Drayage software for Port Houston

Houston drayage, the hard parts

Running containers out of Bayport and Barbours Cut means watching two terminals, booking pre-gate pins, tracking last free day, and figuring out every day which terminal will take which empty. Most of that work happens in a browser, one container at a time.

DrayTech was built in Houston. The rules in it come from real Houston boxes.

Live from the terminal

Every box on an open shipment is checked every few minutes:

• Discharge and availability
• Customs and line holds
• Last free day
• Gate-out, delivery and empty gate-in
• Chassis captured from the gate record

Legs close on their own when the gate record says the move happened. See container tracking for details.

Pre-gate pins booked for you

When a driver starts a trip, DrayTech books the pickup gate pass and sends the pin to the driver app. It puts the real truck plate on the pass when a driver is assigned and books the pass for the day on your schedule. The gate quota is checked first. Expired or re-booked pins are caught and replaced, so the driver always has the right one. See terminal appointments.

Empty returns: Bayport or Barbours Cut?

This is the question Houston dispatchers answer all day. DrayTech answers it for you. Before booking a return pin, it checks:

• Gate restrictions at both terminals
• The daily empty-acceptance list
• The line's notices

Then it books the return at the terminal taking the box, or flags the line's depot when neither terminal will. If both accept it, the empty goes to the terminal where the driver's next pickup is. If the plan changes, the return is moved and the driver is told.

Holds and fees, before the driver goes

Boxes on hold are marked and are not booked. Boxes that owe terminal fees are flagged to the team before dispatch, and the fees are passed through on the invoice. See holds and terminal fees.

Yard, pre-pull and multi-leg moves

Many Houston loads do not go straight from the terminal to the customer. DrayTech handles pre-pulls to your yard, yard storage by day, drop and hook, dual moves and street turns, with the right driver and pay on each leg. Overweight boxes that need a tri-axle chassis are marked on the shipment.

Chassis split and chassis days

When an empty returns somewhere other than Bayport or Barbours Cut, DrayTech can flag a chassis split and add the charge to the invoice by your rules. Chassis days are counted from gate records, not guessed. See drayage billing.

Delivery orders and daily reports

Houston delivery orders arrive by email. DrayTech reads them and builds the shipment with every container, customer and reference, using the DO's deliver-to address rather than the letterhead. Revised DOs are caught. Each morning, last free day and open-item reports can be emailed to the Houston dispatch team, so the day starts with a list of what is at risk.

Built inside a Houston fleet

DrayTech runs every day inside an operating drayage carrier with a Houston site, with pre-gate pins booked automatically. Read how that carrier moved to DrayTech.