Charleston drayage, run by people who know what a release looks like before they roll a truck.
We pull import and export containers out of every SCPA container terminal — Wando Welch, North Charleston, and Hugh Leatherman — and run them to warehouses, transload yards, and consignees across South Carolina and the Southeast. Cate Freight is built to make Charleston drayage feel boring on purpose. Booking in. Container moves. POD back same day.
The Port of Charleston: built for drayage
Charleston is the second-largest container port on the East Coast and the only major one without on-dock or near-dock rail (the Navy Base Intermodal Facility is finally arriving in 2026, but until then drayage is the only mode that moves a Charleston container). That makes Charleston a drayage town in a way Norfolk, Savannah, and New York are not.
It also means the ground game matters. The carrier who knows which gate is moving today, which chassis pool is closest to your container, and when SCPA has a holiday "no work day" that doesn't accrue free time — that carrier saves you real money. Cate Freight is built to be that carrier.
Charleston drayage services
Every drayage move that goes through Charleston, we do.
Import container drayage
Release-checked imports from Charleston to your DC, dock, or transload.
Import drayageExport container drayage
Loaded export delivery to terminal, ERD-aware scheduling, VGM coordination.
Export drayagePort-to-warehouse
Direct moves from terminal to warehouse with appointments confirmed at both ends.
Port-to-warehouseTransload & coordination
Container delivery to a transload yard plus the warehouse coordination.
TransloadPre-pull service
Pull from the terminal early to stop the demurrage clock when free time is tight.
Pre-pull infoOverweight & OOG
Tri-axle chassis, route permits, and the experience to handle 60,000+ lb containers.
OverweightCharleston coverage area
Local Charleston drays plus regional Southeast lanes.
Most of our work is local Charleston drayage. We also run regional lanes inside South Carolina and into Georgia and the Carolinas. If your delivery ZIP is east of the Mississippi, we can probably get it there.
Local Charleston drayage zones
- Charleston & downtown peninsula
- North Charleston, Hanahan, Goose Creek, Ladson
- Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, Cainhoy
- Summerville, Lincolnville, Moncks Corner
- Ravenel, Hollywood, Adams Run
- James Island & Johns Island
- Walterboro, Yemassee, St. George
Regional Southeast lanes we run
- Columbia, Cayce, Lexington, Lugoff
- Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Inman
- Florence, Darlington, Hartsville
- Hilton Head, Bluffton, Beaufort
- Savannah, Augusta, Atlanta metro
- Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia, Statesville
- Wilmington NC, Fayetteville NC
Port-to-door drayage within about 250 miles of Charleston
Every lane above is a port-to-door drayage move: we pull the loaded container at Wando Welch, North Charleston, or Hugh Leatherman, deliver it to your dock, and return the empty to the terminal — one round-trip container movement, one driver, one rate. Inside roughly 250 road miles of the Port of Charleston, keeping freight in the ocean container is usually the cheapest way to move it: Columbia and the Midlands up I-26, Greenville–Spartanburg where I-26 meets I-85, Charlotte via I-77, Augusta on I-20, and Savannah down US-17/I-95 all sit inside that radius. Past it, ocean per-diem and chassis days start losing to domestic truck rates, and a Charleston transload onto a 53' van usually wins — we'll do the math both ways on any quote. For the local leg itself, see port-to-warehouse drayage.
How Charleston drayage pricing works
The line items that matter, explained.
Charleston drayage rates aren't one number. Here are the components that show up on every quote, and how Cate Freight handles each.
Base linehaul
The drive itself, terminal to delivery and back. Driven by mileage, wait time, and equipment type. Set up front in your quote.
Chassis
Daily chassis usage — TRAC, DCLI, or Flexi-Van. We avoid chassis split fees by routing to the depot that carries your line.
Fuel surcharge
Indexed to DOE diesel prices, refreshed weekly. Fuel is a line item, not a hidden markup.
Detention & per diem
Pass-through only. We tell you when the clock starts and we work hard to stop it. Live unloads are scheduled to fit free time.
Pre-pull & storage
If your dock isn't ready, we pre-pull and store. Quoted as a single package so you see the trade vs. demurrage.
Permits & specialty
Overweight permits, hazmat handling, OOG escort. Quoted up front when known. No surprise lines.
Why customers stay
Smaller, sharper, and built around the receiver.
Charleston has good drayage carriers. It also has a lot of bad ones. The bad ones don't check releases, can't reach a dispatcher after 4 PM, and don't email PODs back without three follow-ups. We were built to be the opposite of that.
The advantage is operational, not magical. Cate Freight came out of the warehouse and 3PL world. We know what a clean ASN looks like, what a customs broker needs back, and what a dock manager wishes drayage drivers understood. That experience is the whole differentiator.
More about usWhat "operationally sharp" actually means
- Release verificationCustoms, freight, and line holds checked before dispatch.
- Live terminal statusGate moves and chassis pool tracked daily.
- Quote within an hourBusiness hours. Off hours, by next morning.
- Same-day PODSigned BOL imaged, named, emailed.
- Honest accessorialsChassis, fuel, OW permits — all up front.
- One dispatcher per fileYou don't get bounced. You get a person.
Shopping the market
How to compare drayage companies in Charleston, SC.
Most drayage companies in Charleston will tell you they cover all three SCPA terminals and quote fast. The differences show up on the invoice and in the inbox. Grade any carrier — us included — on these five checks before you tender a container.
Release discipline
Ask when they verify customs, freight, and line holds. "At dispatch" means a truck can roll to Wando Welch for a box that isn't released — and you pay for the dry run.
Chassis pool access
A carrier without interchange access to your line's pool — TRAC, DCLI, or Flexi-Van — eats a chassis split fee on every move and passes it to you.
Itemized accessorials
Get the linehaul, fuel percentage, chassis day rate, and pre-pull cost as separate lines before you book. A single blended number hides the markup.
POD turnaround
Same-day signed POD should be standard, not a favor. If closing a file takes three follow-up emails, that cost lands on your ops team every week.
Dispatch reachability
Call the dispatch line at 4:30 PM before you sign up. Whoever answers — or doesn't — is who you'll be calling when a container hits detention on a Friday.
Put it to work
The full 11-point version of this checklist is in our guide to choosing a Charleston drayage carrier — or skip ahead and grade us on a live quote.
Common questions