The legs a dray usually covers
An import dray usually begins once the container is released and available. The driver arrives with a chassis or collects one, pulls the loaded box through the terminal gate, and delivers it to the consignee. After unloading, the empty goes back to the terminal or to a depot the carrier names. Some jobs are cross-town moves between rail terminals, which are common in Chicago, where many rail lines meet.
- Import: terminal or ramp to the consignee, then the empty return
- Export: empty pickup, loading at the shipper, return before cut-off
- Cross-town: one rail terminal to another in the same metro
Milestones that bracket a dray move
Carrier tracking rarely follows the truck itself. It usually records the two ends: a gate-out when the loaded container leaves the terminal, and an empty return when it comes back. Some carriers add a delivery event when they arranged the truck. The span between those two gate events is usually what detention free time counts against, so a long gap deserves a call to the trucker. CargoScope shows those carrier milestones on the saved shipment when the carrier reports them.
Before the driver can pull the box
A dray can only start when several things line up: carrier release, customs release, terminal availability, an appointment where the terminal requires one, and a chassis. If one is missing, pickup can slip past the last free day. Dispatchers sometimes pre-pull a container to their own yard when appointment slots are tight, or street-turn an empty to a nearby exporter instead of returning it. Each choice shifts costs between parties, so confirm the rules with the carrier and terminal first.
Example
A dispatcher in Long Beach sends a driver to pull CMAU7029150 from the marine terminal, deliver it to a warehouse in Ontario, California, and return the empty two days later.
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Questions
What does Drayage mean?
Drayage is the short-distance truck move of a shipping container, such as from a port terminal or rail ramp to a nearby warehouse, and the trip that returns the empty afterward. It connects the ocean or rail leg to the shipper or consignee.
Is drayage the same as trucking?
Drayage is a kind of trucking focused on short container moves that start or end at a port, rail ramp or depot. Long-distance hauling of the cargo after it leaves the container is usually just called trucking.
Who pays for drayage?
That follows the haulage terms on the booking. Under carrier haulage the ocean carrier arranges and bills the truck move; under merchant haulage the importer, exporter or forwarder hires and pays the trucker directly.