Cartage is the local movement of goods over a short distance, usually within the same city, port area, airport zone, or metropolitan region. In logistics, cartage often connects freight terminals, warehouses, ports, rail ramps, distribution centres, or final delivery points. The term can also refer to the fee charged for this local transport service. Cartage is commonly used for first-mile pickup, final-mile delivery, short-haul transfers, and movement between main freight hubs and local facilities.
Cartage is the local pickup or delivery of freight over a short distance, typically between a shipper’s facility and a freight terminal, port, or rail yard.
- Picking up LCL cargo from a consolidation warehouse for delivery to port CFS
- Moving freight from a trucking terminal to the final delivery address
- Short-distance repositioning of cargo within a port complex
Cartage fees are assessed per shipment, per hundredweight, or per hour. Often used interchangeably with drayage for short local hauls.
For related logistics context, see glossary entries on Drayage, CFS, LCL, and Final Mile.
