Intermodal drayage routing and scheduling

Intermodal drayage refers to the local movement of intermodal freight transportation equipment (trailers and containers), both loaded and empty. Drayage service provides the for the vast majority of freight moving via the international intermodal freight chain. For example, a large international import shipper may receive loaded 40-foot ocean containers at its regional distribution center via drayage service from a local container seaport. Export shippers moving manufactured product overseas may request empty containers and then load them for delivery to the port for export. While ocean carriers may arrange these container transfers, they are executed by drayage trucking services. Transfer of international containers by drayage, however, is not limited to last-mile scenarios. Drayage trucking services are also used to transfer containers between seaports and nearby off-port rail intermodal yards for connection to and from inland customer facilities. In another scenario, drayage services are used to move international ocean containers to transshipment warehouses where containers may be unloaded and their contents repacked into domestic rail containers or truck trailers.