Port Drayage Costs (2026): Rates, Surcharges & Hidden Fees

Base Drayage Rates by US Port (2026)

The numbers below reflect typical local drayage rates — port-to-warehouse moves within roughly 30 miles of the marine terminal — for a standard 40-foot dry container. Rates assume a daytime appointment, single chassis, no overweight, no reefer, and a single drop. They are base rates only: fuel surcharges (22–30%), chassis usage, pier pass, and gate fees are billed separately.

Rate ranges reflect Q1 2026 contract and spot pricing reported by drayage carriers and freight brokers. Rates outside the local zone scale roughly linearly: a 75-mile inland dray typically runs 1.6–1.9× the local rate, and 150-mile inland drays run 2.5–3.0×. For tight modeling, use our drayage cost calculator.

Anatomy of a Drayage Invoice

Carriers bill drayage as a stack of line items rather than a single price. Understanding each component is the first step to negotiating it down. Here is what a typical invoice for a local 40-foot import dray from LA/Long Beach to a 25-mile inland warehouse looks like:

The $731–$856 baseline above is the realistic cost of a routine, well-executed import dray. Almost every cost overrun on a drayage invoice traces back to a single avoidable event: a missed appointment, a slow unload at the warehouse, or a container that sat past free time at the terminal.

Hidden Fees and Surcharges

Beyond the standard line items, drayage invoices regularly carry exception fees that can quickly double the cost of a move. The list below captures the surcharges that most often surprise importers:

Rule of thumb: a clean import dray with no exceptions adds 25–35% to the base rate after fuel and chassis. A messy dray — chassis split, pre-pull, multi-stop, plus detention — easily adds 60–90%. Most importers underestimate this gap when budgeting.

Demurrage, Detention & Per Diem

These three fees are the single biggest source of avoidable drayage cost — and the three terms are routinely confused. Each is charged by a different party for a different reason:

Free time has compressed sharply since 2020. Most LA/LB terminals now offer just 2–4 free days for import containers, down from 5–7 pre-pandemic. Charleston, Savannah, and Houston tend to be more generous (4–5 free days), but the safe planning assumption is that anything over the published free time will trigger fees.

Cost example: A container that sits at a LA terminal for 4 days past free time will accrue roughly $200 + $300 + $400 + $500 = $1,400 in tiered demurrage alone. Add 4 days of detention and chassis per diem and the total exceeds $2,000 — more than triple the cost of the dray itself.

The Federal Maritime Commission's Detention & Demurrage final rule (enforced in 2024–2025) requires carriers to issue invoices within specific timelines and limits charges when a container could not have been picked up due to terminal closures, chassis shortages, or other no-fault events. Importers should always review D&D invoices for compliance — disputed charges are routinely waived or reduced when challenged with documentation.

How to Reduce Drayage Costs

The five highest-leverage strategies for cutting per-container cost in 2026:

For high-volume importers, port-adjacent 3PLs running a transload + fulfillment model typically deliver 15–25% lower landed cost per container than direct-to-DC drays. Compare options with our 3PL comparison tool or model your specific lane with the drayage cost calculator.

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