Drayage: short container moves around terminals

A brief journey with a long list of preconditions

Before a box can leave a terminal, the carrier must have released it, the terminal must have discharged and positioned it, any hold must be lifted, a gate appointment must exist, and a road unit with a suitable chassis must be available at that moment. Miss any one and the visit is wasted. Return of the empty afterwards adds a second visit with its own set of conditions, often at a different depot.

What is lawful at sea may be unlawful on an axle

A container loaded to its maximum payload can exceed road axle limits once it sits on a chassis, because the mass concentrates over a small number of contact points. Sliding tandem chassis, tri-axle equipment and careful positioning redistribute weight, and where the cargo was stuffed unevenly there may be no legal configuration at all. Knowing the actual weight distribution before the box is collected avoids a vehicle being turned back at a weighbridge.

Gates, appointments and the two clocks

Terminals meter arrivals through appointment systems so the yard is not overwhelmed, which means capacity is rationed by slot rather than by queue. Two separate charging clocks then run: one for the loaded container occupying terminal ground beyond its free period, another for equipment that has left the terminal and not been returned. They are billed by different parties for different reasons, and confusing them leads to disputes that are really about which clock was running.

Empties, street turns and repositioning

Every import container becomes an empty that must go somewhere. Where an exporter nearby needs a box of the same type, a street turn moves it directly from the importer to the exporter without a depot visit, removing a depot leg from both parties' costs. Where import and export volumes are unbalanced, empties accumulate and have to be repositioned, which is unpaid movement that ultimately appears in rates.

Small delays with large downstream effects

A container that misses its collection window can miss a rail connection, a stuffing appointment or a vessel cut-off for the export leg. Because drayage sits between two scheduled systems, its failures propagate into both. Sites that book realistic appointments, unload promptly and return empties quickly protect capacity for themselves as much as for the haulier.

Frequently asked questions

Why can a container be legal on a ship but overweight on the road?

Ships care about total mass and stability, while roads regulate the load carried by each axle. Once the box sits on a chassis, its weight is concentrated at a few points, so a payload that was acceptable at sea can breach road limits.

What is a street turn?

Reusing an emptied import container directly for a nearby export, instead of returning it to a depot and collecting another. It removes two journeys and is worth arranging wherever the carrier and equipment type permit it.