What is drayage? A plain guide for GTA importers

Drayage in one sentence

Drayage is the short truck move that takes a shipping container between a rail terminal or port and a warehouse. It is the first or last leg of an international shipment, and for most GTA importers it is the only part of the trip that happens on local roads.

You will also hear it called container trucking, container cartage, container haulage or intermodal trucking. They all describe the same job: a tractor, a chassis and a container moving between the terminal and your dock.

Why GTA containers arrive by train

Most ocean containers bound for the Toronto area don't arrive by ship. They are unloaded at coastal ports such as Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal or Halifax, put on a train, and carried inland to a rail terminal. In the GTA that usually means CN's Brampton Intermodal Terminal or CPKC's Vaughan Intermodal Terminal.

When the train arrives and the container is available, a drayage carrier books a terminal appointment, pulls the container on a chassis and delivers it to your receiving door.

Import and export moves

An import move brings a loaded container from the terminal to your dock, then returns the empty to the depot the shipping line assigns. An export move works the other way: an empty is brought to your site, you load it, and the sealed container goes back to the terminal before the rail or vessel cut-off.

• Import: terminal pickup, delivery, unload, empty returned
• Export: empty picked up, delivered, loaded, sealed, delivered to the ramp
• Both: gate receipts and a signed proof of delivery as the paper trail

How you take delivery

How the container is delivered changes the price as much as the distance does. A live unload is cheapest when your dock is ready, because the truck waits and leaves with the empty. A drop and pick leaves the container on a chassis so you can unload on your own schedule; you pay chassis days instead of waiting time. If your dock isn't ready at all, the container can be pre-pulled to a yard and held there until your delivery day.

What goes into a drayage price

A drayage quote normally starts with a base rate for the lane, from the terminal to your delivery zone. Charges that depend on the move, such as fuel, chassis days, waiting time, tri-axle or overweight equipment, pre-pull and yard storage, and terminal fees, should each appear on their own line so you can see what you are paying for.

The cheapest move is the one that avoids storage and per diem. That comes down to planning the pull around last free day and returning the empty inside free time.

What to send for a fast quote

Container number and size, the terminal, whether it is import or export, the delivery address with postal code, the cargo weight, and whether it is dangerous goods. With those details a dispatcher can check the release, choose the right chassis and give you a price and a pull date.