A container yard, or CY, is the storage area of a terminal or inland facility where containers are stacked between moves: imports awaiting pick-up, exports awaiting loading, empties awaiting reuse. In shipping terms, CY also denotes handover of full containers at the yard, as in CY/CY carriage.
The yard is where terminal performance is won or lost: stacking density against retrieval speed, positions chosen so tomorrow’s loads are not buried under next week’s, reefers on powered racks, hazardous boxes segregated. The TOS choreographs all of it.
In freight terms, CY/CY means the carrier’s responsibility runs from origin yard to destination yard with the shipper stuffing and consignee stripping the box, the standard for FCL. It contrasts with CFS terms used for consolidated cargo.
Yard time is the silent middle of every port call: between discharge and gate-out the box sits in the CY, and that interval is the dwell that tracking measures. A container shown discharged in TrackingMCP but not yet out is in the yard, burning or not burning free time, with the port’s norm visible on port pages.
A container yard, or CY, is the storage area of a terminal or inland facility where containers are stacked between moves: imports awaiting pick-up, exports awaiting loading, empties awaiting reuse. In shipping terms, CY also denotes handover of full containers at the yard, as in CY/CY carriage.
Carrier responsibility from the origin terminal yard to the destination terminal yard: you deliver a stuffed box to the origin CY and collect it from the destination CY. Inland legs are yours or separately contracted.
Related but distinct: the CY is the working storage of a terminal or inland terminal, while a depot typically stores and repairs empties off-dock. Empty returns often go to depots rather than the port CY.
Track yard dwell per container →
Port dwell context →
More in Ports & terminals: Port congestion · Anchorage (anchorage wait) · Dwell time · Terminal operating system (TOS) · Terminal appointment · Gate-in & gate-out · Empty return · Earliest return date (ERD) · Container freight station (CFS) · Port of loading & discharge (POL/POD) · Browse all 106 terms →