Charleston, SC service

Transload drayage that closes the per-diem clock the same day.

Transloading is the right answer when your inland leg is much longer than the dray, when your shipper-of-record needs floor-loaded freight inside a 53', or when you want to return the empty fast and stop per diem cold. Cate Freight delivers to Charleston transload yards and coordinates the cross-dock — including same-day empty return.

Request a quote (843) 484-7161 dispatch

What transload looks like in practice

A transload is a planned cross-dock: the ocean container is delivered to a transload facility, the contents are unloaded and reloaded onto domestic equipment (53' van, flatbed, or pallet for parcel/LTL), and the empty container is returned same day. The freight then moves inland on a domestic carrier — often cheaper, often faster, almost always more flexible than dragging the ocean box another 800 miles.

When transload beats a long-haul dray

Inland delivery is more than ~250 miles from Charleston
You're paying ocean per diem on a slow inland leg
Your shipper-of-record needs 53' equipment
The freight breaks down across multiple consignees
You want palletized freight on parcel or LTL for the last mile

Ship heavy, transload near the port: the overweight math

The biggest savings transloading unlocks in Charleston is the ship-heavy play. Over the road, a 40' container on a standard 5-axle chassis tops out around 44,000 lb of payload. But the short dray from Wando Welch, North Charleston, or Hugh Leatherman to a Charleston-area transload facility can run on a tri-axle chassis under an SCDOT overweight permit — the same overweight container drayage setup we run every week, good to roughly 60,000 lb of payload.

That gap is the whole strategy: load the ocean container to what the vessel and origin allow instead of what U.S. highways allow, dray it heavy for the few permitted miles to the transload dock, then reload into 53' vans at legal domestic weights for the inland leg. Dense freight ships in fewer ocean containers per ton — and the ocean freight saved usually clears the permit fee and transload handling several times over. On cube it works too: a 53' dry van holds roughly 40% more than a 40' high-cube, so lighter freight consolidates on the reload instead of moving inland half-empty.

If your commodity is dense — tile, metals, paper, machinery parts, beverages — ask us to quote the move both ways: standard-weight boxes dray-direct versus heavy boxes transloaded near the port. The spreadsheet usually decides it for you.

How Cate Freight coordinates a transload

Drayage to transload yard. Container delivered with appointment booked.
Cross-dock coordination. We work the transload facility on your behalf — pallet count, equipment match, BOL handoff.
Empty return same day. Per diem clock stops the same shift the contents come off.
Inland handoff. Domestic carrier dispatched against your TMS or via our partners.
Documentation. Container EIR, transload BOL, and inland POD all back to you in one package.

Port-to-rail drayage: the Norfolk Southern and CSX ramps

Charleston has no on-dock rail today, so every intermodal box still moves by truck for its first or last leg. If your container is routing to rail, the move is a dray from the SCPA terminal to the Norfolk Southern or CSX railhead in North Charleston — and the reverse for inbound rail freight headed to a Lowcountry consignee. This is core Charleston drayage work, and it's exactly the kind of port-to-rail leg that gets dropped when a carrier only thinks door-to-door.

When the Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) opens near the Hugh Leatherman Terminal, the railhead dray gets shorter and intermodal becomes a stronger option for Charleston imports moving to the Midwest. Cate Freight runs both legs — the port-to-rail dray and the rail-to-door dray — and we'll route to NBIF the day it's live.

Pairs well with

Other Charleston drayage services we run.

Port-to-warehouse drayage

Direct delivery when transload doesn't pencil.

Import container drayage

Releases checked before dispatch.

Drayage for 3PLs

Coordination across inbound and inland.

Common questions

Charleston drayage FAQ

Do you run port-to-rail drayage to the Charleston rail ramps?

Yes. Charleston has no on-dock rail yet, so intermodal containers move by dray between the SCPA terminals and the Norfolk Southern or CSX railhead in North Charleston. We run the port-to-rail leg outbound and the rail-to-door leg inbound. Once the Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) opens near Hugh Leatherman, that railhead dray gets shorter and we'll route to it directly.

Do you operate your own transload warehouse?

Cate Freight is a drayage carrier. We coordinate with established Charleston-area transload facilities and warehouse partners. The advantage is that we treat the warehouse like a customer — because that's the world we came from — so the cross-dock side runs cleanly.

Can you handle the inland leg after transload?

We'll dispatch the inland leg through our partners or we'll integrate with your TMS so your domestic carrier picks it up. Either way, you get one set of paperwork back.

How fast does the empty return after transload?

Same day in almost every case. The per-diem clock stops the moment the empty hits the terminal or the line's depot.

What does “ship heavy and transload” mean?

It means loading the ocean container heavier than U.S. highway limits allow — since the vessel doesn't care — then running the short Charleston dray on a tri-axle chassis under an SCDOT overweight permit to a nearby transload facility, where the freight reloads into 53' vans at legal domestic weights. Dense freight moves in fewer ocean containers per ton, and the ocean savings usually outweigh the permit and handling costs.

Is transload cheaper than long-haul drayage?

Often, especially over 250 miles, when inland equipment is cheaper than ocean per diem and chassis daily costs combined. We'll do the math both ways for any move you ask us to quote.