When importers talk about freight cost, they usually mean ocean freight — the cost of moving a container from a port in Asia to a port in the United States. That cost is visible, it's quoted in advance, and it's included in most landed cost models.
What's often not included is drayage — the truck move that gets the container from the marine terminal to the warehouse. That move is shorter, but it's not cheap. And it comes with a set of surcharges that can add meaningfully to the base rate in ways that are predictable if you know to look for them.
What Drayage Actually Is
Drayage is the transportation of a shipping container between the port and the first inland point — usually a warehouse, a distribution center, or a rail ramp. The word comes from the historical use of low, flat carts called drays for port-area cargo movement. The economics have changed; the terminology hasn't.
A drayage move typically covers 10 to 100 miles. The cost is not proportional to distance in the way long-haul trucking is — drayage pricing is more influenced by port congestion, chassis availability, driver availability, and the specific terminal the container is being released from. A 15-mile move from the Port of Los Angeles to a warehouse in the San Fernando Valley can cost $800 to $1,500 depending on conditions. A comparable distance move from a different terminal on the same day might cost 30% more or less.
The Base Rate and What Gets Added to It
Drayage pricing starts with a base rate per container — typically quoted separately for 20-foot and 40-foot containers, with 40-foot high cube containers priced at or near the 40-foot rate. At major US ports, base rates for a standard drayage move range from $450 to $1,500 depending on the port, the destination, and market conditions.
Fuel surcharges are applied as a percentage of the base rate and fluctuate with diesel prices. Typical fuel surcharges range from 10% to 25% of the base rate. On a $900 base rate, a 20% fuel surcharge adds $180 to the move cost.
Chassis fees are charged when the drayage carrier provides the chassis — the trailer frame the container sits on. Port chassis pools have tightened over the years and chassis availability fees have become a standard drayage line item. Chassis fees are typically $20 to $50 per day and apply from the day the container is picked up until the chassis is returned to the pool.
Pier pass fees apply at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the nation's busiest import gateway — for containers moving through the terminal during peak hours. The Clean Truck Fund rate is assessed on most container moves at these ports and adds a fixed charge per container that is adjusted periodically.
Overweight surcharges apply when container weight exceeds state highway weight limits. Dense goods — metals, ceramics, glass, certain food products — frequently trigger overweight conditions. The surcharge covers the cost of routing the container on approved overweight corridors and obtaining the necessary permits.
Per-Unit Drayage Cost
Converting drayage from a per-container cost to a per-unit cost is straightforward: total drayage cost (including all surcharges) divided by the number of units in the container. For a 40-foot container with 2,000 units and a total drayage cost of $1,200, the per-unit drayage cost is $0.60.
For a 40-foot container with 10,000 units and the same $1,200 drayage cost, the per-unit cost is $0.12. The drayage cost per unit is inversely proportional to the density of the load — which means high-cube, low-unit-count products have meaningfully higher per-unit drayage costs than compact, high-unit-count products in the same container.
This relationship between product density and per-unit drayage cost is one of the reasons that bulky products — large-format home goods, outdoor furniture, oversized toys — carry higher fully loaded costs relative to their FOB price than compact products in the same price range. The drayage cost is the same container-to-container; the per-unit absorption is much higher.
Negotiating Drayage Rates
Drayage rates are negotiable — particularly for importers with consistent volume through the same port and to the same destination. A drayage carrier who can rely on predictable volume from a single importer will offer better rates than one who is competing for individual container moves.
The most effective approach is to establish a relationship with one or two primary drayage carriers at your main port of entry, commit to routing a defined percentage of your volume through them, and negotiate a rate card that is fixed for a defined period — typically quarterly or semi-annually. The rate card eliminates the per-container negotiation, reduces administrative overhead, and provides the cost predictability needed to build accurate landed cost models.
Have you ever had a drayage cost that was significantly higher than your estimate — and what drove the variance? We'd like to hear what the experience taught you about which drayage costs are predictable and which aren't.