Container drayage in Toronto, run on the clock.
Daily container pickups at the GTA’s rail ramps — CN Brampton and CPKC Vaughan — plus transloading, bonded moves and empty returns. Based in North York, minutes from the 400 and 401, tracking every box from the vessel to your dock.
Toronto is Canada’s biggest freight market, but it isn’t a big ocean port — which is exactly what makes GTA drayage its own discipline. Most import containers bound for Toronto arrive by rail: discharged at Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montréal or Halifax, then railed inland to a GTA intermodal ramp. The company you want on that last leg is the one watching the box long before it gets here.
The Toronto container map
Two Class-1 rail terminals handle the GTA’s intermodal volume: CN’s Brampton Intermodal Terminal and CPKC’s Vaughan Intermodal Terminal. Asia-origin boxes typically land at Vancouver or Prince Rupert and ride CN or CPKC east; Europe-origin and transatlantic boxes come through Montréal or Halifax and move west. Once a container is grounded at the ramp, its storage clock starts — and ramp free time is less forgiving than port free time. Qeep tracks the container from the vessel and the rail ETA, so the appointment, chassis and driver are arranged before release, not after.
What we handle in the GTA
- Import and export drayage at CN Brampton, CPKC Vaughan and GTA container yards — same-day or next-day pickup after release.
- Transloading into 53-foot domestic trailers — commonly three 40-foot boxes into two 53-foot trailers — for cheaper onward highway legs. More on our transloading service.
- Bonded moves to CBSA sufferance warehouses when the box needs to clear inland.
- Reefer drayage with genset-equipped chassis for temperature-controlled boxes, and tri-axle chassis for heavy containers.
- Empty returns closed inside free time — with the in-gate receipt to prove it, so no surprise invoice weeks later.
Why the clock is the whole job
Drayage pricing lives and dies on storage, demurrage and per-diem — daily fees the ramp, the steamship line and the chassis owner each charge when a container or chassis sits too long. None of them are negotiable after the fact; all of them are avoidable in advance. Our whole operating model is built around those clocks: track from the water, book at release, deliver, and close the empty on time. The full breakdown of how those fees work is on our main drayage page.
From Toronto to the US — and back
A large share of GTA container freight doesn’t stop in Toronto. We routinely transload import boxes and run the freight onward into the US Midwest and Northeast through Windsor–Detroit, Fort Erie–Buffalo and Sarnia–Port Huron — with carriers set up for Canada–US cross-border freight in both directions. One desk covers the ramp pickup, the transload and the border leg.
Frequently asked questions
Which rail ramps and terminals do you serve in the Toronto area?
We run daily drayage at the two Class-1 intermodal ramps serving the GTA — CN's Brampton Intermodal Terminal and CPKC's Vaughan Intermodal Terminal — plus container yards and CBSA sufferance warehouses across the GTA. Boxes arriving by ocean through Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montréal or Halifax reach Toronto by rail, and we pick them up the day they're released.
My container arrives at Vancouver or Montréal — how does it get to Toronto?
Most import containers bound for Toronto move inland by rail from the seaport to a GTA ramp: Vancouver and Prince Rupert boxes typically ride CN or CPKC to Brampton or Vaughan, and Montréal or Halifax boxes come west the same way. Qeep tracks the container from the vessel, watches the rail ETA and ramp release, and has the tractor and chassis ready so the box moves to your dock the day it becomes available — before ramp storage charges start.
Do you offer transloading in Toronto?
Yes. We transload ocean containers into 53-foot domestic trailers at GTA facilities — commonly three 40-foot containers consolidate into two 53-foot trailers, which cuts highway cost on long inland or cross-border legs and gets the empty container returned inside free time.
What areas around Toronto do you cover?
The full Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario: Toronto, North York, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Etobicoke, Scarborough, Markham, Milton, Hamilton, Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo, London and the corridors along highways 400, 401, 403 and 407. We also run Toronto-area containers onward across Ontario, Québec and into the US.
How fast can you pick up a container after it's released?
Our standard is same-day or next-day pickup after release, depending on ramp appointment availability and the time of release. Because we track the container from before it reaches the ramp, the chassis and driver are planned in advance rather than sourced after the fact — that's how storage and per-diem charges stay off your invoice.
Related reading
See all our logistics services in Canada, the deep-dive drayage and port trucking guide, or our article on drayage at the Mexico border.
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