Is Drayage Service the Best Option for You?

Is Drayage Service the Best Option for You?

December 5, 2019

Drayage is part of the cold chain logistics container shipping industry, where goods are shipped a short distance via ground freight. Cold chain logistics is a type of container shipping where the goods are kept at an agreed-upon temperature during the entire shipping process.

What is drayage service?

Drayage service in North Charleston, SC is the term used to refer to how a large container gets from truck to rail to car, or any combination thereof. This typically happens between ports, warehouses, rail terminals and harbors. If you’ve ever seen a cargo ship holding large shipping containers, you’ve seen a necessity for drayage; the containers must be loaded and offloaded at the beginning and end of the main journey.

Drayage takes place locally, and can usually be completed in one shift—for example, taking containers from a ship in port to a local rail terminal. This can make it part of “intermodal shipping,” which means shipping that uses a variety of transportation methods to reach its final destination.

Types of drayage service

Depending on your specific shipment, time requirements and other factors, different kinds of drayage service in North Charleston, SC may meet your needs:

  • Door-to-door: This is when cargo is shipped directly to a retail client.
  • Pier: If, for example, you needed containers moved from a railway to a cargo ship, you would use pier drayage.
  • Shuttle: This is a temporary stopping point, designed for when the original shipping hub is too overloaded to handle the shipment.
  • Intra-carrier and inter-carrier: Intra-carrier drayage takes the shipment to two different hubs owned by the same carrier, whereas inter-carrier handles shipments between two different carriers.
  • Expedited: Just as it sounds like, expedited drayage is transported faster than normal, and is designed for time-sensitive shipments.

Why you need drayage service

Drayage service isn’t just limited to industrial shipping and cargo—many vendors at trade shows or shopping malls find it to be a useful tool as well. Picture the last trade show you attended, and the elaborate booths or displays you saw. It’s rarely practical or feasible to transport that equipment yourself, especially if you’re traveling from out of town. Carriers can deliver the equipment to the convention center, where a drayage team can move it to the specific show location. At that point, exhibitors or hired teams can set it up for the show, break it down after it’s done and perform the reverse shipping process. The same idea applies to shopping malls with one point of delivery—a drayage team can make sure the shipments get to the right store.

If you need to transport large cargo locally, drayage service is the right choice for you.

Local drayage service in North Charleston, SC

All Points Transport is your convenient, reliable solution for local drayage freight in North Charleston, SC. Whether we’re keeping your shipment at our secure storage yard or taking a shipping container in North Charleston from the port to your warehousing facility, your goods will be safe with us. Contact us today to find out how we can serve you.

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