What transloading is at the Port of Charleston

A container off the chassis, devanned on the dock, and straight to outbound staging.

C&C Warehouse, family-run since 1998, keeps two buildings in the Charleston metro. The primary building is the Ladson SC warehouse, 60,000 sq ft at 137 Acres Drive, Ladson. The secondary building is the Hanahan SC warehouse, 30,000 sq ft at 1014 Northpointe Industrial Blvd, Hanahan. Together the buildings are 90,000+ sq ft. Both are US Customs Bonded: a CBP Class 3 bonded warehouse — an importer's private bonded warehouse — and a CBP-designated General Order facility. This page restates the cross-dock, container devanning in Charleston, deconsolidation, and drayage pages. It does not publish a rate. Quotes come from the documents on that shipment. Use the quote form or call (843) 818-2332.

Container transloading is the port-direct devan and cross-dock.

The cross-dock page states the definition in one place. Container transloading in Charleston is the port-direct devan and cross-dock. The container comes off the chassis, is devanned on the dock, and the freight moves straight to outbound staging — no put-away, no rack pull, no second touch. It pairs with the same-crew drayage and devan pattern. The cargo touches the warehouse floor, but it doesn't dwell.

The services page says the same thing in fewer words. Cross-dock receives freight on one dock, sorts it, and tenders it back out the other side without warehousing it in between. Container transloading is the port-direct version: container off the chassis, devanned on the dock, freight straight to outbound staging, no put-away. The FAQ lists it inside that service, as cross-dock (transload), one of the ten services. This page does not publish a rate.

The cross-dock page names retailer compliance windows, DC bypass, and time-defined consolidations as situations for cross-dock. A time-defined consolidation, on that page, can combine LCL, less-than-truckload, parcel, and container loads into one outbound by a specific time. The port-direct case is listed on its own: container off the chassis, devanned on the dock, freight straight to outbound staging. That is the transload, and it pairs with drayage off the Port of Charleston.

Cross-dock, storage, devanning, and deconsolidation.

These words sit next to each other on the site, and they are not interchangeable. Cross-docking, on the cross-dock page, is freight in on one dock, sorted, and immediately tendered back out on another dock — without being put away into rack storage in between. It is the right shape when transit time matters more than storage cost. Transloading is that shape when the inbound is a container off the port: off the chassis, devanned on the dock, straight to outbound staging.

Storage is the put-away the cross-dock page is written against. Cargo for a cross-dock is staged for movement, not for storage. When the outbound carrier does not pull until the following day, that page says the freight is staged on the floor, not in rack, and tendered at the booked appointment. The facility page states 3,000+ racked pallet positions across both buildings, plus floor-load capacity for oversized cargo. That rack is for freight that is put away. The WMS page says receive, putaway, pick, and ship are tracked in a warehouse management system. Putaway is the step the cross-dock page leaves out: transloading is no put-away, no rack pull, no second touch. Bonded storage is a different hold again: voluntary, elected by the importer or the broker, not this handoff. The involuntary path, when freight goes unclaimed, is the General Order cargo guide.

Devanning is the unload. The devanning page says it is sometimes called stripping or destuffing: unloading an ocean container at the warehouse rather than at the port terminal, by hand, with a piece-count audit and exception documentation against the bill of lading. The container is photographed, and the seal number is recorded against the BOL before the seal is broken. Each carton, drum, or piece is counted as it crosses the dock. Shortages, overages, mis-marks, and damaged pieces are flagged, photographed, and noted. A signed piece-count tally, the exception list, and the original seal number go out the same day the container is unloaded. After that count, the same page says cargo can be staged to rack, cross-docked to the outbound carrier, or palletized per the SOP. When the freight moves straight to outbound staging with no put-away, that handoff is transloading.

Deconsolidation is the split. The deconsolidation page says cross-dock is about speed — freight in one side and out the other, often the same day, with little or no dwell — and deconsolidation is about the split itself. One master bill becomes several outbound shipments, each with its own house BOL. A load can be deconsolidated and then cross-docked, or it can sit until each destination is ready. The cross-dock page points at the same line: when one inbound container has to become several house BOLs, that split is deconsolidation. Floor-loaded freight is devanned and piece-counted first, then sorted to destination. Palletized freight is broken down only as far as the manifest requires.

From Wando Welch, North Charleston Terminal, or Leatherman.

Drayage is the short-haul between an ocean terminal and the warehouse. The drayage page names Wando Welch, North Charleston Terminal, and Hugh K. Leatherman. Once the container is available at the SC Ports Authority terminal, that page says the appointment is booked, the chassis is lined up (standard, tri-axle, or heavy-haul), and the move is dispatched so the cargo does not sit accruing per diem or demurrage. Chassis are coordinated through the pool providers named there — CCM, Direct, and TRAC — plus heavy-haul chassis for overweight ocean containers. Split-and-return of the chassis to the originating terminal is part of that drayage scope.

