--- title: "What Is Drayage?" url: https://www.uncap.com/glossary/drayage author: "Denis Dyli" published: 2026-10-28 updated: 2026-10-28 summary: "Drayage is the trucking of rail or ocean freight to an intermediate or final destination, usually over a short distance, such as moving an import container from a marine terminal to a warehouse. The term also names the charge for that short-distance pickup or delivery." --- # What Is Drayage? > Drayage is the trucking of rail or ocean freight to an intermediate or final destination, usually over a short distance, such as moving an import container from a marine terminal to a warehouse. The term also names the charge for that short-distance pickup or delivery. **Drayage**: Drayage is the trucking of rail or ocean freight to an intermediate or final destination, usually over a short distance, such as moving an import container from a marine terminal to a warehouse. The term also names the charge for that short-distance pickup or delivery. ## How it works Drayage is the truck leg of an ocean or rail shipment: the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) freight glossary defines it as transporting rail or ocean freight by truck to an intermediate or final destination, typically a charge for pickup or delivery of goods moving short distances, for example from a marine terminal to a warehouse. For containers, the equipment matters. FHWA describes a container as a box typically ten to forty feet long, used mainly for ocean freight, which is loaded onto a truck chassis or a railroad flatcar for travel to and from ports. A chassis is a trailer-type device with wheels built to carry containers that are lifted on and off. **Where drayage sits in an import move** ### 1. Line haul, Ocean or rail leg Freight moves from the origin terminal to the destination terminal, usually over a long distance. ### 2. Terminal, Cargo available The container waits at the marine terminal until the cargo is available for retrieval. ### 3. Drayage, Truck move The container goes onto a truck chassis and travels a short distance, for example to a warehouse. ### 4. Return, Empty back The empty container goes back. Charges for using terminal space or containers are demurrage and detention. Two related charges come from the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), which regulates them for containerized cargo. Demurrage and detention cover any charges, including per diem, that ocean carriers, marine terminal operators or ocean transportation intermediaries assess for using marine terminal space or shipping containers, not including freight charges. The FMC treats them as financial incentives to keep freight moving, and says detention charged when empty containers cannot be returned is likely to be found unreasonable. ## Drayage vs. line haul FHWA defines line haul as the movement of freight over the road or rail from origin terminal to destination terminal, usually over long distances. Federal acquisition rules draw the same line when they define where line-haul transportation begins: as distinguished from switching, local drayage or other terminal service. In short, line haul is the long move between terminals and drayage is the local truck move to or from a terminal. ## Example A distributor imports a 40-foot container holding 1,200 cartons of tile. The drayage invoice from the port to its warehouse is an illustrative $600. Spread across the shipment, that is $600 / 1,200 = $0.50 per carton added to what the tile costs to land. If the container also sat at the terminal two extra days at an illustrative $150 a day, the terminal charge adds 2 x $150 = $300, or $0.25 more per carton. ## On Shopify Shopify's purchase orders record the commercial agreement with a supplier, and the linked inventory transfer tracks the physical movement of goods, shipments, receiving and cost adjustments. Shipping costs, customs duties and other fees often aren't known when you create the purchase order, so Shopify lets you add them as cost adjustments to individual shipments, with adjustment types such as Shipping amount or Customs duties. The cost summary on the transfer adds up the shipment adjustments, so you can compare the agreed cost on the purchase order with the actual cost to receive the goods. If a supplier ships in more than one container, you can receive each shipment individually as it arrives. ## How Uncap helps Uncap's [tile and stone page](/industry/tile-stone) notes that special order and import programs add a second clock, because the lot or the container a buyer wants may not be in the building yet. Showing incoming lots against their purchase orders, so a buyer can reserve from a shipment still on the water, is built during implementation. ## Related terms - Bill of lading - Accessorial charges - Freight forwarder - Landed cost - LTL freight ## Sources - FHWA: Freight Glossary - eCFR: 46 CFR 545.5, Demurrage and detention - eCFR: 48 CFR 47.303-3, F.o.b. origin, freight allowed ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the difference between trucking and drayage? Drayage is a specific kind of trucking: the short truck move of rail or ocean freight to an intermediate or final destination, such as a container from a marine terminal to a warehouse. Line-haul trucking moves freight between an origin terminal and a destination terminal, usually over long distances. ### What are drayage charges in shipping? A drayage charge is the price of the truck pickup or delivery of rail or ocean freight moving a short distance. It is separate from demurrage and detention, which the Federal Maritime Commission defines as charges for using marine terminal space or shipping containers, not including freight charges. ### What does port drayage mean? Port drayage is drayage to or from a port. The FHWA freight glossary's own example is trucking freight a short distance from a marine terminal to a warehouse, and containers travel to and from ports on truck chassis.