Moving with the Times as Drayage Transport Evolves

Moving with the Times as
Drayage Transport Evolves

Table of contents
Moving with the Times as Drayage Transport Evolves
History of Drayage
What are the different types of drayage?
Transport and COVID-19
The Future

Moving with the Times as Drayage
Transport Evolves
Transport experts are predicting the end of the road for
many drayage haulage companies if they don’t move with
the times and embrace technology that could transform
their businesses.
Customers are now not only expecting a good quality
service, they want speed, transparency and convenience
that only the use of new technology can provide.

Industry leaders are concerned that only a couple of leading
companies are embracing the technology and many are being
left behind.
Drayage is the transport of goods over a short distance,
usually from ships to warehouses. Cartage is the movement
of goods from airports to warehouses. Drayage is usually part
of a longer journey and is the transfer of goods to and from
other modes of transport

This technology will help companies to give their customers
visibility of their goods at every step of the journey and
helps with communications to customers. If companies are
not communicating well with their clients, then they will
simply move to a company that communicates better.

One multi-billion dollar transport business has developed a
platform that allows customers to get a quick and accurate
quote for their shipping services and then gives real time
updates on the progress of their shipment. This is all done
through email updates, so a client doesn’t even have to
download an app.

The industry is calling on companies to move with the times
like lots of other sectors, who are using automated systems
and digitalization of their services to save money and make
massive efficiencies. They don’t want drayage services to
fall behind the times, particularly behind the rest of the
transport industry.

Drayage work is usually completed in one shift as departure
and arrival points are mostly in the same metropolitan areas
rather than regional or national destinations. This service is
often shipping goods from port to port, or from a port to a
rail yard for the next leg of its journey. Or sometimes it will
be taken to its final destinations.

Even though drayage is just short haul shipping, it is a key
part of the supply chain and if this part of the process
breaks down then whole transport network for shipping
goods falls apart. In Canada the drayage industry generates
more than 39 billion Canadian dollars from almost 66.5
million shipments.
Goods that are shipped using drayage could be crude oil,
electronics, plastics, furniture and clothing.

Drayage shipping is usually from a port, but can involve
journeys to ports, piers, rail yards and warehouses and there
might be several drayage legs of transport before the goods
arrive at their destination.

History of Drayage
Drayage dates way back to the 19 th century and the word
drayage comes from the name of a horse-draw cart, called a
dray. Horses were only capable to taking shipments so far on
what we know now as short haul routes. They would deliver
goods to local destinations such as ports, canal terminals and
railyards. This was the most common form of transport in
the 19 th Century and until the early 1900s when trucks took
over the process.

What are the different types of
drayage?
There are six different types of drayage to describe how
goods are moved between different transportation hubs.
Inter-carrier drayage, expedited drayage, intra-carrier
drayage, door-to-door drayage and shuttle drayage.
Inter-carrier drayage is when goods are moved between two
different types of transport for example, from a truck to a
railway.

Expedited drayage is when goods are being transported in a
time sensitive manner and are taken directly to the
destination by truck.
Intra-carrier drayage is when a shipment is transported from
a rail hub to an intermodal hub and the whole process is
controlled by one company.

Door-to-door drayage is when retail goods are taken to a
customer by road.
Shuttle drayage is when a container unit is taken to a
parking lot when there is overcrowding at in the hub of
origin.
Pier drayage is when goods are taken from a rail hub to a
pier or port.

Transport and COVID-19
The Canadian transport authorities have issued guidelines for
companies operating in ports, airports and rail hubs during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The trucking industry has proven to be resilient in the
COVID-19 crisis, with contain truck trip volumes rising by
9.5% in April in the Port of Montreal compared with statistics
from the same time last year. Overall container traffic fell
by only 1.6% in April.

The Future
Data from the Canada Border Services Agency shows that
container traffic between Canada and the US was down by
more than 30%, but experts predict that a growing
relationship with the European Union as part of the
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is set to give
a huge boost to the Canadian transport industry in the
coming month and years

Contact details
Company Name: Reliable Transportation Link
Address: 31 Villarboit Crescent, Vaughan, ON L4K 4K2,
Canada
Phone Number: (905) 660 7744
Website: http://www.goreliable.ca/