Export drayage, from empty pickup to the port cutoff

The steps of an export move

1. Empty pickup. With your booking number, we pick up an empty container of the right size and type from the terminal or depot the line releases it from.
2. Delivery to your dock. We drop the empty for you to load, or wait while you load it live.
3. Loading and seal. You load the container and seal it. You give us the seal number and the weights.
4. Port delivery. We deliver the loaded container to the terminal inside the receiving window and before the cutoff.

Each step depends on the one before it. A late empty means a late load means a missed vessel. That's why we plan from the cutoff backward.

ERD and cutoff, in plain English

ERD is the earliest return date: the first day the terminal will accept your loaded container for a vessel. Show up before the ERD and the terminal may turn the truck away.

The cutoff is the last time the terminal will accept the container and still load it on that vessel. Miss it and the box rolls to a later sailing.

The window between them is often only a few days. Vessel delays can move both dates. We watch them and plan the port delivery inside the window.

What we need from you

• Booking number and steamship line.
• Container size and type: 20', 40', 40' high cube, reefer.
• Your loading address and dock hours.
• Live load or drop, and when you'll be ready to load.
• Cargo weight. Heavy exports may need a tri-axle chassis.
• Vessel, ERD and cutoff, if you have them.
• Anything special: hazmat, or reefer set point.

The shipper is also responsible for declaring the verified gross mass of the loaded container to the line. Give us the weights you declared so the paperwork lines up.

Export at each port

In Houston, we deliver exports to Bayport and Barbours Cut and book Express Gate Pass appointments in the terminal's own system. See Houston drayage.

In Oakland, we deliver to OICT, TraPac and Everport, and we can consolidate inbound cargo into export containers in the Bay Area. See Oakland drayage and transload in Oakland.

In Los Angeles and Long Beach, we run exports on the same system. See LA/Long Beach drayage.

Proof at every gate

Drivers take EIR photos at the terminal gate when the empty comes out and when the loaded box goes in. With GPS on every tractor, you can ask where your export is at any point and get a straight answer.