QUICK ANSWER Most US port drayage in 2026 falls between $250 and $800 per container for moves within 50 miles, with short hops under 25 miles running $250 to $450 and per-mile rates of $3 to $5 on the shortest legs. Published market averages put a 20-mile Houston move near $590 for a 40-foot box. The spread between gateways comes from tolls, chassis supply, appointment scarcity, and terminal turn times, not from the miles.
Drayage cost questions rarely mean "what is the number"; they mean "why did my number double". The bands below give the 2026 baseline by distance, the gateway table explains why Los Angeles money is not Savannah money, and the last sections cover what inflates an invoice after the fact and how to push it back down. We review the figures on this page quarterly against carrier tariffs and market indices.
The national rate bands, distance by distance
US port drayage rate bands, 2026
| Move | Typical range per container | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 miles | $250 to $450 | Terminal to near-dock warehouse |
| 25 to 50 miles | $300 to $800 | The most common importer move |
| 50 to 150 miles | $600 to $1,300 | Extended dray, market and lane dependent |
| Per-mile on short legs | $3 to $5 | Fixed costs spread over few miles |
| 20ft vs 40ft | 20ft slightly cheaper | Same drive, same appointment, small spread |
These are base-move bands before accessorials. What sits on top of the base, fuel, chassis days, pre-pulls, wait time, is itemized in our drayage explainer; this page stays on the question of what the move itself costs and why it varies. Treat the bands as planning brackets, verified against live quotes at booking.
Why the same move prices differently by gateway
Five local factors set the spread. Road costs: tolls and congestion pricing hit New York harder than Charleston. Chassis supply: a gateway with deep neutral pools prices calmer than one where boxes chase frames every morning. Appointment scarcity: where terminal slots are rationed, truckers burn unpaid hours and price them back in. Turn times: a driver who completes three moves a day spreads fixed costs across three invoices; a driver stuck in a two-hour queue does not. And trucker density: thin markets around smaller gateways carry higher variance, because three carriers declining your load is a pricing event.
Cost pressure across the 15 US gateways
Drayage cost drivers at the major US gateways
| Gateway | What drives cost there | Pressure vs national band |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles / Long Beach | Appointment scarcity, terminal fees, peak queues | Higher |
| Seattle / Tacoma | Two-port split, moderate congestion | Mid |
| Oakland | Chassis supply tightens with ag export surges | Mid |
| Portland | Limited services, thin trucker market | Higher variance |
| New York / New Jersey | Tolls, bridge traffic, densest urban drays | Higher |
| Boston | Small market, freight often via NY/NJ | Higher |
| Baltimore | Balanced market, good highway access | Mid |
| Norfolk | Efficient terminals, steady turn times | Mid |
| Charleston | Fast turns, strong carrier base | Mid to lower |
| Savannah | Huge volume; queues spike in peak season | Mid, peaks higher |
| Jacksonville | Lighter volume, quick turns | Lower |
| Miami | Urban congestion, but short typical drays | Mid |
| Tampa | Thin market, fewer carriers | Higher variance |
| Houston | Sprawl means longer "local" moves | Mid; $590 avg at 20 miles |
| New Orleans | Thin market, river geography | Higher variance |
TAKEAWAY The port with the cheapest ocean rate is not automatically the cheapest landed. A $150 ocean saving into a high-pressure dray market can hand $300 back on the truck side, so gateway comparisons only work when the transit and the dray both sit in the math.
Read the West Coast rows as a capacity story. San Pedro Bay moves more boxes than any other US gateway, and its drayage market is deep, but appointments, terminal fees, and peak-week queues price that depth in. The Pacific Northwest trades scale for calmer operations, while Portland's thin service map means fewer carriers bidding your load.
The East Coast splits between the toll belt and the Southeast. New York and Boston drays carry road costs no efficiency can dodge; Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah run some of the best terminal turn times in the country, which shows up directly in their rates, until Savannah's peak-season volume backs the gates up.
The Gulf is a geography lesson. Houston's port sits far from much of its warehouse sprawl, so a "local" move regularly runs 30 to 50 miles, and New Orleans and Tampa are thin markets where one busy week moves prices. Gulf importers gain more than most from booking dray capacity before the vessel arrives.
