
Drayage shipments are the missing link in the transportation chain. That short connection allows container cargo to move forward, bringing products and goods one step closer to the customers.
Not only do port drayage services enable you to move containers from one intermodal transport location to another, but it’s also why companies can offer customers expedited shipping.
When your container is loaded into the port, drayage services which load your container onto special chassis, is how you can move containers without physically unloading the cargo. Imagine how long it would take to constantly empty and reload containers whenever you want to switch modes of transportation.
From cargo ships to container ports. From the ports to a container yard or terminal to transload it.
Without drayage trucking companies, freight transportation would take weeks or months instead of days.
The more you move goods, the more sales you make and the more money you make.
Drayage transportation is a pivotal aspect of any supply chain journey.
The distance may be short, but it’s the most important aspect of the container’s journey from the beginning to the end.
Where did drayage services originate from?
Drayage refers to a cart that was low down and pulled by a horse. This was used to move goods around the ports. The horse couldn’t carry such a heavy load long distance.
Eventually, we moved on from horses to trucks.
Over the years, our transportation has advanced. Nevertheless, the need to move cargo from ship to dock to warehouses, customers, and so on remains the same.
A lot has changed over the last decade, but the goals have always remained constant—efficiency, efficiency, and efficiency.
What’s the difference between intermodal shipping and drayage services?
Intermodal shipping and drayage trucking are closely connected but have two completely different services.
Intermodal shipping is when a container is moved using multiple modes of transportation. The container is driven using a truck, ocean, rail, and air. It doesn’t have to utilize every mode of transport, but if it utilizes more than one mode, it’s considered intermodal.
Drayage trucking is when you transport goods over a short distance. This short distance is often used to transport a container from one mode of transportation to another. Hence the confusion and relationship between intermodal shipping and drayage services.
Most intermodal transports include container drayage as well.
How long does drayage take?
Drayage carriers are the link between different modes of transport. The purpose of drayage is to move your container out of the port as swiftly as possible and bring it to its next destination. The actual drayage transportation takes about one to two hours.
You only get a limited amount of time where you can keep your container at the port free of charge. After that time, you’re charged a hefty storage fee. Drayage service companies will pick up your container and return it to the port in as little time as possible.
Accurate Transport will handle all container transportation needs. For over twenty years, customers have relied on our expertise. Every service offered considers every last detail. Contact us to benefit from our asset-based drayage services.
Intra-carrier drayage:
Moving freight to two different locations that the same company owns.Inter-carrier drayage:
Transporting freight between two carriers.
Shuttle drayage:
Moving an intermodal unit ( a loading unit used in intermodal transport ) to a parking lot temporarily due to overcrowding.
Door-to-door drayage:
When the products are delivered directly to the customer.
Why is drayage transportation important?
Drayage shipments are the missing link in the transportation chain. That short connection allows container cargo to move forward, bringing products and goods one step closer to the customers.
Not only do port drayage services enable you to move containers from one intermodal transport location to another, but it’s also why companies can offer customers expedited shipping.
When your container is loaded into the port, drayage services which load your container onto special chassis, is how you can move containers without physically unloading the cargo. Imagine how long it would take to constantly empty and reload containers whenever you want to switch modes of transportation.
From cargo ships to container ports. From the ports to a container yard or terminal to transload it.
Without drayage trucking companies, freight transportation would take weeks or months instead of days.
The more you move goods, the more sales you make, and the more money you make.
Drayage transportation is a pivotal aspect of any supply chain journey.
The distance may be short, but it’s the most important aspect of the container’s journey from the beginning to the end.
Where did drayage services originate from?
Drayage refers to a cart that was low down and pulled by a horse. This was used to move goods around the ports. The horse couldn’t carry such a heavy load long distance.
Eventually, we moved on from horses to trucks.
Over the years, our transportation has advanced. Nevertheless, the need to move cargo from ship to dock to warehouses, customers, and so on remains the same.
