Pre-Carriage

What it means

An international container move usually has three legs. Pre-carriage is the first one. It runs from where the goods are handed over, often the shipper's factory or a warehouse, to the port where they are loaded on the vessel. The ocean voyage that follows is the main carriage. The inland leg after the port of discharge is on-carriage.

Maersk's terms for intermodal carrier haulage use this split. They describe pre-carriage and on-carriage as transport of the goods by Maersk or its subcontractors before or after the main carriage by sea.^[1] Other carriers and forwarders use the same words in the same way, even if their contracts word it a little differently.

In the United States, the pre-carriage leg is most often a truck move to the marine terminal. That short truck move is usually called drayage. When the factory is far inland, pre-carriage can also be a rail move to the port, sometimes with a short truck move at each end of the rail leg.

People search for "pre carriage haulage" because the terms overlap. Haulage is the general word for moving goods over land. Maersk describes haulage as transport by road or rail, such as between a port and an inland warehouse or factory.^[2] Pre-carriage is the haulage that happens on the export side, before loading.

Pre-carriage vs main carriage vs on-carriage

The three legs are easiest to see side by side. The same container can move under one contract for all three legs, or under separate contracts for each.

The main carriage is the leg most people think of as "shipping." The inland legs still matter. They decide when the container reaches the terminal, and a late pre-carriage move can mean a missed vessel.

Merchant haulage vs carrier haulage

Who books the pre-carriage leg is the real question behind most quotes. There are two models.

• Merchant haulage. The cargo owner is responsible for organizing inland transport. In Maersk's words, "you hire a third-party haulage company" to move goods between your inland location and the ocean port.^[2] The shipper or its freight forwarder picks the trucker, books the appointment and pays the trucker directly.
• Carrier haulage. The shipping line that carries the cargo by sea arranges the inland transport as part of its service.^[2] The pre-carriage then sits inside the ocean carrier's booking, and the carrier or its subcontractor moves the box to the port.^[1]

Maersk sums up the tradeoff this way: carrier haulage is simpler, while merchant haulage "gives you more control over selecting your transport provider and routes, but also requires more coordination on your part."^[2] Neither is always cheaper. Compare the full door-to-port cost, including any waiting time and chassis charges, before you choose.

How Incoterms 2020 affect who pays for pre-carriage

Incoterms rules do not use the word pre-carriage as a cost line. They decide it indirectly. The U.S. International Trade Administration notes that each rule specifies which party, if any, must contract for the carriage, and when the risk of loss passes from seller to buyer.^[3] Where the seller must deliver the goods tells you who carries the inland leg.

• FCA (Free Carrier). If the named place is the seller's premises, the seller has delivered once the goods are loaded onto the collecting vehicle. If the named place is somewhere else, the seller delivers the goods to the carrier or the buyer's nominee, ready for unloading.^[4] So under FCA at the seller's dock, the buyer's side normally pays the pre-carriage. Under FCA at a port terminal, the seller normally does.
• FOB (Free on Board). Risk passes once the goods are loaded on the vessel at the named port of shipment, and the buyer contracts and pays for the port-to-port shipment.^[4] Because the seller must get the goods on board at the port, the pre-carriage to that port falls on the seller's side.
• Export formalities. Under both FCA and FOB, the seller completes the export formalities.^[4]

The ICC also says FCA is well suited to container shipments that move by more than one mode.^[4] For containers, that matters, because the box is usually handed over at an inland point or a terminal gate, not over the ship's rail. Always check the exact Incoterms rule and named place on the sales contract. This is a general guide, not legal advice.

Where pre-carriage shows up on a bill of lading

A bill of lading shows the route in a set of boxes. The ones that matter here are the place of receipt and the port of loading. If the place of receipt is an inland location that differs from the port of loading, the leg between them is the pre-carriage.

An ICC article on on-board notations describes pre-carriage the same way, as the leg "from the place of receipt to the port of loading."^[5] It also explains why this matters for banks. Under a letter of credit, when a bill of lading shows a place of receipt different from the port of loading, a separate on-board notation with the shipment date, vessel name and port of loading is generally needed. A "shipped on board" statement could otherwise relate to the truck or rail car used for pre-carriage, not the ship.^[5]

Why it matters

Pre-carriage is where many export delays start. The container has to be loaded, sealed and delivered to the terminal before the cargo cutoff. If the truck is late, the box can miss its vessel. Clear dates for loading, the container seal, and the verified gross mass filing all help the pre-carriage leg run on time.

Knowing who owns this leg also prevents double billing. If the ocean quote is carrier haulage from your door, you do not need a separate trucker. If it is port-to-port, you do. For the loading side of an export, see how freight is loaded into a container for export.

Example

Illustrative example: A manufacturer in Pennsylvania sells machine parts to a buyer in Germany under FCA, named place a container terminal at Port Newark. The seller books a drayage carrier to bring an empty 40-foot container to its plant. Its crew loads and seals the container. The trucker hauls the loaded box to the terminal before the cargo cutoff. That truck trip is the pre-carriage, and under these sales terms the seller arranges and pays for it.

If the same sale were FCA at the seller's plant, the buyer's forwarder would book the truck instead. The trip would be the same. Only the party paying for it would change. If the plant were in the Midwest, the pre-carriage could be a truck move to a rail ramp and a rail move to the port. The bill of lading would then show the inland place of receipt and the port of loading as separate points.

Frequently asked questions