A rail ramp is an intermodal rail terminal where containers transfer between trains and trucks. In North American usage, cargo is “ramped” when loaded on a railcar and “de-ramped” on arrival. Inland moves on through bills of lading route via rail ramps to interior destinations.
Ramps extend ports inland: a box discharged at a gateway rides a stack train to an interior ramp near its market, then finishes by drayage. On through routings (inland point intermodal), the ocean carrier contracts the rail leg and the place of delivery is the ramp, not the seaport.
Ramps run their own clocks: trains are cut off and built on schedules, de-ramped boxes get notified and accrue ramp storage after free time, and chassis supply at inland ramps is often tighter than at ports.
A rail leg appears in tracking as its own chain: departure from the port, arrival at the ramp, notification, then gate-out by truck. The port discharge is not the pick-up trigger for inland cargo; the ramp arrival is. TrackingMCP carries rail events where carriers provide them in tracking, so inland ETAs reflect the train, not just the vessel.
A rail ramp is an intermodal rail terminal where containers transfer between trains and trucks. In North American usage, cargo is “ramped” when loaded on a railcar and “de-ramped” on arrival. Inland moves on through bills of lading route via rail ramps to interior destinations.
Yes, ramps allow free days after de-ramp and notification, then storage charges accrue, on top of any container detention once the box gates out. The clocks are separate from the seaport’s.
Boxes wait for train capacity and cut-offs, and congested gateways can queue rail-bound cargo for days. The gap shows as port dwell before the rail departure event.
Track rail legs where available →
Gateway port context →
More in Inland moves & equipment: Drayage · Chassis · Street turn · Inland container depot (ICD) · Pre-carriage & on-carriage · Multimodal vs intermodal · Carrier haulage vs merchant haulage · Reefer (refrigerated container) · High-cube container · Flat rack container · Out of gauge (OOG) · SOC vs COC containers · Tare weight · Seal number · Browse all 106 terms →