An arrival notice tells you that your shipment is approaching its destination. Turning that notice into a successful warehouse delivery requires several people to coordinate documents, releases, equipment, appointments, and deadlines — and in Chicago, where a container can land at any of fifteen rail ramps, it also requires knowing which terminal’s rules apply.

Container drayage is the truck movement connecting a port or rail terminal with a warehouse or another inland location. For a typical import shipment using carrier-owned equipment, the work continues through unloading and the authorized return of the empty container. This guide follows that process from the first shipment notice to the records that close the move. (If you are new to the term, start with What Is Drayage?)

Who handles each part of the move?

Responsibilities depend on the transportation agreement, but a practical arrangement usually involves these parties:

• The importer or its logistics representative supplies shipment information, appoints service providers, and approves the transportation plan.
• The customs broker handles the customs work within its assignment and communicates relevant release information.
• The ocean carrier, forwarder, or NVOCC provides shipment references and addresses its documentation and freight-release requirements.
• The terminal or railroad provides facility instructions and shipment status for the pickup.
• The drayage company coordinates the truck, driver, chassis, pickup, delivery, and agreed equipment return.
• The receiving warehouse confirms its appointment, unloading arrangements, and when the container is empty.

Identify one main coordination contact. That person should know who is resolving each open issue and who can approve a change.

Step 1: Review the arrival notice

The arrival notice provides information about an incoming shipment. Depending on the issuer, it may include the vessel, estimated arrival, bill of lading reference, container details, destination information, and charges or instructions requiring attention. Use it to start planning. Confirm:

• The shipment and container references.
• The container size and type.
• The expected arrival and intended pickup location.
• The final delivery address.
• The parties handling customs and carrier release.
• Whether inland transportation is already included in the booking.

For a shipment continuing inland by rail, the ocean port and the drayage pickup point may be different places. A container arriving by vessel on the West Coast might travel by train before its final truck pickup in Chicago — at BNSF Logistics Park in Elwood or UP Global IV in Joliet for most West Coast traffic, or at CN Harvey or CPKC Bensenville for Canadian-port routings (see the Chicago rail ramp guide). An arrival notice does not establish that the container is ready to leave the terminal.

Step 2: Book the drayage service and confirm its scope

Contact the drayage provider before the container becomes available whenever possible. Early planning gives the team time to review the shipment and receiving requirements. Send the arrival notice or relevant shipment details together with:

• The complete delivery address and receiving contact.
• Cargo description and weight, including the units of measurement.
• Container size and equipment requirements.
• The requested delivery date.
• Warehouse hours and appointment requirements.
• Any temperature-control, hazardous-material, or special-handling needs.

Ask for a written quote describing the loaded movement, unloading arrangement, chassis use, and empty-return scope. Also identify how waiting time, unsuccessful pickup attempts, extra stops, pre-pulls, and storage would be charged. Rushmore’s published drayage rates by ZIP code show the base linehaul before you ask for a firm quote.

If some details remain unknown, mark them as pending. An estimated arrival date should remain an estimate until the shipment’s status supports a firmer plan.

Step 3: Confirm releases and actual pickup availability

Before sending the driver, the team must establish that the container can physically and administratively leave the pickup facility. Several separate checks may be necessary:

• Customs and other government requirements: confirm the release or authorization required for the intended movement.
• Carrier release: verify that the applicable freight, documentation, and release requirements have been satisfied.
• Terminal readiness: confirm that the container is available for collection and that no terminal restriction prevents pickup.
• Payment or guarantee requirements: determine whether any charges must be settled or guaranteed before the gate transaction.
• Pickup authorization: make sure the trucking company has the correct reference and authorization for the shipment.

A customs release does not automatically clear a carrier hold. A carrier release does not mean a container has been unloaded from the train and made available. For an authorized in-bond movement, the customs process differs from a delivery of goods released for domestic consumption; that movement needs its own confirmed instructions.

Step 4: Record the pickup and equipment deadlines

A container move can involve several independent billing clocks. The terminal last free day (LFD) identifies the pickup deadline before additional terminal charges apply. The container equipment deadline concerns the allowed use of the carrier’s container. Chassis billing follows its own terms.

