Where do I return an empty container in the GTA?
Your empty goes back to the ramp, CN Brampton or CPKC Vaughan, or to a depot your ocean line names. The line's release or return instructions say which one. Per diem stops only when the empty is accepted back there. So the return location matters as much as the unload. Send it with the tender, and Setara Transport takes the empty there.
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Where does an empty container go back in the GTA?
To the ramp or to a depot your ocean line names. Each line sets its own return location, so two containers off the same train can go back to different places.
The ocean line controls its containers, so the line decides where each empty goes back. It can name the ramp or a separate depot.
Railways charge for returns to the wrong place too. At CPKC, returning a container or chassis to a different terminal than the one it came from costs a fee. The rule is in CPKC's intermodal services tariff.
The wrong place costs time and money. Check the location before the empty leaves your site.
- The return location
- The ramp or a depot
- Any appointment the location needs
- The container number on the paperwork
How do you find the return location for your container?
Look at your ocean line's release or delivery order first. If it is not there, check the line's own online tools or ask your forwarder.
The release
The line's release or delivery order often names where the empty goes back.
The line's tools
Your line's own online tools may show the location by container number.
Your forwarder
If you booked through a forwarder, they can get it from the line for you.
Send it to us
Put the return location on the tender, so the driver knows before leaving your site.
If a dropped container waits at your site, confirm the return location again before you call for the pickup.
Who brings the empty back?
We do. After a live unload or a drop, we take the empty to the ramp or the depot your line names. Our conditions of carriage ask for where the empty goes back on every drayage tender.
After a live unload, the empty leaves with the same truck. After a drop, call dispatch when the container is empty, and we come back for it.
Empty means empty. CN's Brampton yard rules make the driver responsible for removing dunnage from empty CN containers before they come to the terminal. CPKC's tariff charges a fee for equipment returned damaged, not fully unloaded, or not clear of snow and debris.
At CN Brampton, a driver dropping off a steamship container, empty or loaded, needs a gate appointment. CN lists the exceptions on its gate appointment page.
- Fully unloaded
- Dunnage and bracing out
- Doors closed and secured
- Snow and debris cleared
Why does the return location decide when per diem stops?
Per diem stops when the empty is accepted back at the ramp or the depot your line names. Leaving your dock does not stop it.
Per diem is the common name for the ocean line's detention charge. It starts when the container leaves the ramp and runs until the empty is returned.
A live unload sends the empty back sooner. With a drop, per diem keeps running until the empty is back with the line. Live unload or drop compares the two.
Your line and your contract set the per diem free time. Ask the line in writing, and plan the unload around it. The full clock is on when per diem stops.
- Starts: the container leaves the ramp
- Stops: the empty is accepted back
- Free time: set by your line
- Weekends: ask your line
What if the return location will not take the empty?
Per diem keeps running until the empty is accepted back. If a location turns your empty away, ask your line where else it can go.
CPKC's intermodal services tariff sets the terms for empties at its terminals. An empty is accepted when it is in good repair and its owner has a storage agreement there. The container number must also be in CPKC's system, and the gate rules of that terminal apply.
At CN Brampton, CN requires a gate appointment to drop off a steamship container, empty ones included. A driver who arrives after the appointment has expired cannot enter and must rebook.
- Per diem keeps running
- Ask your line where else it can go
- Send the new location to dispatch
- Keep the dates in writing
Under our conditions of carriage, where a delay is ours, we own it. Where it comes from the ramp, the line, customs or the receiver, it stays with the shipment.
What should you keep as proof of the return?
Ask your line to confirm the return date it recorded. That date ends per diem, so it is the one that counts on the line's invoice.
Check it against your own dates: when the container left the ramp, when it was emptied, and when it went back. If the line's date looks late, raise it with the line in writing.
Keep the return instructions you were given on file too. They show where the line asked you to send the empty.
- The line's confirmed return date
- The return instructions you were given
- The date the container left the ramp
- The date it was emptied
What does Setara Transport do?
We return empties to the ramp or to a depot the shipping line names. It is the last step of an import move off CN Brampton and CPKC Vaughan. Delivery runs across Peel, York, Halton, Toronto and Durham, and out into the rest of Ontario.
- The container number and the ramp
- Live unload or drop
- Where the empty goes back, from the line's release
- Any change to the return location
- A call when a dropped container is empty
- Check releases and holds, and tell you what is still missing
- Book the pickup at the ramp: the CN Brampton gate appointment or the CPKC Vaughan pickup
- Deliver as a live unload or a drop
- Take the empty back to the ramp or the depot your line names
A live unload sends the empty back sooner. With a drop, call dispatch when the container is empty, and we come back for it. Dispatch, at (905) 745-2322, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00 ET, or dispatch@setara.ca.
Empty return questions.
Words like per diem, free time and empty return are explained in drayage terms in plain English.
Where do I return an empty container in Toronto?
How do I find my empty return location?
Who returns the empty container?
What proof shows the empty was returned?
What if the depot will not take my empty?
More answers for importers.
When does per diem stop?
The ocean line's clock after pickupLive unload or drop?
Which delivery fits your dockHow does an export reach the ramp?
Empty to your dock, loaded back to the rampWhat do you do with an arrival notice?
The releases and what to send dispatchDrayage terms in plain English
The words on the paperworkAll answers
Every answer for importers and forwardersUnloading soon? Send us the return location.
The container number, the ramp and where your ocean line wants the empty.