Cartage is a unique freight shipping service but it's often confused with other freight-related terms. In this article, we will explain how to utilize cartage services and highlight the key similarities and differences it has with other freight services. <\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t
- What Is Cartage?<\/a>
- When Are Cartage Services Used?<\/a>
- Free Trade Zones<\/a>
- Local Carting Services<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
- Cartage Compared to Other Freight Services<\/a>
- Drayage<\/a>
- Haulage<\/a>
- Shunting<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
- Use Cartage Services With R+L Global Logistics<\/a><\/ul><\/ul><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n
What Is Cartage?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nCartage is the process of moving goods over short distances. Goods that are transported with this service could travel within a metropolitan area or a small town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most carriers don't offer cartage services because they focus on long-distance shipping. As a result, many customers opt to find cartage agents that will transport their light haul shipment of goods the short distances carriers won't cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cartage companies use delivery trucks or vans to transport their customer's goods as LTL or less than truckload shipments. Therefore, many cartage companies charge shippers that utilize their services a cartage fee. This is similar to the fee that customs brokers, warehousing and shipping agents would charge for their services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To utilize cartage services, there are about three steps that you will have to follow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Contact Cartage Agent<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Hand off freight to cartage company<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fill out cartage advice paperwork<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
First, you will need to find and contact a cartage agent. Then your shipment will have to be handed off to the cartage company. If your shipment is handed off by a carrier, it will be marked as \"delivered\" by the carrier and can't be tracked with that carrier any further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, you will have to fill out new paperwork with your cartage agent since the paperwork that you used with your original carrier won't carry over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The document that shippers have to use for cartage services is called cartage advice. This legal document is similar to a bill of lading (BOL)<\/a>. The cartage advice document contains critical information about your shipment regarding things like destination, quantity of goods and the type of goods being moved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
When Are Cartage Services Used?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nCartage fees will be charged by your cartage company or truck driver performing the cartage services for you. Typically, the cartage fees will be quoted on the freight invoice for your shipment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oftentimes cartage fees are applied when a truck transports goods a short distance to a certain location like a residential area or business. However, there are other instances where cartage is used to transport freight from free trade zones and into a port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Free Trade Zones<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Free trade zones are geographic areas where various kinds of goods are welcome. Free trade zones are often extremely close to ports where goods are imported and exported by cargo vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goods that are in free trade zones<\/a> can be taken to a port for loading and then be re-exported. Cartage services come in handy for scenarios like this because the goods only need to travel a short distance to the port they will be re-exported from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local Carting Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Probably the most common and obvious form of cartage service is the one that transports goods within a city or small town. Since destinations are so close together in areas like these, it doesn't make sense to pay for the services of a normal long-haul shipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, cartage companies will take on this responsibility using their small trucks and vans to transport shipments within these more compact areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cartage Compared to Other Freight Services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Even though cartage is a unique service it has much in common with other types of ground transportation services. Cartage has so much in common with other transportation services that it's sometimes used interchangeably with services like drayage or haulage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since there is so much confusion between cartage and other transportation services, it\u2019s important to understand how cartage is both similar and different from these services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the services that cartage gets confused with are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Drayage<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Haulage<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Shunting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Drayage<\/h3>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nCartage and drayage services have many things in common. For one, both services transport freight fairly small distances. In the case of drayage services, freight is transported no further than 250 miles from the port it\u2019s received at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The difference between the two services lies in where the freight is transported. Freight that is transported using drayage services is typically delivered in a cargo container to a warehouse or distribution center. Once the container arrives, the freight in the containers is dispersed into smaller shipments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cartage services, on the other hand, transport bulk shipments and shipments that have already been dispersed into smaller ones. Smaller shipments are transported to destinations in cities or metropolitan areas. Another difference between these two services is what the freight is transported in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drayage services transport freight within a cargo container while cartage services transport freight within either a truck or a van.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Haulage<\/a>
- Local Carting Services<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li>
- When Are Cartage Services Used?<\/a>