In marine-terminal operations, demurrage generally concerns a container remaining beyond terminal free time. Container detention concerns extended equipment use. Inland rail storage should be identified separately. Ask the responsible provider to confirm:

• The applicable deadline.
• Whether time is counted by calendar days, working days, hours, or another method.
• The event that begins the clock.
• The event that ends it.
• Any separately confirmed extension.

Keep the source and time of the confirmation in the shipment record. Do not assume that one free-time allowance covers every clock: a container can be inside the railroad’s free time and already past the steamship line’s, or the other way around. Each Chicago railroad sets its own free time and gate hours, so record the rule for the specific ramp rather than a general assumption. Our guide to demurrage, detention and rail storage in Chicago explains what each clock costs and the moves that stop it.

Step 5: Dispatch the truck and complete the pickup

Once availability, releases and the LFD are confirmed, the drayage company assigns a driver and chassis. Confirm the chassis type matches the load — an overweight container needs a tri-axle, and a carrier that runs its own chassis avoids the “no chassis at the ramp” delay entirely. If the container will not be picked up on the day it is needed, decide now whether a pre-pull to the carrier’s yard is cheaper than the storage that would accrue.

At the gate the driver presents the pickup reference, the terminal issues an equipment interchange receipt (EIR) recording the container, chassis and any damage, and the driver verifies the seal number against the documents. The out-gate time is the timestamp that stops terminal storage and starts the equipment clock, so the dispatcher should record it and notify the coordination contact the same day.

Step 6: Deliver to the warehouse

Delivery follows the arrangement agreed at booking. With a live unload the driver waits while the receiver empties the container, and waiting time beyond the quoted allowance is billable. With a drop and pick the container and chassis stay at the dock and a truck returns for the empty later, which adds chassis days but frees the driver. Either way, confirm before dispatch that the receiver has the appointment, dock, equipment and staff for that container on that day; a missed appointment is the most common reason a box sits.

The driver collects a signed proof of delivery. If the container is dropped, agree who will notify dispatch when it is empty. A dropped container that nobody reports empty can quietly run up detention for days.

Step 7: Return the empty and close the equipment record

Detention stops only when the empty container is accepted at a location approved by the steamship line — not when it leaves the warehouse. Return instructions change, in Chicago sometimes daily, so check the line’s current empty-return location on the day of the move rather than assuming the container goes back where it came from. If an export load is available, an approved street turn can reuse the container and skip the empty trip altogether.

At the return gate the driver receives the in-gate EIR. That receipt, with the time and location, is the document that ends the equipment clock and is your defense against a detention invoice that runs past it. The chassis is returned or retained under its own terms.

Step 8: Close the file

A drayage move is finished when the paperwork agrees with what happened. Match the carrier’s invoice against the quote: the loaded move, any accessorials, chassis days, waiting time and pre-pull or storage charges, each tied to an event you can see in the record. Keep together the arrival notice, releases, out-gate EIR, proof of delivery and in-gate EIR. When a storage or detention charge arrives from the railroad or steamship line weeks later, those timestamps are what you dispute it with.

The container drayage checklist

1. Arrival notice reviewed; references, container size, pickup terminal and delivery address confirmed.
2. Drayage booked early, with a written quote that states scope, chassis terms and accessorials.
3. Customs release, carrier release, terminal availability, payment status and pickup authorization each confirmed separately.
4. Terminal LFD, equipment deadline and chassis terms recorded, with the source and time of each confirmation.
5. Driver and correct chassis dispatched; out-gate EIR and seal verified and recorded.
6. Receiver appointment confirmed; unloading arrangement agreed; proof of delivery collected; “empty” notification assigned.
7. Current empty-return location checked; in-gate EIR received and filed.
8. Invoice reconciled against the quote and the timestamps; file closed.

How Rushmore runs this process in Chicago

Rushmore Transportation is an asset-based drayage carrier in Franklin Park, next to the CPKC Bensenville ramp, with company drivers, company 20/40 and tri-axle chassis, and coverage at every Chicago rail ramp. Dispatch tracks the LFD on every container, runs weekday and weekend pre-pulls, confirms empty-return locations before each move, and can transload at our Franklin Park facility when a receiver cannot take a container. Send us your arrival notice, delivery address and required date and we will take it from there. Request a quote or call dispatch at (312) 238-9395.

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