An intermodal rail ramp with a container train running alongside stacked containers, like Toronto's CN and CPKC terminals
Toronto & GTA · CN Brampton · CPKC Vaughan

Container drayage in Toronto,
run on the clock.

Daily pickups at the GTA’s rail ramps, transloading, bonded moves and empty returns — from a North York desk minutes off the 400 and 401, tracking every box from the vessel to your dock.

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2
Class-1 GTA rail ramps served daily
Same-day
Standard pickup after release
3 → 2
40' boxes transloaded into 53' trailers
$0
The per-diem target on every empty return
The Toronto reality

Canada’s biggest freight market has no big ocean port.

Toronto’s import containers arrive by rail — which makes GTA drayage a rail-ramp discipline with its own clocks, quirks and failure modes.

The promise

Tracked before it reaches Ontario, pulled the day it’s released, delivered to your dock, empty closed inside free time.

Most import containers bound for Toronto never see the Port of Toronto.They’re discharged at Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montréal or Halifax, then move inland by doublestack train to one of two Class-1 ramps: CN’s Brampton Intermodal Terminal or CPKC’s Vaughan Intermodal Terminal. Once a box grounds at the ramp, its storage clock starts — and ramp free time is less forgiving than port free time.

The winning move is the same one that wins at the ports: work the clock from upstream. We follow the container from the vessel and the rail ETA, so the appointment, chassis and driver are arranged before release — not sourced in a panic after it. The full mechanics of demurrage, per-diem and chassis strategy live on our deep-dive drayage page; this page is about how it plays out in the GTA.

The GTA container map

Where Toronto’s boxes
actually come from.

GTA rail ramp · daily

CN Brampton Intermodal Terminal

CN's flagship Ontario ramp. Asia-origin boxes landed at Vancouver and Prince Rupert ride CN doublestack straight here. We watch the rail ETA and grounding so pickup is booked before the storage clock starts.

GTA rail ramp · daily

CPKC Vaughan Intermodal Terminal

CPKC's GTA gateway north of the city. West-coast imports and Mexico-lane traffic ground here. Same discipline: appointment at release, chassis staged, empty returned inside free time.

Ocean gateways · via rail

Vancouver & Prince Rupert

Canada's Pacific doors — a record 3.47M TEUs through Vancouver in 2024. Transpacific boxes bound for Toronto clear or move in-bond, then rail east. We track from the vessel, not from the ramp.

Ocean gateways · via rail

Montréal & Halifax

The Atlantic route: European and transatlantic containers grounding at Montréal (1.46M TEUs in 2024) or Halifax, railed west to the GTA — or trucked direct when the clock beats the train.

Port volumes: Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Montreal Port Authority 2024 statistics — sourced on our Canadian freight statistics page.

What we handle in the GTA

Every leg of the container move.

Import & export drayage

Ramp to dock and dock to ramp across the GTA — same-day or next-day pickup after release, appointments booked the moment a box shows available.

Transloading into 53' trailers

Three 40-foot ocean boxes into two 53-foot domestic trailers at GTA facilities: cheaper onward highway legs, faster empty returns.

Transloading service →

Bonded moves

In-bond drayage to CBSA sufferance warehouses when the container needs to clear inland instead of at the port of arrival.

Reefer & heavy containers

Genset-equipped chassis keep refrigerated boxes powered between ramp and dock; tri-axle chassis handle overweight containers legally.

Empty returns, closed clean

The empty goes back inside free time with the in-gate receipt to prove it — no surprise per-diem invoice three weeks later.

How the clocks work →

Onward cross-border legs

Transloaded freight rolls into the US Midwest and Northeast through Windsor–Detroit, Fort Erie–Buffalo and Sarnia–Port Huron.

Cross-border service →
How a Qeep dray runs

Four steps. No surprises.

01

Tracked from the vessel

We follow the container before it reaches Canada — vessel ETA, rail ETA, ramp grounding — so nothing surprises anyone.

02

Booked at release

The ramp appointment is made the moment the box shows released. Chassis and driver were planned the day before.

03

Delivered to your dock

Straight run from Brampton or Vaughan to your door — live updates, no radio silence, POD on delivery.

04

Empty closed on time

Return inside free time, in-gate receipt filed. The move is finished when the paperwork proves it is.

Frequently asked questions

Toronto drayage, answered.

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: all logistics services in Canada, the deep-dive drayage guide, drayage at the Mexico border.

Let’s move it

Have a shipment? Get rates in 10 min.

Tell us the origin, destination and mode. A Qeep specialist replies within 10 minutes with live capacity, lane price, and a transit window you can actually plan around.

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