1. DRAYAGE SERVICE is the movement of ocean containers or intermodal boxes from ocean ports or rail spurs to a consignee (direct or to a transloading location), or in the reverse, from a shipper location to the ports or rail yards. A sound and well-managed drayage plan is crucial for both import and export products. Drayage is performed by loading large containers on chassis – either private or that of the steam ship line (SSL) – and transported by truck. Because the empty container has to be returned, usually to the same location the loaded container was picked-up, drayage is considered round-trip.
2. DIRECT DRAYAGE refers to draying a box directly to a consignee; without transloading. Direct drayage is a great option for shorter-hauls, commodities that are prone to claims, or for goods that need an expedited delivery with little interruptions.
3. TRANSLOADING is when a location will accept a loaded container (imports) and unload the container for further distribution to multiple inland locations. In the case of exports, a transloader may accept freight (usually from an over-the-road driver) and load it safety into an ocean container. A transloading location might be resourceful for various reasons:
   • Avoid high-mileage dray (which can be expensive due to it being a round-trip by utilizing transloading and inland transportation
   • Sort and segregate options molded to the needs of your transportation end-points
   • Some transloaders also act as warehousing/storage locations, further consolidating your transportation spend

PITT OHIO is capable of transloading hazmat goods, product that requires complex sort and segregate (like labeling), palletization, inbound and outbound handling, and storage.

A customer may choose to store their freight (warehousing) or have it delivered to their specified location. This can be done by direct-dray OR a customer may have a need for INLAND transportation once transloading has occurred. Basically, inland transportation is the final (import) or pre (export) transportation of goods – usually by an over-the-road driver on a 53’ chassis.

• For imports, INLAND transportation is when a shipment is moved from the transloading location to the final destination consignee.
• For exports, INLAND transportation would be freight moving to the transloading location to prepare for the drayage to the port of export.

Inland transportation is a great way to reduce round-trip dray mileage & costs on longer-haul shipments out of or into a terminal. Inland transportation is also a good option for non-standard deliveries like appointment deliveries.

PITT OHIO is capable of hauling inland shipments all over the United States. We can haul hazmat, reefer freight, flatbed goods, and more.

Drayage operates like many other transportation modes and houses various accessorials. It generally boils down to what is appropriate to ensure a container or box executes to the customer’s needs, requirements or circumstances. Most drayage has a linehaul and fuel surcharge/fuel scale; as well as chassis fees that are generally charged per day. Storage is also a common charge among other accessorials.

There is also demurrage and per diem charges. Demurrage is a charge associated with free-time at the port or rail expiring. Per diem is when a container remains off the rail or port past the free-time. Free-time is determined by the steam ship lines (SSL) and/or rail provider. PITT OHIO tracks each container we handle directly with the SSLs, rail heads, and terminals to ensure we can avoid these fees. Some ports also have fees that need paid prior to releasing a container (like pier pass). PITT OHIO can assist with these fees, applying an administration fee.

Yes! We work through UIIA to ensure we are set-up with various SSLs and rail lines to ensure we can move freight to and from their terminals.

UIIA (Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement) is a program of IANA (Intermodal Association of North America) that facilitates interchange agreements to ensure “efficiencies and eliminates the need to manage multiple interchange contracts and insurance filings.” In other words, we are a UIIA participatant to save ourselves and our customers time and frustrations by being both compliant and efficient.

PITT OHIO services all the major ports and rail heads in and across the United States. Our asset presence is in the northeast primarily. Our assets are inclusive of PITT OHIO drivers, PITT OHIO chassis, and PITT OHIO power units. We are able to haul hazmat and overweight containers (& those requiring a tri-axle). We can also haul refrigerated goods and have select group of partners with private gensets.

Generally, we can populate a standard quote with just the container origin and destination.  However, the more details you provide about your container on the front end, such as hazmat, legal weight or overweight, dry container, live unload, container size, commodity & value, the more accurate the quote will be.  Often, we find it is best when we can talk through these shipments so we may encourage a call!

We offer daily, weekly, or monthly reporting based on what the customer needs are. Daily reports are good for standard tracking. Monthly reports are great for seeing broad data & analyzing service. Weekly updates can go either way! These reports are customizable to customer needs and can be sent as often as a customer may like and as specific as they may like. We track every shipment throughout each day to ensure the data is accurate.

All members of our team have a PITT OHIO-provided cell phone, and we will be happy to take your call when you need tracking confirmation, or need to request report updates on-the-fly.