Gateway
Rail Ramp Drayage & Transload
Off the ramp, onto pallets, out to the consignees — before the free time runs out.
Cargo Taxi Deliveries handles rail ramp freight in Los Angeles, including the BNSF Hobart yard in Commerce and the Union Pacific ICTF near Long Beach. Freight is transloaded from rail containers onto pallets and delivered across the basin and the western states, scheduled against the ramp's free time to avoid storage charges.
Rail is the cheapest way to get a container to Los Angeles and the easiest place to lose that saving. Ramps charge storage once free time expires, availability is not the same as arrival, and a container that is notified on a Friday and collected on a Tuesday has eaten a meaningful share of whatever the rail leg saved. The entire job is scheduling.
The main Southern California ramps are the BNSF Hobart intermodal facility in Commerce — one of the largest in the country — and the Union Pacific Intermodal Container Transfer Facility near the ports. Freight is transloaded onto pallets and distributed, which for a container going to more than one consignee is both faster and cheaper than delivering the container itself.
As with the ports, the honest scope note applies: this is a transload and distribution operation rather than a chassis-pulling drayage fleet. Where a job genuinely needs a container on a chassis delivered live to a dock, dispatch will tell you so and point you at the right equipment rather than taking the booking.
Specifications
The numbers.
| Ramps served | BNSF Hobart, Commerce; UP ICTF, Long Beach |
|---|---|
| Service type | Transload and distribution |
| Scheduling | Against ramp free time and notified availability |
| Onward lanes | LA basin plus ten further western states |
| Not available | Live chassis container delivery — referred out |
Equipment used for this work
26ft Box Truck
Enclosed 26ft box with a liftgate and a pallet jack on board as standard — the right truck for palletized freight going anywhere without a dock.
- Limit: Not a 53ft trailer — 12 pallet positions, not 26
- Limit: Restricted on some residential streets and low clearances
26ft Flatbed, Sleeper Cab
Open 26ft deck with a sleeper cab — machinery, steel, building materials, and multi-day long hauls that run without a forced overnight stop.
- Limit: No liftgate — consignee needs a forklift or crane
- Limit: Open deck: weather exposure unless tarped
Questions
Rail Ramp Drayage, answered.
Which Los Angeles rail ramps do you serve?
The BNSF Hobart intermodal facility in Commerce and the Union Pacific Intermodal Container Transfer Facility near Long Beach, which between them handle the bulk of Southern California intermodal volume. Give dispatch the ramp, the container number and the notified availability date when booking.
How do you avoid rail storage charges?
By booking against the notified availability and the free-time expiry rather than against the container's arrival. Those are different dates, and the gap between them is where storage charges come from. Tell dispatch the last free day at booking so the pickup can be scheduled inside it.
Can rail freight be split between multiple consignees?
Yes — that is the main advantage of transloading rather than delivering the container. The contents come off onto pallets and are distributed on a multi-stop route, so no single consignee has to receive and sort a whole container that is mostly somebody else's freight.
Further reading
How this works in practice.
Related services
Often booked together.
Port Drayage
TWIC-carded drivers, terminal appointments kept, and your freight on its way to the dock instead of sitting in a yard.
LTL & Palletized Freight
One to twelve pallets, liftgate and pallet jack on every truck, and no terminal in the middle losing your freight.
Long-Haul Trucking
Eleven states, one driver, one truck — from the LA basin to wherever in the West the load has to be.
Dedicated Truckload
Your freight is the only freight on the truck — loaded once, driven straight through, unloaded at the other end.