Intermodal drayage and chassis basics

What intermodal drayage is

Intermodal freight moves in a container or trailer that rides on more than one mode, usually a train or a ship, with a truck at each end. The truck legs are called drayage: from a rail ramp or seaport to a warehouse, and back with the empty or an export load.

• Rail drayage: pick up and drop containers at a railroad's intermodal ramp, often for domestic freight.
• Port drayage: pick up and return ocean containers at marine terminals. Port work usually needs a TWIC card and terminal registrations. See our TWIC and port drayage guide.
• The equipment isn't yours. The container belongs to an ocean carrier, railroad or leasing company, and it rides on a chassis that may come from a chassis pool or a lessor. You bring the tractor.

Who owns the chassis, and what they must do

Federal rules call the company that tenders intermodal equipment to you an intermodal equipment provider (IEP). Under 49 CFR 390.40T, the IEP must:

• Register with FMCSA (Form MCS-150C) and mark its equipment with its own USDOT number.
• Inspect, repair and maintain its equipment on a regular program, and keep the records.
• Tender equipment in safe operating condition, and make sure it has a current annual inspection.
• Give drivers a way and a place to do a pre-trip inspection.
• Repair or replace equipment when your pre-trip finds a defect, before you leave.
• Have a system to receive your defect reports.

So the chassis carries the IEP's USDOT number, not yours.

Your inspection before you roll

Before you drive intermodal equipment, 49 CFR 390.42(a) says you must inspect these parts and be satisfied they're in good working order (the list is in 49 CFR 392.7(b)):

• Service brake parts you can see without getting under the vehicle, and the trailer brake connections
• Lights, lamps, markers and reflective tape
• Wheels, rims, lugs and tires
• Air line connections, hoses and couplers
• King pin and upper coupling
• Rails or support frames, and tie-down bolsters
• Locking pins, clevises, clamps or hooks (the twist locks that hold the container)
• Sliders or sliding frame lock

Once you drive it over the road, you're treated as having confirmed those parts were OK. If something is wrong, have the IEP fix or swap the equipment before you leave the facility. Our pre-trip inspection checklist covers the tractor side.

Report defects when you return it

When you return the equipment, report any damage or defects you know about to the IEP or its agent (49 CFR 396.11(b)). The report needs:

• Your company name, your USDOT number, the IEP's USDOT number and the equipment's ID number
• The date and time you turn it in
• The defects you found, and your signature

The IEP must repair safety defects and certify the repair before it tenders that equipment again, and it keeps the record for 3 months (49 CFR 396.12). If you get a roadside violation that was really the IEP's responsibility, you can ask for a review through DataQs (49 CFR 390.44).

Container weight: the 29,000 lb rule

• Who certifies: when a loaded container or trailer holds more than 29,000 lb of cargo (including packaging, pallets and dunnage), the person who tenders it to the first carrier must certify the actual gross cargo weight, a description of the contents, the container number and the date (49 U.S.C. 5902).
• No certification: you may presume the cargo weighs less than 29,001 lb. The certification doesn't have to travel with the container (49 U.S.C. 5903).
• Wrong certification: states may fine the party that tendered the container. A carrier that pays a fine caused by a wrong or missing certification gets a lien on the cargo until it's repaid, except for perishable farm products (49 U.S.C. 5904 to 5906).
• Leased-on drivers: a motor carrier must give its leased operator written notice of the certified weight, or reimburse a fine the operator pays (49 U.S.C. 5903).

Federal limits still apply to the whole truck: 80,000 lb gross, 20,000 lb on a single axle and 34,000 lb on a tandem on the Interstate, or less where the bridge formula says so (23 CFR 658.17). Check an axle setup with our bridge formula calculator, and see weigh stations.

Per diem, demurrage and detention bills

• UIIA: most equipment providers require the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement. The current agreement is dated June 18, 2026. Its base insurance terms are $1,000,000 auto liability naming the provider as additional insured, $1,000,000 general liability per occurrence and the UIIE-1 endorsement. Trailer interchange coverage and its amount are set by each provider.
• Per diem: each provider's addendum sets free days and daily charges for keeping its container or chassis. Log every out-gate and in-gate time.
• Ocean carrier bills: under the Federal Maritime Commission's rule (46 CFR 541, in effect since May 28, 2024), a demurrage or detention invoice must go out within 30 days after the charge was last incurred and must carry the required information. If it doesn't, the billed party doesn't have to pay. The billed party gets at least 30 days to dispute it.
• Truckers can be billed. The part of the FMC rule that barred billing motor carriers was struck down by a federal court in September 2025 and removed in December 2025. Read every invoice, and dispute late or incomplete ones in writing.

Before you take drayage work

• Price per move, not per mile. Gate waits and appointment windows eat into the day, so run the numbers in the cost per mile calculator.
• Budget for the UIIA insurance and the per diem risk before you sign.
• If you'd rather pull trailers someone else supplies on over-the-road lanes, compare power only trailer pools and power only dispatch.

Fleetorica is a dispatch service, not a broker or carrier.

Questions carriers ask