Transloading is the process of moving freight out of one container or trailer and into another for the next leg of its journey — most commonly transferring the contents of import ocean containers into domestic 53-foot trailers or containers for the inland move. The cargo is handled and reloaded rather than staying in the same box the whole way.
The economic driver is capacity: three 40-foot ocean containers of goods often fit into two 53-foot domestic trailers. By consolidating, a shipper reduces the number of inland units it has to move and pay for, and it can return the ocean containers to the port quickly to stop per-diem and demurrage.
Transloading also decouples the international schedule from the domestic one — goods can be staged, mixed, or rerouted at the transload facility — but it adds a handling step and a warehouse cost. It sits alongside pure drayage as a complementary service: drayage brings the box to the transload dock, and transloading takes it from there.
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