Port drayage at the Port of Charleston, terminal by terminal.

What "port drayage" actually means at SCPA

Port drayage is short-haul trucking of an ocean container between a marine terminal and a nearby destination. At Charleston, "nearby" can mean a Mount Pleasant warehouse five miles from Wando Welch, or a Greenville DC two hundred and forty miles up I-26. Both are drayage moves; both run through the same SCPA gate process.

The job has three phases regardless of distance: pickup at the terminal, linehaul, and empty return. Most of the carrier-side complexity lives in phase one and three — the gate transactions, chassis split avoidance, and per-diem clock management that quietly determine whether your invoice ends up clean or messy.

How Cate Freight runs each SCPA terminal

Wando Welch Terminal (USCHA)

SCPA's flagship container terminal in Mount Pleasant. Wando handles the largest vessels calling the port and runs the highest container volume. Gate appointment discipline matters more here than anywhere else in Charleston — and we pull from Wando every single shift.

North Charleston Terminal (USNCH)

The original North Charleston terminal on the former Navy base. Direct interstate access (I-526 / I-26), strong for hazmat coordination and traditional dry container flows. Pickup and empty returns work cleanly here when the gate is moving.

Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal (USCHL)

SCPA's newest terminal, in North Charleston. Newer ship-to-shore lines, modern gate technology, and increasing share of Charleston's container moves as more services rotate in. We pull and return here on the same daily cadence as Wando.

Highway corridors and counties we run from each SCPA terminal

Charleston drayage is a corridor business as much as a terminal business. Where your container is going decides which interstate and which surface highways the driver runs, which in turn decides chassis routing, gate timing, and how clean the empty return looks. Here's how the lanes actually work out of each Charleston drayage terminal:

From Wando Welch Terminal (Mount Pleasant — Charleston County)

Wando sits in Mount Pleasant, east of the Cooper River. Outbound containers leave via the Don Holt Bridge or the Mark Clark Expressway (I-526), then split to US-17 for East Cooper and Lowcountry deliveries, or to I-26 for everything west and north. Local Mount Pleasant DCs are five-mile drays. Daniel Island, Cainhoy, and Hanahan are usually I-526 moves. Summerville and Goose Creek industrial parks come off I-26 once we're across the Cooper.

From North Charleston Terminal (North Charleston — Charleston County)

The original North Charleston terminal sits on the former Navy base with direct ramps to I-526 and I-26. From here we run US-52 and US-78 into Berkeley and Dorchester County warehouses (Goose Creek, Hanahan, Ladson, Summerville, Moncks Corner), and we take I-26 west for Columbia and the Upstate. For points south — Walterboro, Yemassee, Beaufort — it's I-526 to US-17, or I-26 to I-95 depending on consignee ZIP.

From Hugh Leatherman Terminal (North Charleston — Charleston County)

Leatherman shares North Charleston's interstate access pattern — straight onto I-526, with I-26 a short connector away. Most Leatherman containers we pull are heading to tri-county warehouses in Berkeley County, Dorchester County, and Charleston County, or up I-26 into the Midlands. Empty returns route back the same way.

Regional corridor reference

• I-26 north and west — Summerville, Columbia, Newberry, Spartanburg, Greenville, and onward to I-85 for Charlotte and Atlanta drays.
• I-95 north and south — Florence, Lumberton, and Fayetteville to the north; Walterboro, Yemassee, and the Florida border to the south.
• US-17 corridor — Mount Pleasant, McClellanville, Georgetown, and the Lowcountry; also Ravenel and Hollywood to the south of Charleston.
• US-78 / US-52 corridor — the Ladson, Summerville, Goose Creek, and Moncks Corner warehouse cluster where most Berkeley and Dorchester County drays terminate.
• I-526 (Mark Clark) ring — connects all three SCPA container terminals to North Charleston, West Ashley, and Mount Pleasant industrial property.

If your delivery ZIP is on one of these corridors, the route is settled. If it's not, send the ZIP and we'll walk the lane on the map before we quote. See the full Charleston drayage coverage area for every metro we touch on a normal week.