Container delivery: drayage and handoffs

Map the inland journey before booking

Ask for a route showing factory collection, export terminal, arrival port, any rail terminal or transfer depot, and the receiving warehouse. Drayage usually means the local road haulage connecting these points. Ask whether the quote covers a loaded container movement, an empty movement or both.

An arrival-port-to-warehouse route may keep the container intact. A route through an inland rail terminal adds container lifts and another road collection. A transfer depot may unload the goods for onward delivery. Mark every stop where either the container or the goods change hands. For the wider freight picture and free-time costs, use our shipping guide.

Separate container transfers from transloading

Lifting a closed container from a ship to a train or lorry transfers the container without unpacking its contents. Transloading means unloading the goods and loading them into another container or vehicle. Devanning means unloading the container; it does not by itself describe the onward journey.

Consider transloading when your site cannot receive a container vehicle, or when stock needs splitting between destinations. Ask the depot about handling equipment, covered space, pallet rebuilding, storage and onward load securing. Agree a receiving count, condition photographs and a record linking the original container and seal to the onward consignment. Use the China loading check as the starting record.

Read the contract, not just the transport label

Intermodal describes goods moving between transport modes in the same loading unit without unpacking them at the mode change. Multimodal describes a journey using different transport modes; a multimodal booking may be offered under a through contract. These labels alone do not tell you whom you have contracted with or how a damage claim will be handled.

Ask whether the provider contracts for the whole journey or arranges separate bookings as an agent. Request the named contracting party, covered collection and delivery points, subcontracting arrangements, claim contact and applicable claim conditions. If you book legs separately, agree who coordinates the connection and what happens when a missed collection leaves the goods between bookings.

Create a handoff record at every transfer

Use a shared movement sheet naming the booking party, releasing party, receiving party and exception contact for each leg. Record collection references, container and seal identifiers, visible condition, handover time and receiving acknowledgement. At a transload, add goods counts, damaged packaging, replacement seals where used, and the onward vehicle or consignment reference.

Before dispatching a vehicle, ask the forwarder to confirm customs release, shipping-line release and terminal collection availability separately. A cleared declaration does not tell the driver whether collection is booked and available. Keep customs paperwork in the customs documents guide; use the movement sheet for operational releases and collection instructions.

If a seal differs, packaging is damaged or a count is short, photograph the exception and record it on the handover document. Contact the agreed decision-maker before accepting an unexplained substitution or authorising onward movement. Ask the provider how to notify a claim under the booking terms, and retain the original records.

Agree unloading and close the empty return

HSE guidance says that companies involved should agree in advance how loading and unloading will happen. Confirm the receiving site's access, equipment, unloading team and driver instructions with the haulier. Ask whether delivery means unloading while the driver waits or leaving the container for later collection, and name the person who can resolve a failed delivery.

Ask who books and pays for empty return, which depot accepts it, and what evidence confirms acceptance. Keep the return receipt with the movement sheet. Request separate quote lines for haulage, container lifts, transloading, storage, waiting, failed delivery and empty return, identifying exclusions. Use our landed price guide to put these destination costs into the purchase comparison.