Carrier haulage means the ocean carrier arranges the inland legs, selling door-to-door carriage under its bill of lading. Merchant haulage means the cargo interest arranges its own trucking or rail, and the carrier’s job ends at the terminal. The choice shapes cost, control, and liability.
Under carrier haulage the line books the dray or rail, owns the inland problems, and prices the convenience in; equipment use inland typically falls inside its tariff rules. Under merchant haulage you pick the trucker, chase the appointments, and manage detention exposure yourself, usually cheaper at scale.
The split also decides who the terminal and depot answer to for nominations and empty returns, which is why return-location pain is mostly a merchant-haulage experience. Carriers price the two differently as well: carrier-haulage moves ride the line’s inland tariff, while merchant haulage exposes you to the market rate you negotiate, for better in loose markets and worse in tight ones.
Carrier-haulage moves tend to publish inland events through the carrier’s own feed, while merchant-haulage visibility ends at gate-out unless you stitch in your trucker’s data. In TrackingMCP that difference is visible as how far past the port a timeline extends; either way the terminal-side clocks that drive charges are tracked identically.
Carrier haulage means the ocean carrier arranges the inland legs, selling door-to-door carriage under its bill of lading. Merchant haulage means the cargo interest arranges its own trucking or rail, and the carrier’s job ends at the terminal. The choice shapes cost, control, and liability.
Merchant haulage usually wins on pure rate for shippers with volume and local trucking relationships; carrier haulage wins on simplicity and single-party accountability. Congested markets can flip the calculus when carriers hold priority access.
Yes, commonly: carrier haulage at one end, merchant at the other. The bill of lading’s receipt and delivery terms record the split.
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Free-time exposure by carrier →
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