Most drayage containers are 6-8-feet in height and come in 10-, 20-, or 40-foot lengths depending on what you’re shipping. What are the different drayage container types? Drayage drivers keep these good moving when shippers are using multiple methods (intermodal) to ship their freight. Intermodal drayage helps fill in the gaps for moving freight between ports, harbors, warehouses, and rail terminals. Without a drayage trucker, goods would sit in ports, rail shipments would stay on trains, and the entire freight transportation system would shut down. In most cases, drayage trucking moves goods within the same general metropolitan area. Other cargo deliveries might go a few miles down the road. Some drayage trucker deliveries can be short distances as little as 100 feet to an intermodal terminal or even another truck. Containers typically stay in the same region and deliveries are almost always completed within a single shift. According to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), there are more than 60 million drayage loads hauled annually.ĭrayage trucking is different from regional or national shipping. Today, trucks have replaced horses and the term has evolved.ĭrayage plays a critical role in moving containers from intermodal hubs, such as shipping ports, harbors, rail terminals, trucking terminals, and in and out of warehouses. Long ago, dray horses were used to haul heavy loads of freight. The term drayage comes from the word dray, a cart drawn by horses.

You see drayage loads commonly in intermodal shipping, such as moving large containers from a ship to rail for delivery.

What is drayage trucking?ĭrayage trucking involves shipping goods a short distance using ground freight. So, what does drayage mean in trucking and why is it important? We’ve got the answers.

That’s just one example of drayage trucking. Containers might be headed to a warehouse or rail yard where they will be loaded onto a train to continue their journey. Once freight reaches the port, drayage truckers pick up the containers to take them to their next destination. Much of that cargo travels inside large metal containers that deliver some $14 trillion worth of goods to the U.S. About 90% of the world’s goods are transported by sea.

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