INTERMODAL DRAYAGE

The truck leg is where rail freight is won or lost

Intermodal drayage is the short move that connects a rail container to everything else — ramp to warehouse, port to ramp, ramp to door. It looks like the smallest part of the journey, and it decides most of the cost: intermodal ramps charge storage the way ports charge demurrage, and a container that misses its cut-off waits for the next train, not the next hour.

Our answer is the same one we give for ocean freight: put the truck and the warehouse under one roof. The box grounds at the ramp, our driver pulls it, and the same building that booked the pull receives the freight. Nobody waits on a second vendor, and the free days stay free.

What a rail served warehouse changes

A rail served warehouse is one sitting close enough to the ramps that the dray takes minutes. Ours is in the Kent Valley — inside the corridor that connects the BNSF and UP ramps with the Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma. In practice that means:

• Same-day ramp-to-dock — a container that grounds in the morning is on a door in the afternoon, schedule permitting.
• One clock-watcher — free days at the ramp tracked by the same team that runs the dock, so storage charges do not sneak up between vendors.
• Rail and ocean on one lane — import boxes off the terminals and rail boxes off the ramps arrive at the same building; see port drayage.
• Everything after the dray in-house — transloading, warehouse storage, pick and pack and outbound FTL/LTL.

Rail inland, or transload here — we run both numbers

Not every container should ride the rail. When the destination is regional, transloading beats short-haul intermodal more often than not: three 40-foot containers hold about 57 pallets, and two 53-foot trailers hold 60 — one fewer linehaul, one fewer chassis, one fewer clock. Check your own load with the pallet & container calculator, and what a stuck box costs with the demurrage calculator.

When freight genuinely belongs on the rail — deep inland, heavy, unhurried — we run the intermodal drayage legs on both ends of the train and hand you one accountable point of contact instead of three.

Intermodal drayage questions

What is intermodal drayage?

The short truck move that connects a rail container to everything else: ramp to warehouse, port to ramp, ramp to door. The container itself never gets unpacked between modes - only the wheels under it change. It is the leg where rail shipments are won or lost, because ramps charge storage the way ports charge demurrage.

What is the difference between rail drayage and port drayage?

Same job, different gate. Port drayage pulls containers from ocean terminals; rail drayage pulls them from intermodal ramps. The clocks differ - terminals charge demurrage, ramps charge rail storage - and both start the moment free time ends.

What does a rail served warehouse mean for my freight?

It means the warehouse sits close enough to the ramps that the dray is minutes, not hours - so a container grounds, gets pulled and is on a dock door the same day. Our Kent facility works the ramps and both ports from one location, and the receiving crew is the same one that books the pull.

Can you transload instead of sending the box inland by rail?

Yes, and for regional destinations it is often cheaper: three 40-foot containers hold about 57 pallets, two 53-foot trailers hold 60. We run both numbers for your lane - work it out yourself with our pallet calculator, or send us the details.