Long Beach, CA, June 13, 2022 — Dray Alliance today announced that 83.82% of the company’s transactions at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach since Jan. 1, 2022 have been dual transactions – when a driver returns an empty container in exchange for a full load at the same port terminal. This number outpaces averages reported by four terminals at these ports by over 30%, as 49.33% of transactions were reported as dual at these terminals, according to available data.
“By focusing on dual transactions, we are working with independent carriers to take strides to decongest ports, move containers at a more efficient clip and free up chassis to repeat the process again,” said Steve Wen, Co-Founder and CEO of Dray Alliance. “It is essential now to find effective ways to clear the backlogs that persist at our ports. Inconsistent and inefficient port practices have been a pain point in our industry well before the pandemic, they were just exacerbated by the myriad of disruptions.”
Available data from the Harbor Trucking Association (HTA) provided 198 data points since the start of 2022. According to this data, Yusen Terminals, Inc., Total Terminals International, LLC., Everport Terminal Services and Trapac reported daily averages ranging from 27% to 81%.
“Solutions to the backlogs we face at the ports are simple on paper, but harder to execute when adding in the human layer,” Wen said. “Having this data from the HTA and these terminals provides us with the ability to set our carriers up for success when exchanging empty containers and taking full loads out to warehouses.”
Dray Alliance provides carriers an opportunity to be their own dispatchers — displaying loads ready for pickup on the company’s mobile app and allowing drivers to select the load at their discretion. Carrier drivers are then directed to pick up an empty container from a warehouse yard, given a timeframe for port arrival and are more quickly moved through the queue at the terminal to receive a full container to dray out to a warehouse.
“We are like the ‘Doordash’ of container delivery,” Wen said. “But instead of just taking a full container to a warehouse – much like a driver takes a customer their food – we are able to also ‘take out the trash’ and empower carriers to assist us in port decongestion through our dual transaction efforts.”
Carriers are not the only ones benefiting from Dray Alliance’s dual transaction rates. Shippers are able to avoid outgate charges as Dray Alliance drivers are able to retain possession of chassis, ensuring the equipment needed to reliably outgate shipments without delay is available. High dual transaction rates also help limit the amount of per diem fees shippers pay, as Dray Alliance is able to ingate shipments before partners incur any additional costs.