FreightWaves Classics: Drayage is first-mile logistics (Part 1)

Intermodal containers on railcars after drayage moves. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

While the drayage function has been around for thousands of years, its importance has grown significantly in the past 70 years, following the introduction of the shipping container by Malcom McLean and his Sea-Land Corporation.

Definition

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of drayage “is the work or cost of hauling by dray.” Also according to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the term “drayage” occurred in 1791.

Many other sources describe drayage in similar ways. Most agree that...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-drayage-is-first-mile-logistics-part-1

California truck weight exemption unlikely to ease ports logjam

California Gov. Gavin Newsom flanked by officials and longshoremen at the Port of Long Beach during a press conference.

The California Department of Transportation said Wednesday it will begin issuing temporary permits allowing trucks carrying heavier loads of up to 88,000 pounds for import loads on the state highway system, but the change is unlikely to produce intended reductions in huge container backlogs at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The increased truck weight limit will apply to the entire state highway system, including interstate routes, for moves between ports and distribution centers in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/california-truck-weight-exemption-unlikely-to-ease-ports-logjam

BookYourCargo platform uses carrier feedback to enhance drayage experience

When the drayage services provider BookYourCargo (BYC) was founded in 2015, its focus was to create a digital solution designed to optimize container management and provide customers visibility of their shipments once they had been picked up at the port of discharge.

While the company built its newly released Digital Drayage Platform, customized to the needs of its drayage shippers, CEO Nimesh Modi explained in an interview with FreightWaves that capacity constraints and struggles filling driver...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/bookyourcargo-platform-uses-carrier-feedback-to-enhance-drayage-experience

Congressional earmark aims to expand Port of Mobile container markets

The resurrection of earmarks in Congress after a 10-year absence could become a boon for the Port of Mobile and its intermodal partners.

A project submitted by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., under the new “Community Project Funding” rule approved by lawmakers earlier this year would create an intermodal transfer facility in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sewell’s $2 million funding request would be used to purchase land for the project, located just south of Montgomery adjacent to a CSX [NASDAQ: CSX] rail line...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/congressional-earmark-aims-to-expand-port-of-mobile-container-markets

NY ports tout $250,000/year driver pay in supporting under-21 CDLs

Truck drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 could be given the keys to a lucrative blue-collar career hauling ocean containers to and from terminals operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) if regulators lift commercial driver license (CDL) restrictions, according to the agency.

In comments filed this week with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in support of a pilot program allowing under-21 drivers to get an interstate CDL, PANYNJ Deputy Port...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/ny-ports-tout-250000year-driver-pay-in-supporting-under-21-cdls

How truckers can avoid a bad dray day

chassis pool

Pick a poorly maintained container chassis or the wrong one from a pool, and you are in for a bad dray day.

Stacked DCLI container chassis (Photo: DCLI)

American Shipper recently discussed this important topic for drayage truckers with Phil Wolfe, vice president of international sales for DCLI, the nation’s largest provider of intermodal chassis.  

Many draymen retrieve their chassis from bustling pools located next to large container ports. However, no two chassis are alike — they vary by...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-truckers-can-avoid-a-bad-dray-day

Container return date upheaval by the numbers

ocean container schedules

U.S. agriculture and forest product exporters are counting the ways and dollars it costs them when ocean carriers without warning change the dates for container arrivals at marine terminals.

The Washington-based Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) and supply chain technology firm TradeLanes recently reached out to hundreds of American shippers to survey the operational and financial impacts of earliest return date (ERD) fluctuations on their businesses.

The AgTC and TradeLanes have...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-return-date-upheaval-by-the-numbers

Industry groups ready responses to FMC’s ocean carrier pricing review

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission

Freight transportation industry and shipper groups say they are preparing detailed responses to the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) review of ocean carrier pricing practices.

The FMC, which announced the notice of inquiry on Wednesday, said it is seeking information from the container-shipping public on alleged attempts by ocean carriers to hold companies financially responsible for transportation services that they did not contract for and may not legally be required to pay.

The FMC said...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/industry-groups-ready-responses-to-fmcs-ocean-carrier-pricing-review

FMC examines ocean carrier billing practices

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said it is seeking information from the container-shipping public on alleged attempts by ocean carriers to hold companies financially responsible for transportation services that they did not contract for and may not legally be required to pay.

The FMC said it received comments for its earlier Docket No. 19-05, Interpretative Rule on Detention and Demurrage under the Shipping Act, from industry groups such as the Agriculture Transportation Coalition and...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/fmc-examines-ocean-carrier-billing-practices

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