Do you know the difference between drayage trucking and OTR trucking?

To the average person, trucking just seems like trucking. There’s no difference really in goods in a truck on the freeway or other roads.

But there really are huge differences, especially between drayage and over-the-road trucking.

The simplest distinction is distance.

In shipping and logistics, drayage is commonly the transport of goods by truck from (or to) a seaport, inland port or intermodal terminal when both destinations are in the same urban area.

It’s easy to think of drayage as part of a larger overall process, where goods imported from overseas and arrive at a port. Then the load must be transported via drayage to a nearby point where an over-the-road trucker can haul them a longer distance — perhaps across the country — to a warehouse for the customer.

Because over-the-road truckers drive longer distances, those drivers are typically newer to the field and are likely trying to gain experience and work their way up to get jobs over shorter distances like drayage.

Regarding technology and other factors, drayage and OTR trucking can present different needs and challenges. The players can be different, such as parts, intermediaries and even drivers and dispatchers.

In drayage, it’s important to be able to coordinate what is being moved when to avoid certain fees. In over-the-road trucking, obviously it takes resources to coordinate routes and traffic to make sure the load is secure and arrives in a timely manner.

However, in both cases, the end goal is usually the same for customers. They want to move goods as efficiently and effectively as possible.