Port of Los Angeles Drayage

Drayage at the Port of Los Angeles

Los Angeles drayage moves import containers from Port of Los Angeles terminals in San Pedro, Wilmington and on Terminal Island to warehouses, distribution centers, CFS and transload facilities across Southern California. The port handled more than 10.2 million TEUs in 2025, and it ranked as the No. 1 container port in the United States for 25 consecutive years through 2024.

The Port of Los Angeles covers 7,500 acres along 43 miles of waterfront, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. That spread is what makes LA drayage different: a pickup on the west side of the main channel in San Pedro and one on Terminal Island are different drives, with different bridges and freeway access, even though both are the same port.

Port of Los Angeles geography for drayage planning

The Harbor District spans three areas. Where your container sits affects the route out and the time to your door.

Serving Los Angeles drayage from across the harbor

Our operation is in Long Beach, on the other side of the shared harbor. From there, Terminal Island is one bridge away, and San Pedro and Wilmington terminals are a short run over SR-47. That puts our chassis, yard and warehouse close to every Port of Los Angeles terminal, not only the ones nearest Long Beach.

The practical benefit is the cross-harbor move. A container pulled in San Pedro can be in our Long Beach yard, CFS or transload dock within a short drive, worked there, and the empty returned to the Los Angeles side without the long round trip a carrier based inland would make. We pull standard Los Angeles containers on our own 20' and 40' chassis, or a triaxle chassis for heavy loads, and our TWIC-carrying drivers and registered trucks have access to terminals on both sides of the harbor.

Example: a San Pedro container that is not ready for delivery

Example with round hypothetical numbers: a 40' container discharges at a San Pedro terminal on Wednesday with an LFD of Monday. The importer's warehouse in the Inland Empire has no receiving appointment until the following Thursday, and the freight needs to be split between two customers anyway.

Leaving the box on terminal would mean three days of demurrage, or $450 at a hypothetical $150 a day, with per diem still to come after pickup. Instead, we pull it Friday, cross the harbor to our Long Beach transload dock, split the freight into two domestic loads and return the empty to the depot the line designates. Demurrage never starts, and the per diem clock stops days earlier than it would on a drop at the warehouse.

The same logic applies to a Terminal Island pickup. The run to our dock is even shorter, so a same-day pull, unload and empty return is often realistic when the terminal appointment comes early in the day.

How we handle a Port of Los Angeles drayage pickup

1. 01
   Confirm terminal and release

   We confirm which Los Angeles terminal holds the container and check customs, freight and terminal holds before a truck is dispatched.

2. 02
   Book the appointment

   We book the terminal's import appointment against the last free day and look for an empty return to pair with it on the same visit.

3. 03
   Plan the route out

   A Terminal Island pickup bound for the Inland Empire runs differently from a San Pedro pickup bound for central Los Angeles. We route by terminal and destination.

4. 04
   Deliver or bring it across the harbor

   The container goes to your facility as a live unload or a drop, or across to our Long Beach operation for container storage, CFS or transloading.

5. 05
   Return the empty

   The empty goes back to the terminal or depot the steamship line designates, which may be on either side of the harbor.

When Los Angeles vs. Long Beach matters for importers

Importers rarely choose the terminal. The ocean carrier's vessel service decides it. What you can control is how you plan around it:

• Same programs, same fees. Both ports apply the PierPass Traffic Mitigation Fee and the Clean Truck Fund rate per loaded container, so the port itself does not change those charges.
• Different drive times. Terminal location and your warehouse location decide the run. A San Pedro pickup has direct Harbor Freeway access toward central Los Angeles, while Terminal Island pickups often route east through Long Beach.
• Empty returns can cross the harbor. A steamship line may direct an empty from a Los Angeles import to a Long Beach terminal or depot. A carrier working both sides plans the return as part of the next pickup.
• Split arrivals. A large order may land on two vessels calling different ports. One carrier handling both keeps appointments, storage and delivery on one plan.

For the full picture of routing freight through the two ports, read importing through Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Port trucking for San Pedro, Wilmington and nearby markets

• Short local moves between terminals, yards and nearby warehouses in Carson and the South Bay
• Port to warehouse trucking to the Inland Empire and across Southern California
• Heavy containers on triaxle chassis, and overweight containers with permits arranged when required
• 40' high cube and 45' containers, open-top and flat-rack containers, and hazmat containers with the hazard class confirmed per shipment at quote time
• Reefer containers delivered direct from the terminal to your dock; we have no reefer plug-ins, so reefers do not come across the harbor to our yard for storage
• In-bond moves under our bonded carrier authority. See bonded drayage in Los Angeles and Los Angeles bonded warehousing.
• Unloading and onward freight through our Los Angeles warehousing and cross-docking services

Frequently asked questions