Questions Carriers Ask
Clear answers on truck age, money down, combined tractor-and-trailer files, lease structures, and credit paths before you send the equipment package.
Can I finance a day cab and several container chassis in the same deal?
Yes. We can structure a deal that covers the power unit and the chassis fleet together. If you are moving from chassis pool rental to owned chassis, this combined package approach is a common way to do it without managing two separate credit processes.
I work the port of Los Angeles and my income goes up when shipping volume is high. How do underwriters look at that?
Port freight volume has seasonal patterns tied to consumer goods import cycles, and lenders who understand dray know this. We look at twelve months of bank statements to get a fair picture of your revenue across high and low volume periods. Strong average revenue across the year is what matters, not one slow month.
My day cab has 650,000 miles but it has been well-maintained and runs strong. Can I refinance it?
Refinancing high-mileage equipment is possible depending on current market value. Port day cabs that have been maintained and are still operational have value, though the loan-to-value ratio at high mileage will be conservative. Tell us the year, make, engine, and maintenance history and we will give you a realistic read.
Do I need a port motor carrier agreement to qualify for financing?
No, a PMA is not required to qualify. However, if you have one, include it with your application because it demonstrates a committed freight relationship with a steamship line, which strengthens your file. Operators without a PMA who have other documented dray revenue can still qualify.
Can I finance an intermodal chassis separately without a tractor deal?
Yes. Chassis are financeable as standalone assets. If you already own your power and just need to add owned chassis to reduce your pool rental costs, we can do that as a standalone equipment financing transaction.
Drayage is the first mile and the last mile of international trade. A container comes off a vessel at Long Beach or Savannah, and it goes nowhere until a dray carrier picks it up and moves it to the importer's warehouse or an intermodal ramp. That short move, sometimes only five miles, sometimes fifty, is the hinge point in a global supply chain, and the operators who run it are in constant demand near every major port and rail terminal in the country.
We finance intermodal and drayage carriers who work this sector. Day cabs with adequate horsepower for container gross weights, Equipment Options, and Financing Options are the core equipment in this business, and we finance all of it. Whether you are an independent dray operator with two trucks working the port or a fleet of twenty units under a port motor carrier agreement, we build deals for your operation.
Minimum deal is $50,000. Day cabs in dray operations typically run $80,000 to $130,000 for solid used units. Chassis financing is available separately or bundled. we close after completed truck documents and consider challenged credit. Port drayage revenue tends to be consistent and verifiable, which makes these files relatively straightforward to underwrite.
Intermodal and drayage freight is concentrated around the country's major port complexes and inland rail terminals. The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach together form the largest container gateway in the western hemisphere, and the drayage market that serves them is enormous. Carriers working the San Pedro Bay ports often operate out of Get Fleet Terms and Los Angeles, running containers to warehouse clusters in Ontario, Fontana, and the Inland Empire.
On the East Coast, the Port of Savannah has grown dramatically over the past decade and is now among the largest container ports in the country. Dray carriers working Savannah serve a growing distribution center market in Georgia and the Carolinas. The Port of Newark is the dominant gateway for the New York metro market, and carriers based near Newark are embedded in a dense, high-volume dray operation.
Rail-based intermodal is a second major segment. BNSF, Union Pacific, and CSX all operate intermodal ramps that require dray service to move containers to local receivers. Carriers near major intermodal hubs in Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta can find consistent rail dray work that runs on more predictable schedules than vessel-driven port operations.
Drayage power units are almost exclusively day cabs. There is no overnight element to port dray, and the economics of the business favor keeping the truck working multiple turns per day rather than attached to one load on a long run. Day cab tractors in dray operations run hard and short, cycling between port terminals, warehouses, and rail ramps multiple times each day.
Engine spec matters more than many operators realize in dray work. Container weights on imports from Asia and Europe regularly push gross vehicle weight to the legal limit, and a day cab that struggles on loaded exit ramps or at freeway merges is a productivity drain. We recommend buyers in this market focus on engine ratings and transmission spec when evaluating used day cabs.
Chassis are the often-overlooked piece of the intermodal equation. Whether you own your own chassis or rent from a chassis pool depends on your volume and market. Operators who own their chassis have a cost-per-move advantage on consistent lane pairs. We can finance chassis alongside the power unit or as a standalone acquisition for operators expanding from pool rental into owned equipment.
Port dray revenue is often easier to document than spot freight income because it comes through a smaller number of port motor carrier agreements and dispatch relationships rather than dozens of spot load confirmations. If you have a port motor carrier (PMA) agreement with a steamship line or a relationship with a major NVO, that documentation adds credibility to your file.
We work with owner-operator financing programs for independent dray carriers as well as fleet programs for larger operations. The documentation is the same: application, authority documents, bank statements showing dray revenue deposits, and equipment details. For application-only deals under roughly $400,000, the bank statements alone are usually enough alongside the application.
Operators newer to dray or who are transitioning from OTR to port work can qualify through our new authority financing programs, though expect a stronger down payment requirement. A driver with a solid CDL history and demonstrable plan to work a specific port market is a fundable situation with the right structure.
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Related Financing Paths
Container Chassis
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Intermodal Chassis
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Day Cab Tractors
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Finance Your Dray Operation
Port dray and intermodal are steady businesses, and the financing should be just as steady. Tell us what you are running, which port or rail market you work, and what you need. We will get you a decision inside 48 hours and a closed file inside two weeks. Start the application now.
Get Terms on Intermodal & Drayage Carriers
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