LTL shipping — less than truckload — is the backbone of US freight for any shipment too big for parcel and too small for a full truck. If you’re moving anywhere from a single pallet up to roughly 10-12 pallets of freight, LTL is almost always the right mode. But LTL pricing, freight classification, and […]
If you import containers into the US, chassis billing is probably the line item that confuses your team the most. The chassis is the wheeled frame the ocean container rides on — you don’t own it, the ocean carrier doesn’t own it, and you get billed per day for the privilege of using one. When […]
What is the difference between demurrage and per diem? Demurrage and per diem are two different container-delay charges with two different owners. Demurrage is charged by the ocean terminal when a loaded container sits at the port beyond the allotted free time. Per diem is charged by the steamship line when an empty (or loaded) […]
If you’re importing containers through a US port, drayage is usually the most misunderstood line item on your invoice. The base move looks simple on paper, but the accessorials, fuel surcharges, and chassis fees can easily double what you thought you were paying. For anyone getting their first drayage quote, or a forwarder trying to […]
Why Houston drayage is different Most drayage conversations assume a container arrives by ocean, gets pulled off the port, and rolls to a nearby warehouse. That’s standard work. Houston is different. The Port of Houston sits 90 miles from the Mexican border via I-10 to Laredo, and it moves a growing share of cross-border freight […]
What is drayage in shipping? Drayage is the short-haul trucking move that transports a shipping container between a port, rail ramp, or container yard and its inland destination — typically a warehouse, distribution center, or transload facility. Drayage is the first or last leg of an intermodal freight movement and is performed using a chassis-equipped […]
How to Ship Freight for the First Time: A Beginner’s Guide You’ve got a shipment that’s too big or too heavy for UPS or FedEx, and you’re staring at a world of freight shipping terminology that makes no sense. This guide is for you. We’ll cover what freight shipping actually is, when you need it, […]
Expedited Freight Shipping: Costs, Options, and When You Need It When a production line goes down, a retail delivery window is closing, or a critical part didn’t make it onto the scheduled truck — you need expedited freight. It costs more than standard shipping, but it solves problems that cost far more than the freight […]
Flatbed Trucking: Types, Costs, and When You Need It Not everything fits in a box trailer. Steel coils, lumber bundles, construction equipment, oversized machinery — if your cargo is too tall, too wide, too heavy, or needs to be loaded from the top or sides, you need a flatbed. This guide covers flatbed trailer types, […]
Supply chain disruption used to be a once-a-decade conversation. Over the last six years, it’s become an annual one. Port strikes, weather events, tariff policy changes, carrier capacity contractions, and equipment shortages have each, at various points, gated imports in ways that most contingency plans didn’t anticipate. For supply chain leaders, procurement managers, and CFOs, […]
Inland port drayage is one of the least-understood parts of the US container network, but for Southeastern and Carolinas manufacturers it often drives the difference between a cost-effective supply chain and one bleeding money on long-haul trucking. An inland port isn’t a port in the literal sense — it’s a rail-served container facility hundreds of […]
Cross-border Mexico drayage sits at the center of North American manufacturing. With nearshoring accelerating and Mexico now the top US trading partner by volume, importers and exporters moving freight between US ports and Mexican plants face a logistics environment that rewards operators who understand both sides of the border. A missed customs step or the […]
Hazmat freight shipping covers any material the US Department of Transportation classifies as hazardous — flammable liquids, corrosives, oxidizers, explosives, compressed gases, toxics, radioactives, and more. Moving hazmat isn’t a rate question; it’s a compliance question first and a capacity question second. Miss a placard, skip an endorsement, or load incompatible classes together and you’re […]
Heavy haul is flatbed freight that exceeds standard legal limits on weight, width, height, or length. Once a load crosses any of those thresholds, it stops being routine trucking and becomes a permitted, routed, sometimes escorted move that can take days or weeks to set up. Construction equipment, power transformers, wind components, industrial presses, and […]
Reefer drayage is the short-haul movement of refrigerated ocean containers between port or rail terminals and cold storage, processors, or distribution centers. Unlike dry drayage, a reefer move is a live cold chain — the container is plugged into shore power at the terminal, has to stay powered during the move, and gets plugged in […]
