Container drayage at CN Brampton.
We pull import and export containers off the Brampton Intermodal Terminal at 76 Intermodal Drive in Brampton, and deliver across the Greater Toronto Area and the rest of Ontario.
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What we move.
Marine containers
Import and export boxes off the ramp.
Domestic containers
Domestic boxes off the same ramp.
Refrigerated containers
Send us the set point with the tender.
Where we deliver.
Off Brampton we deliver across Peel, York, Halton, Toronto and Durham, and out into the rest of Ontario.
One desk covers both ramps and runs our Ontario and Ontario to Quebec lanes, including truckload.
- Peel
- York
- Halton
- Toronto
- Durham
- Rest of Ontario
- Ontario to Quebec
How a container reaches your dock.
Drayage looks like one move. It is really a chain, and a truck is only the last link. Most delays happen before a driver is involved, which is why we tell you where a box actually is rather than when we will try again.
The box lands
Your container is discharged at the port of arrival and moves inland by rail. Until it is grounded at Brampton it is not ours to pull, whatever the sailing schedule said.
It becomes available
The terminal flags the container as available. Available is not the same as released, and a box can sit available for days while a release is missing.
Two releases have to exist
Customs has to release the freight, and the steamship line has to release it commercially, usually once freight and any charges are settled. Either one missing stops the move.
We take the gate
We pull the container with a chassis under it and leave the terminal. This is the only part of the chain a carrier controls outright.
We deliver and you unload
Live unload with the driver waiting, or a drop if you have the yard space and the equipment to keep. Tell us which at tender, because they cost differently and book differently.
The empty goes back
The container returns to the terminal the line nominates. The job is not finished when you are unloaded, it is finished when the empty is accepted.
Two clocks, and who owns each.
Almost every unexpected container bill comes from confusing these two. They are charged by different parties, for different things, and they can run at the same time.
Demurrage is the terminal and the line charging you because the container is still sitting inside the terminal after its free days are used. It stops the moment the box leaves the gate.
Per diem, which you will also hear called detention, is the line charging you for keeping their container and often their chassis out in the world. It starts when the box leaves the gate and stops when the empty is accepted back.
So a container sitting at your dock is usually not accruing demurrage and is usually accruing per diem. A container stuck at the terminal is the reverse. Free time is set by your carrier contract with the line, not by us, and it differs by line and by service.
- Demurrage starts: free days used at the terminal
- Demurrage stops: the box clears the gate
- Per diem starts: the box clears the gate
- Per diem stops: the empty is accepted back
Ask your line for your free time in writing before the vessel arrives. It is the one number that changes what a delay costs you.
What actually slows a container down.
None of these are unusual. Knowing which one you have tells you whether you are waiting hours or days.
A hold is on the box
A customs hold or exam, a line hold for unpaid charges, or a terminal hold. The container will not gate out until the party that placed it lifts it. A truck cannot help, and sending one wastes a slot.
The chassis and box are apart
A split means the container and a usable chassis are not together. Someone has to make an extra move to marry them, which is an extra trip, not a delay we can drive through.
The empty is refused
Terminals refuse empties when they are full, when the line will not take that box back at that location, or when there is no slot. Per diem keeps running while the empty sits, which is why we flag a refusal the same day rather than the next.
The fastest container is the one where the releases are done before it grounds. If you send us the booking early we will tell you what is still missing while there is time to fix it, instead of discovering it at the gate.
What we run, and what we do not.
- Container drayage off CN Brampton and CPKC Vaughan
- Pickup and delivery across the Greater Toronto Area
- Ontario lanes and Ontario to Quebec
- Truckload on the same lanes
- Cross-border into the United States
- Long haul beyond Ontario and Quebec
- Port of Montreal container moves
Setara Transport does not run these. Customs is arranged through a licensed customs broker partner.
How to book a container.
Send us the container
The ramp, the container size and how many, and the delivery address. Add the set point if it is a reefer.
Reach dispatch
Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00 Eastern.