Rail ramp drayage inland
The same trade has an inland twin: containers coming off rail at Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Memphis, or Columbus still need a truck for the final miles. Ramp drays tend to run shorter and cheaper per move than port drays, with friendlier gate processes, but the chassis markets around ramps are thinner, and a ramp with one dominant provider prices like it. Importers routing inland via rail should quote the ramp dray with the same rigor as the port leg, not treat it as rounding.
What quietly doubles a drayage invoice
The base move rarely blows the budget; the additions do. Wait time at a slow warehouse bills by the hour after the first one or two. A missed appointment burns a day and sometimes a pre-pull. An overweight container discovered at the gate means a tri-axle re-dispatch at a premium. And the equipment clock keeps its own ledger: chassis days accumulate at $25 to $45 each, while a late empty return starts per-diem at rates that dwarf the original linehaul. An $850 invoice on a $400 quote is almost always three of these stacked, not a rate increase.
TAKEAWAY Ask every drayage quote two questions: what happens if the warehouse unloads slowly, and what happens if the empty goes back late. The answers price the risk; the base rate only prices the best case.
How to pull the number down
The levers sit mostly on the importer's side of the table. Flexible delivery windows let the carrier slot your move into a productive route instead of a dead one. A pre-pull, booked deliberately rather than in panic, caps terminal exposure for a known flat fee. On legs past a few hundred miles, a transload into domestic trailers beats dragging the container. Consolidating weekly volume with one carrier turns you from a spot shipper into scheduled freight. And weight checked against road limits before the factory closes the box prevents the most expensive surprise on the list.
How Platton quotes drayage lanes
Rate bands are context; what you book against is a lane quote, and ours are built to survive contact with the invoice.
One all-in number per lane
A Platton drayage quote itemizes the base, fuel, chassis, and the accessorial triggers up front, with the wait-time and pre-pull terms in writing. The number you compare is the number you get billed.
42 ports and ramps, one network
With coverage across 42 US ports and rail ramps, we price the same cargo through alternative gateways side by side, ocean, dray, and clock exposure together, before the booking locks a routing in.
Free-time discipline instead of fee disputes
Empties tracked back inside free time, pre-pulls used before demurrage rather than after, chassis days counted daily. Across containers that discipline avoids roughly $280 per box in charges.
Price your lane across two gateways before you book the ocean leg
Common Questions About Drayage Costs
How do I calculate a drayage cost?
Start with the base move for your distance band, then add the knowable extras: fuel surcharge as a percentage, chassis days times the daily rate, and any fixed local fees. Then price the risks: wait time per hour, pre-pull, per-diem exposure. Some carriers quote per hundredweight instead, but for containerized freight the per-move model dominates.
Why is drayage so expensive for such a short distance?
Because the miles are the smallest part of the work. A 15-mile move can consume a driver's half day: gate queue, chassis hunt, terminal turn, warehouse unload. You are paying for credentialed equipment and hours, not distance. That is also why turn-time differences between gateways translate directly into rate differences.
How much does it cost to dray a 40-foot container?
Within 50 miles of a port, typically $250 to $800 in 2026, with published market averages around $590 for a 20-mile Houston move. The 40-foot box costs only slightly more than a 20-foot on the same lane; distance, market pressure, and accessorials move the number far more than container size.
Is drayage cheaper at some ports than others?
Meaningfully. Tolls, chassis supply, appointment systems, and trucker density create real spreads between gateways, which is why the table above ranks pressure rather than pretending one national rate exists. Smaller gateways can be cheaper per move but carry higher variance when few carriers serve them.
Do drayage rates change with the season?
Yes. Peak import season, roughly August through October, tightens trucks and chassis at the big gateways, lengthens queues, and pushes both base rates and accessorial exposure up. Booking delivery windows early and pre-pulling proactively costs less than riding the spot market through a peak-season squeeze.
Does an overweight container cost more to dray?
Every time. Past road-legal cargo weight the move needs a tri-axle chassis, permits, and sometimes a different carrier, commonly adding a few hundred dollars, and discovered late it also adds a re-dispatch. The cheaper path is planning: check weights before the container ships, or split heavy cargo through a transload.
Related Trucking Guides
What is drayage: the full anatomy of the move these rates price.
Chassis fees explained: the daily equipment line inside every quote.
Container detention and per-diem: the clock that turns a cheap move into an expensive week.
Transloading explained: the alternative when the inland leg gets long.
