Your container has arrived. The rest of the trip starts now.
Trans-Inter Logistik coordinates the pickup of your containers at the Port of Montreal and their delivery anywhere in Quebec and Ontario, through its network of accredited carriers.
Our container services at the Port of Montreal
We take over where ocean freight stops: at the hull. The crossing is one thing, getting the box out of a Montreal terminal is another.
Twenty-five years of brokerage experience give us a network of truckers accredited with the Montreal Port Authority, right across Canada, with the chassis to match.
Twenty-five years pulling boxes out of the port before the clock starts.
Terminal pickup and delivery
We book the appointment window at the terminal, send the chassis that matches your container size and deliver to your address. Tracking gives you the position of the box in real time, from the dock to your door.
Devanning and transloading
A container can be emptied at a warehouse instead of at your place, with the goods sent back out on a regular trailer or as LCL consolidated freight. That is often the cheapest setup when your dock is tight.
Pulling a container from the Port of Montreal
The inland trip runs in four steps, each one able to cost you days. Step 2 is the one importers find out about too late: a missed appointment pushes the pickup back while the demurrage clock keeps running.
- The container is unloaded and available at the terminal. Customs release is your customs broker’s business; we move once the box is free.
- We book a pickup appointment and present the release order at the terminal.
- The trucker checks the seals, secures the container on the chassis for the safety of the trip and takes the approved route, compliant with Quebec’s Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable standards.
- Delivery to your site, unloading, then the empty goes back to the designated point.
Documents required for a container pickup
Three items control the release, all of them mandatory. We collect them and check them with you before booking the appointment: one missing piece of data kills a pickup as surely as a broken-down truck.
- the release order, which authorizes the terminal to hand the container over to the trucker;
- the verified gross mass declaration (VGM), which sets the real weight of the loaded box;
- the seal number, checked at departure and at arrival to establish the integrity of the goods.
A container to pull from the port?
Give us the container number and the delivery address, and we come back with the appointment and the transit time.
Request a free quote
Tell us the number on the box, we handle the rest of the trip.
Demurrage and detention on a container
The shipping line grants a number of free days to pull the box out of the terminal, then bills demurrage. Detention runs on the time you keep the container at your place before giving it back.
These are two separate clocks, with two separate deadlines: they explain most of the budget overruns on an import. We watch them for you and plan the pickup around whichever one is tighter.
The cost of container transport
The rate is built on the distance from the terminal, the size and the weight of the container, the waiting time at the terminal and at your dock, chassis availability and the season, including load restrictions during the spring thaw.
Demurrage, detention and cargo insurance come on top; they depend on your schedule as much as on ours. We show you these factors in the quote so the trade-offs can happen before the vessel arrives.
Containers and chassis for Montreal
- We coordinate the formats common at the Port of Montreal: 20-foot and 40-foot, high cube, open top, flat rack and refrigerated containers. Each one calls for its own chassis and sometimes its own weight permit.A well-loaded 40-footer comes close to the mass limits allowed on the Quebec road network. When the total goes over, we switch to an oversize load transport setup instead of discovering the problem at the weigh scale.
Delivery from the Port of Montreal
We deliver from the Montreal terminals to Montreal, Laval, Quebec City and Trois-Rivières, as well as into the Ontario corridor.
Past a certain distance, rail intermodal takes the advantage back from the truck. For steady volumes, our 3PL logistics takes on the full coordination.
What does container shipping in Montreal cover?
Two separate things, often mixed up. The ocean crossing, in full container load as in consolidation, belongs to ocean freight. Pulling the box from the Montreal terminal and delivering it to you belongs to drayage. We coordinate both; this page covers the inland side.
How long before demurrage starts on a container?
The number of free days is set by the shipping line and varies from one contract to the next. Past that window, the terminal bills demurrage for as long as the box stays there. We confirm your real window as soon as we have your documentation, instead of handing you a general figure that would not apply.
Does Trans-Inter Logistik release my container from customs?
No. Customs release is your customs broker’s business; we point you toward specialized partners if you are looking for one. Our role starts when the box is free: booking the appointment, pulling it at the terminal, transporting it and returning the empty.
What is a container release order?
It is the document that authorizes the terminal to hand your container over to the designated trucker. Every pickup depends on it, whatever appointment has been booked. We validate it with you before sending a truck, along with the verified gross mass declaration and the seal number.
Do different containers need different chassis?
Yes. A 20-foot, a 40-foot and a high cube each sit on their own equipment; a refrigerated container also needs power on the road. Chassis availability in Montreal varies with the season and with the volume at the port, which weighs on the transit time as much as on the price.
Do you deliver containers outside Montreal?
Yes, anywhere in Quebec and in the Ontario corridor, through our network of vetted carriers. On long distances, we compare truck and rail before recommending, because the tipping point depends on the volume and on your schedule rather than on the distance alone.
What if my container is overweight?
We see it on the verified gross mass declaration, before booking. A container too heavy for the ordinary road network calls for a special setup, a load permit or a partial devanning at the terminal. We settle that with you rather than risk being held up on the road.
Let’s talk about your Montreal container
Send us the container number, the terminal and the delivery address: you get a detailed quote, with no obligation.