Platton is an import-focused US freight forwarder, and our transloading services move the cargo from your import containers onto domestic trucks or rail at facilities close to the port, with pallets built to spec, cartons labeled and loads split by destination. Most containers reach our import warehouse facilities within hours of customs release, not days.
If you want the background first, our guide explains what transloading is and how it works.
Our AI-driven cargo management platform gives you real-time container tracking from the vessel to the dock door, so the transload is booked around the container's actual arrival. Documents are generated automatically and kept in one place, and you can check status yourself without having to ask anyone.
Our import warehouse facilities cover the Port of New York and New Jersey corridor, LA/Long Beach, Seattle and Savannah, and we coordinate transloading onto domestic carriers in Houston. Because the dray from terminal to transload warehouse is short, the container gets emptied and sent back to the carrier quickly, and your freight is already heading inland.
Get an instant live quote for your container; the rate is locked when you book.
Platton's transloading services include:
We unload 20-foot, 40-foot and 40-foot high cube containers, whether the cargo arrives on pallets or loose, carton by carton. We unload floor-loaded freight, count it against your packing list and build it onto pallets for the next leg. We flag shortages and damage before anything leaves the building, while there is still time to deal with them.
When weight allows, the cargo from three 40-foot containers typically fits into two 53-foot domestic trailers, so a transload cuts the number of inland moves you pay for. We load full truckloads for single destinations, and our rail transloading puts long-haul freight on domestic rail when the distance makes rail the cheaper option. Not sure how your cargo will fit? Run it through our container capacity calculator.
Retailers and distribution centers turn away pallets that break their rules. We build pallets to your receiver's height, weight and labeling requirements, put on carton and pallet labels, and wrap every load for the road. For Amazon-bound freight, our Amazon FBA prep service adds FNSKU labels, poly bagging and carton and pallet compliance, and the freight then moves on with Amazon FBA shipping.
One container can supply several DCs, a group of stores and an Amazon fulfillment center. We split the load by destination and send each part out by LTL or full truckload. Orders that ship straight to consumers can go into our e-commerce fulfillment. When freight goes straight from the inbound door onto an outbound truck without being stored, that is cross-docking, and our cross-docking guide explains how it works.
Pallets shift at sea. Receivers turn trucks away. Some customers have no dock that fits a 40-foot container. Any of these can leave freight stranded, and we take on all of them: we receive the load, rework or rebuild the pallets and re-deliver to the receiver's specs. If the receiver is not ready yet, the freight can wait in our warehouse until it is, and our warehouse services page covers the storage and inventory options.
Five Platton gateways have a transloading page of their own, with the local terminals, services and routes.
We do container-to-trailer transloading near Bayport and Barbours Cut, and one team coordinates the storage, the transload onto domestic carriers and the outbound LTL delivery. Our Houston drayage service handles terminal pickups. Get the full local picture on Transloading in Houston.
Get a Houston transloading quoteOur Los Angeles transloading puts floor-loaded cargo from Asia on pallets in the LA basin, rebuilds three 40-foot containers into two 53-foot trailers and preps FBA freight for the Inland Empire.
Freight from Elizabeth, Port Newark and Bayonne is counted against the packing list and built into pallets to your receiver's spec, and New Jersey transloading sends it out by Turnpike truck or by CSX and Norfolk Southern rail.
Seattle transloading takes boxes from all five NWSA terminals, splits each one by receiver across Puget Sound and holds any share until its delivery date.
Near Garden City Terminal, Savannah transloading covers pallet rework, cross-docking and loads for Atlanta and Charlotte, with rail to Nashville and Memphis.
A transload can only move as fast as the truck that pulls the container off the terminal. Platton's drayage delivers these numbers:
Same-day pickup keeps the container clear of terminal storage charges, and fast delivery to the dock keeps detention from adding up.
Demurrage and detention. Once free time runs out, carriers charge demurrage of $150 to $500 a day, and detention keeps adding up until the empty container is returned. Unloading near the port sends the box back to the carrier early, instead of trucking it hundreds of miles inland and back.
Fewer, fuller inland moves. When weight allows, three containers typically come in and two trailers go out. You pay for fewer trucks, and the carrier's equipment stops riding around the country at your expense.
Rail for distance, trucks for the last stretch. Long hauls go by domestic rail and final delivery goes by truck, so each mode handles the part of the trip it is cheapest for.
Destinations decided on arrival. You can split and route freight when it lands, based on what is selling now, rather than fixing every container's destination when it was booked overseas.
1. Quote and plan. Send us the container count, ports, cargo and destinations, and get an instant live quote. Once you book, the rate is locked and the transload plan is set.
2. Receive and unload. We receive the container at the transload dock and unload it, whether the cargo is palletized or floor-loaded.
3. Count against the packing list. We check every carton and pallet against your packing list and flag shortages or damage before the freight moves on.
4. Palletize, label and sort by destination. We build pallets to each receiver's specs, label them and group them by where they are going.
5. Load out to trailer, LTL or rail. Freight goes out on 53-foot trailers, LTL or domestic rail, and the empty container goes back to the carrier.
Platton transloads consumer goods, furniture, apparel, e-commerce inventory, auto parts and industrial equipment for importers across the industries we serve. The shipment can be any size: one pallet or hundreds of containers, your first shipment or your thousandth. If your cargo is hazardous, temperature-sensitive or oversized, tell us when you request the quote, and we will confirm the handling before you book.
Platton is a US freight forwarder for companies bringing cargo into the US. We have four US offices, in Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Savannah, and three memberships: WCA, JCtrans and NCBFAA. Weekly sailings bring your cargo from China (Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Xiamen), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Haiphong), India (Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Chennai) and Europe (Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Felixstowe, Le Havre). It arrives at Los Angeles and Long Beach, Seattle and Tacoma, Oakland, New York and New Jersey, Savannah, Charleston, Norfolk or Houston. Book it as FCL, as LCL or through buyers consolidation.
Get a live quote
The price depends on the container size, whether the cargo is palletized or floor-loaded, how many pallets need building or labeling, and how the freight leaves the dock.
The clock starts at pickup: Platton drayage picks up 93% of containers from the port the same day and averages 36 hours from gate-out to delivery. From there, palletized cargo moves to the outbound trailer faster than floor-loaded cartons or custom pallet builds.
Yes. We transload import containers onto domestic trucks or rail. Rail suits long hauls to inland markets, trucks handle shorter runs and final delivery, and we can combine the two on one shipment.
Yes. We split the cargo by destination, build and label each group of pallets to that receiver's rules, and send each one out by LTL or full truckload. Amazon-bound cartons get FNSKU labels and carton and pallet compliance before they ship.
We move the cargo into a 53-foot trailer or split it into LTL deliveries the receiver can accept, build the pallets to their spec and book the delivery appointment.
Yes, when you add cargo insurance to your quote. Platton prices it on the same quote as your transload.
Our import warehouse facilities cover the New York and New Jersey corridor, LA/Long Beach, Seattle and Savannah, and we coordinate transloading in Houston near Bayport and Barbours Cut. For other ports and rail ramps, send us the details and we will plan the move.
Tell us about the container, the port and where the freight needs to go. You get an instant live quote with the rate locked at booking. Questions first? Email cs@platton.ai.
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