Drayage Challenges
Freight shipping is a complex process, involving more moving parts than most people think. There is more to it than the ship or plane that moves the goods from one country to another. Other modes of transportation, like drayage, make a contribution as well.
Like every other industry, there are challenges facing drayage trucking. At Heavy Weight Transport, we are doing everything we can to solve these problems and make it a better process overall. Here we will provide a definition of drayage before we discuss some of the challenges the industry is facing.
Drayage Definition
Drayage, by definition, is the transportation of freight over short distances of 50 miles or less. They often go from an ocean port to the first inland destination, which could be a rail yard, a warehouse, or another pitstop before their next destination. It makes intermodal transport more efficient, enabling the seamless transfer of goods to the final consumer. You may also hear drayage referred to as “the first mile.”
There is also a drayage definition for those who may not understand the importance of this step of the process. Think of a container’s journey of getting from a ship to the shelf like a row of dominoes. Drayage is the first domino. If it doesn’t fall correctly, it affects every domino afterward.
Challenges of Drayage
Even though the distances these containers go are short, the logistics of moving them are not easy. There are many challenges facing drayage trucking and these are just a few of them, along with the ways we are tackling them.
Shipment Visibility
Before the first drayage movement can take place, a container needs to reach its destination ports. Access to real-time data and status updates as containers move is critical to the successful growth and operations of shippers. If there is no visibility into the containers’ locations on drayage trucks, you cannot adequately prepare. For example, shippers can’t plan inventory or optimize their warehouse teams. Probably most importantly, they may also lose customer satisfaction due to late deliveries. Instead, managers will plan based on assumptions and hopes rather than real data and verified status updates. This visibility is important during normal market conditions, but especially so during times of peak shipping volumes.
Customs Clearance
Just like with personal travel, the business of moving goods across borders is overwhelming. Mistakes like incorrect documentation, inaccurate payments, or the misclassification of products can completely prevent a shipment from reaching its final destination. Unfortunately, global shipping lacks standard paperwork processes. It is easy for the different documentation in different countries to hold up shipments from getting to their final destination.
Reshuffling Delays
A recent study found that one of the biggest delays in drayage comes from reshuffling or shifting of containers at ports of destination. Often, this is due to a lack of space at ports for all of the containers that come in. The more dedicated the stack of containers was to a specific destination, the fewer reshuffles were needed throughout the ship’s journey.
Carrier Capacity
Capacity is tight in all areas of transportation and container shipments are no different. But this can be costly. If a container doesn’t get picked up on time, it can incur detention costs and add to the global container shortage, affecting prices worldwide. It’s important that carriers have capacity available at all times.
Shortage of Drivers
The shortage of drayage drivers isn’t a new issue. In fact, the number of supply chain truck drivers around the world has been decreasing for 15 years. It is now estimated that North America will need 15 million truck drivers in the next 15 years to fill the gap in both short-haul and long-haul driving. Drayage carriers are not an exception to this, it is part of the bigger problem. In short, the best way to avoid a shortage of drivers is for drayage carriers to change the way drivers are treated and evaluate other aspects of the drayage system.
The shortage of drivers isn’t only due to the conditions they endure every day. The problem actually began when many drivers were over 50 years old and started retiring. Trucking companies are working hard to recruit younger men and women to join the driving ranks, hopefully beginning someone in a career they will do for many years.
Drayage Drivers
Drayage drivers are often asked to wait long periods for their cargo to be loaded or unloaded. Unfortunately, if the driver is being paid by the mile or the load, this wait time can cost them money. Some drayage trips also focus mainly on city travel, which can mean long waits in traffic or slower moving traffic. This wait time also affects how much the driver makes. This is another part of the reason that people choose to leave drayage driving and pursue long-haul driving instead, where there is less waiting.
However, the pandemic made things much worse as several other factors also contributed to creating a perfect storm. Unfortunately, it seems like the pandemic only accentuated the problem of a driver shortage. Now, it looks like it will persist for years.
Heavy Weight Transport Addresses These Challenges
The definition of drayage may make it sound like an easier process than it actually is. Luckily, companies like ours are around to help solve these problems. Heavy Weight Transport was created to positively impact the global community by providing exceptional and ethical service. We designed and purchased our own chassis and tractors, which gives each of our customers the ability to increase cargo weight while decreasing container volume and the associated shipping costs. Today, our chassis pool contains over 1,000 custom-made chassis across the United States. Heavy Weight Transport also handles the problem of carrier capacity with our heavy container program. It allows our customers to load even more cargo on an ocean container, bringing down their costs per carton, pallet, or ton.
