What is Drayage?

Drayage refers to the process of transporting goods over short distances. It includes the trucking of containerized cargo from one port to another or from a port to a railyard and is an essential part of intermodal shipping.

Since drayage is a short haul solution, typically involving a single shift of a trucker, it typically serves one metropolitan area, resulting in a faster and more efficient transport of goods.

What are the different types of Drayage?

- Inter-carrier Drayage: movement of units short distances between different carriers, like moving goods from a trucking terminal to a railyard.

- Intra-carrier Drayage: This 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 railyard.

- Door-to-door Drayage: Goods are delivered from the sender directly to the customer through roadways.

- Expedited Drayage: over-the-road transport of time-sensitive cargo or goods.

- 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.

- Pier Drayage: when a truck utilizes highways and roads to transport intermodal units to a dock or pier from a previous rail hub.