Guide · June 22, 2026
The short, busy leg that nobody outside logistics has heard of — and that quietly decides whether your import shows up clean or with a demurrage bill attached.
Drayage is the short-distance transport of a shipping container — usually from a port or rail terminal to a nearby warehouse, and the empty container back again. The word comes from "dray," a horse-drawn cart once used to haul goods a short way around a harbor. The distance is short, but it's one of the most time-sensitive moves in the whole supply chain: get it wrong and storage charges start stacking up by the day.
Here's the real sequence behind "we'll pull your container":
Every one of those steps is a place a day can get lost. Tracking the LFD on each box is the single most important thing a drayage carrier does — it's why we watch it on every container and alert before, not after, the deadline. (Curious about the surprise line items? See our guide on the chassis split fee.)
The Intermodal Association of North America defines several official categories. In day-to-day freight, these are the ones that matter:
A drayage rate isn't one number — it's the linehaul (the miles), plus the chassis (you're renting the wheels the container rides on), plus a fuel surcharge, plus any accessorials: prepull, yard storage, congestion, or a chassis split. The avoidable charges — demurrage, per-diem, detention — are the ones a good carrier keeps off your invoice by managing the clock. That's the difference between a cheap quote and a low total cost.
Anyone importing or exporting through an ocean or rail terminal: retailers, manufacturers, e-commerce sellers, freight forwarders and NVOCCs who've handled the ocean leg and need the inland move. Many of them never touch the container themselves — they hand the final leg to an asset-based carrier who owns the trucks and chassis. Because we also run transloading and warehousing in Kent, the box can go from terminal to stored-and-sorted without a second handoff.
Drayage is the short-distance trucking of a shipping container, typically between a port or rail terminal and a nearby warehouse or door, including returning the empty container.
All drayage is trucking, but not all trucking is drayage. Drayage specifically means the short, terminal-anchored container move governed by appointments, chassis and free-time deadlines — distinct from long-haul over-the-road freight.
The miles are short but the move carries chassis rental, fuel, terminal appointments and the risk of demurrage and per-diem. Much of the "expensive" part is avoidable accessorials that a carrier managing the free-time clock keeps off your bill.
The Last Free Day (LFD) is the deadline to remove your container from the terminal before demurrage charges begin. Missing it is one of the most common — and most preventable — drayage costs.
The common types are port, intermodal, door-to-door, shuttle and expedited drayage. Most PNW imports involve port and door-to-door drayage off the Seattle and Tacoma terminals.