What is drayage in shipping?

The US Federal Highway Administration defines drayage as transporting rail or ocean freight by truck to an intermediate or final destination, typically for goods moving short distances, such as from a marine terminal to a warehouse. Maersk describes it as the inland legs at each end: from the supplier to the port of loading, and from the port of discharge to where the container is unpacked.

• Collecting the full container from the terminal once customs and the line have released it.
• Delivering it to the warehouse, where it is unloaded, or to a transload site.
• Returning the empty container to the terminal or a depot the line names.

• Waiting time at the terminal or the warehouse beyond the free hours.
• Chassis rental, the trailer frame the container rides on.
• Storage at the trucker’s yard when the warehouse cannot take the container yet.
• Demurrage and detention from the line when the container stays out too long. See demurrage vs detention.

A container for an Amazon fulfilment centre needs a delivery appointment booked through Amazon’s Carrier Central before the truck arrives, and many sellers transload near the port instead of trucking the container to the centre. See Amazon FBA pallet requirements.

A door-to-door bid includes the drayage at destination in its destination line, so carriers price the whole move and you compare like with like. See how it works.