Port drayage for Los Angeles and Long Beach containers
Lifetime Logistics Services LLC arranges port drayage as a licensed freight broker, moving import and export containers between your dock and the terminals at Los Angeles and Long Beach with vetted carriers that hold port access and supply a chassis. Every container is quoted per move, because the terminal, the distance, the container and the time spent waiting change from one move to the next. For a quote, phone (562) 566-8953 or use the form on this page with the container number, terminal and delivery address.
What a drayage move needs
Drayage is the short truck move that takes a container off a marine terminal to the place it is unloaded, then brings the empty back. It is a trade of its own. The driver needs a TWIC card to enter the terminal, the truck has to be listed in the ports' drayage truck registry and meet California's clean truck rules, and the move needs a chassis, the wheeled frame a container rides on, either from a chassis pool or owned by the carrier.
That is why we place drayage only with carriers whose trucks and drivers already hold that access. Our own trucks are tractors with 53 foot dry vans; they do not haul containers, so the container leg always goes to a partner carrier hauling under our broker authority, screened through Highway before it gets the move.
How a container move runs
Before a container can leave the terminal it has to be released: cleared by customs, the ocean freight paid and the shipping line's hold lifted. Once it is free, the carrier books a terminal appointment, picks it up on a chassis and brings it to your dock. With a live unload, your crew empties the box while the driver stays with the truck; on a drop, the container stays on its chassis in your yard and the carrier comes back for it once it is empty.
The empty then goes back to the terminal or to the depot the shipping line names. Exports run the other way: the carrier pulls an empty, you load it at your dock, and it goes back to the terminal full before the cutoff for its vessel.
How drayage is quoted
Drayage is quoted per move, not by the mile alone. The base covers the trip from the terminal to your address and the return of the empty. On top come the items that depend on the day: chassis days, waiting at the terminal or at your dock past the free time, a pull from the port ahead of your delivery date with storage in the carrier's yard, overweight containers, and any fees the terminal charges. Tell us what you know about the container and the delivery so the quote covers the move you actually have.
Watch the clock as well. The terminal charges demurrage when a container sits there past its free days, and the shipping line charges per diem when its equipment stays out too long. Picking the container up promptly and returning the empty quickly keeps both down.
Where the containers go
Most drayage from San Pedro Bay ends within a few hours' drive: warehouses and transload buildings near the ports, in Commerce and Vernon, along the Alameda Corridor and out in the Inland Empire. Longer street moves, say to Bakersfield, Las Vegas or Phoenix, can be quoted as well, but the empty still has to come back, so the price covers both directions.
When a container is unloaded at a transload warehouse, its freight often goes on in a 53 foot trailer. That leg is ordinary truckload, and it can ride on one of our own dry vans or with a partner carrier, inland to Arizona, Nevada, Utah or anywhere else we serve.
Details for a container quote
- Container number, size and type: 20 foot, 40 foot, 40 foot high cube or 45 foot
- The terminal, and the date the container is available or its last free day
- Delivery address, dock hours, and whether it is a live unload or a drop
- Gross weight of the cargo, and whether any of it is hazardous
- Where the empty goes back, if the shipping line has named a depot
Questions shippers ask
- Why is drayage quoted per move instead of at a flat rate?
- Because the cost of a container move changes with the terminal, the wait to get in and out, the chassis days, the weight and the distance, and those are different for every container. A per move quote prices the move you actually have.
- What are demurrage and per diem?
- Demurrage is what the terminal charges when a container stays there past its free days. Per diem, also called detention, is what the shipping line charges when its container is kept out past its free days. Both are billed for time, so moving the container promptly keeps them down.
- Can a container be delivered outside Southern California?
- We can quote it. Longer moves cost more because the empty has to return to the port, so for distant destinations it is often cheaper to transload the freight into a 53 foot trailer near the port and ship it as a truckload.
- Who owns the trucks that pull the containers?
- Our partner carriers do. Our own trucks pull 53 foot dry vans. Container moves go to vetted carriers that hold port access and supply the chassis, and we manage each move from release to the return of the empty.
Ready to price a load?
Send the quote form or call us. Quotes within 15 minutes, Monday to Friday 6 AM to 6 PM Pacific; operations team available 24/7 for active loads.