The driver pulls the container off the stack, takes possession, and confirms the seal is intact before leaving the gate. A seal anomaly is photographed and reported before transit, not after. The process step on the drayage page brings the container to a dock door in Ladson. The same crew that drove it can hand it straight to devan — no intermediate yard, no second handoff. The cross-dock page says drayage from those three terminals is the inbound leg into either building. Hanahan is described on the facility page as closer to the port terminals — the shortest drayage runs in the network. Per-building miles, including Inland Port Greer, are on the terminal distances guide. The ranges under each terminal below are the ones the drayage page prints for both buildings. The facility page states that both buildings sit within 25 miles of all three SC Ports Authority ocean terminals.

On the dock, the transload is the cross-dock sequence with the container still the inbound. Before the freight arrives, the cross-dock page says the ASN or load list is in hand and the dock plan is sketched: which inbound door, which outbound doors, and which carriers are scheduled to pull. The cargo is staged for movement, not for storage. Inbound is unloaded onto a striped staging zone and piece-counted, or pallet-counted, against the ASN. A short, an over, or damage is flagged before the freight is blended into the sort. For the container itself, the devanning page is the unload: hand-unload at the warehouse, seal recorded against the bill of lading before it is broken, and a piece count as the freight crosses the dock. That page says a palletized, slip-sheet, or pre-stacked load can come out in an hour or two, and a floor-loaded 40-foot HC of mixed cartons typically takes most of a shift.

The sort on the cross-dock page is by SKU, by store, by route, by customer, by retailer DC, or a combination. Freight is labeled to the downstream WMS's spec and walked to the outbound staging lane for the carrier that is pulling it. The most common shape named there is a container in and a truck out: drayed from Wando Welch, NCT, or Leatherman, hand-unloaded at the dock, and moved directly to outbound staging for the carriers pulling that day. One handoff instead of three. When the carrier checks in, BOLs are generated and the outbound ASN goes to the receiving DC. Labeling on that page can follow the receiving party's routing guide — UCC-128 / GS1-128 case labels, pallet placards, an ASN (EDI 856) at tender, and BOLs in the format the carrier and the receiver expect. The cargo touches the floor, but it doesn't dwell. The clock on that page starts at the inbound gate and ends at the outbound seal.

Same-day when the inbound and outbound windows align — in the door, sorted, and out again before the next shift. When the outbound carrier does not pull until the following day, the freight is staged on the floor, not in rack, and tendered at the booked appointment. The facility page states peak throughput across both locations of 30 containers/day. Devanning, reworking, and cross-dock are scaled by product mix. Inventory moves between the two buildings as needed. The cross-dock page says both floors use the same WMS, the same crew, and the same phone number, (843) 818-2332.

The empty goes back to the terminal. After the unload — same-day devan, bonded receipt, or a later pull — the drayage page says the empty is returned and the chassis is split back to the originating terminal. When free time is running out and the receiving DC cannot take the load yet, that page says pulling the container off the terminal and onto the warehouse's paper avoids per-diem and demurrage piling up at the steamship line's rate. The rate for the warehouse time is not printed here.

Cargo that is still in bond can move on that status. The drayage page says a Class 3 warehouse can take an in-bond container off the terminal and receive it onto the bonded floor without breaking the bond. The cross-dock page says the same for the handoff: when the inbound is in-bond and the outbound is also a bonded move — another bonded facility, or a re-export — the freight can be cross-docked under bond without breaking the status. What decides whether the bond carries through, or a formal entry is needed at receipt, is on the bonded storage page.

Quotes come from the documents on that shipment.

No rate is printed on this page. The cross-dock page says to send the routing guide, the inbound shape, and the outbound destinations, and the dock plan is quoted from those. If a retailer has a specific compliance manual, that page says to share it before the first load. The drayage page asks for the booking, the vessel ETA, and the destination. The devanning page asks for the bill of lading and the ETA. If the container has to leave as separate shipments, the deconsolidation page asks for a master bill of lading, a manifest that shows which cartons or pallets belong to which destination, and the routing rules — by store, by DC, or by customer — sent with the booking.

The quote form is the same path the contact page points to. That form includes cross-dock among the services it asks about. Transloading, on the cross-dock page, is the port-direct version of that service. The quote page says the more you can tell us up front, the tighter the quote. If you are not sure of a number, leave it blank — the page says the warehouse would rather call and ask than guess. Most quote requests, on that page, come back the same business day. Call (843) 818-2332 or email information@candcwarehouse.com. Hours are Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m..

The pages this walkthrough is drawn from.

The service page is cross-dock. The unload is container devanning in Charleston. The split is Port of Charleston deconsolidation. The terminal move is drayage. Miles are on the terminal distances guide. A number for a specific shipment starts at the quote form.

• Cross-dock and transload
• Container devanning in Charleston
• Port of Charleston deconsolidation
• Drayage
• Bonded storage
• Facility
• Terminal distances
• Ladson SC warehouse
• Hanahan SC warehouse
• Request a quote

Questions about transloading in Charleston.

More answers are on the FAQ. To reach the warehouse directly, use contact.

Send the routing guide and the inbound shape.

A rate is not printed on this page. Quotes come from the documents on that shipment. Use the quote form or call (843) 818-2332. Hours are Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m..