A Study of Drayage at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

University Transportation Centers Program2004PDFTech ReportMonaco, KristenGrobar, LisaCalifornia State University, Long Beach. Dept. of EconomicsMETRANS Transportation Center (Calif.)United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) ProgramCalifornia. Dept. of Transportation. Division of Research and InnovationMETRANS Transportation Center (Calif.)Long Beach (California)Los Angeles (California)TruckingFreight transportationDrayageTruck driversSurveysAR04-01-2005-5This report provides insight into the port drayage industry through the use three sets of data obtained from wages, worklives, and port drayage companies. The first data source examined socioeconomic characteristics, pay, and safety issues. The second data set examined firm characteristics, operations, dispatching, use of technology. The third data set looked at sample of turn times from three medium-sized port drayage companies to obtain preliminary descriptive statistics on how truck wait times differ across terminals and time. The authors found that the industry comprised of port drivers and drayage companies is characterized by small firms who primarily contract with owner operators to haul freight. The drivers receive few returns to human capital, thus increasing their earnings by maximizing their trips per day, which may then compromise their safety. The surveys revealed potential roads for improving port efficiency, since it was found that drivers spend close to half their time waiting at the ports while firms report relatively low utilization of technology for routing or dispatching.127