Drayage
Understand drayage in shipping and logistics, including its crucial role in supply chain management and how it impacts container transportation costs.
Sarah Dotson
What is Drayage?
Drayage is the transport of goods over a short distance, typically as part of a longer overall move, most commonly associated with container shipping and intermodal freight transport. This specialized logistics service involves moving cargo from ports or rail terminals to nearby destinations such as warehouses, distribution centers, or other transportation hubs.
Common Types of Drayage Services
Drayage operations vary based on specific transportation needs and logistics requirements:
- Inter-carrier drayage: Moving cargo between different carriers
- Intra-carrier drayage: Repositioning cargo within a single carrier's network
- Pier drayage: Transportation from port to storage facility
- Shuttle drayage: Moving containers between storage facilities
The Drayage Process
Drayage typically begins when a container arrives at a port or terminal. The process includes coordinating with customs, arranging proper documentation, and ensuring timely pickup and delivery. Efficient drayage management is crucial for preventing delays and additional storage fees.
Impact on Supply Chain Management
Drayage plays a vital role in supply chain efficiency by bridging critical gaps in the transportation network. Despite covering relatively short distances, it significantly impacts overall logistics costs and delivery timelines. Modern drayage providers often integrate technology solutions to optimize routes and improve tracking capabilities.
Drayage Industry Trends
The drayage sector continues to evolve with technological advancements and changing supply chain needs. Key developments include:
- Implementation of real-time tracking systems
- Integration with port management systems
- Focus on sustainability and emissions reduction
- Adoption of automated scheduling platforms
Automate the work you thought would always be manual.
Request a demo of Parabola's AI-powered workflow builder.
Request a demoParabola FAQ
What is Parabola?
Parabola is an AI-powered workflow builder that makes it easy to organize and transform messy data from anywhere—even PDFs, emails, and spreadsheets—so your team can finally tackle the projects that used to feel impossible.
What does Parabola help with?
With Parabola, you can automate any process across spreadsheets, emails, PDFs, & siloed systems. Whether it’s reconciling data across systems or generating the same report every week, Parabola gives teams the power to automate it—all without IT support.
What does Parabola integrate with?
Parabola integrates with virtually any system. In addition to 50+ native integrations like NetSuite & Shopify, Parabola offers an API & the ability to integrate via email. Connect to thousands of tools—and work with unstructured data like emails and PDFs.
What are common Parabola use cases?
The best Parabola use cases are recurring processes that involve complex logic and messy data coming from multiple data sources. In practice, this could look like auditing invoice PDFs, generating recurring reports, or alerting the team of discrepancies.
Who are some of Parabola’s customers?
Teams at Brooklinen, On Running, Flexport, Vuori, and hundreds more use Parabola to automate the work they thought would always be manual. Explore more on our customer stories page.
How do I get started with Parabola?
The best way to get started is to sign up for a free account at parabola.io/signup. Our customers range from individuals to massive enterprises—so whether you'd like to start self-serve or with a guided product tour from an expert, we'll help you find the right package for your team.