Cross-Docking — Qeep Logistics freight service
Cross-Dock Desk · Inbound to outbound, same day

Cross-Docking.
Inbound to outbound. Nothing sits still.

Freight arrives, gets sorted against outbound orders and leaves the same day — no put-away, no pick, no pallet positions billed while your inventory waits.

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Hours, not days
Dwell
Store · PO · SKU
Sorted by
None billed
Storage
GTA + 18 DCs
Network
Overview

Skip the warehouse step your freight never needed.

Cross-docking receives inbound freight, sorts it straight against outbound orders and loads it onto the delivering truck — usually within the same shift. Nothing is put away and nothing is picked later, so you stop paying for pallet positions and you take days out of the order cycle. It is the right answer when the freight is already sold or already allocated: retail replenishment going to many stores, several suppliers’ POs that need to arrive as one delivery, or imports that have a destination the moment they land. Qeep runs it through the same network as our warehousing — 4.2M sq ft across 18 distribution centres, including bonded, food-grade and GMP space.

Cross-Docking freight in motion — Qeep Logistics

In the inbound door, sorted, and out the outbound door on the same shift.

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How it works

From quote to POD, step by step.

1

Receive & verify

Inbound trailers or containers are unloaded, counted against the ASN or packing list and checked for damage before anything moves.

2

Sort to outbound

Freight is sorted by destination — store, PO, route or SKU — and staged in front of the outbound door it belongs to.

3

Build the outbound load

Each outbound trailer is built, blocked and braced, with labels and paperwork matched to the receiving location’s requirements.

4

Dispatch same day

Trucks leave on the same shift wherever the schedule allows, so the freight is moving again before storage would ever have been charged.

Pricing

What drives the rate?

Transparent inputs, not mystery margins. Here’s exactly what goes into a cross-docking quote.

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Palletized vs floor-loaded
Palletized freight moves on a forklift and prices lowest; hand-unloading floor-loaded cartons is the single biggest cost driver.
Sort complexity
Sorting to a handful of outbound doors is cheap; sorting to dozens of stores or to SKU level is labour, and priced as labour.
Number of outbound loads
More destinations means more trailers to build and more paperwork sets, so cost scales with outbound count rather than inbound volume.
Timing & dock hours
Freight that arrives inside normal dock hours flows straight through; after-hours or weekend sorts carry a premium.
Retail compliance
Routing guides, labelling and appointment requirements add handling — worth pricing in up front rather than absorbing chargebacks later.
Compare

Cross-docking vs warehousing — flow it through or hold it

FactorCross-dockingWarehousing
What happensReceived, sorted and shipped out in the same shiftReceived, put away, then picked when an order releases
Dwell timeHoursDays to months, as inventory planning requires
Priced onHandling — per pallet or per carton movedPallet positions per month, plus in-and-out handling
Right whenThe freight is already sold or already allocatedYou need buffer stock near customers, or orders release over time
Inventory systemMatched against the outbound order, not stored as stockWMS with lot, SKU and order-level visibility
Effect on cashNo storage billed, shorter order cycleCarrying cost, but availability when demand is unpredictable
Frequently asked

Cross-Docking questions, answered.

What is cross-docking?
Cross-docking is receiving inbound freight and shipping it straight back out — sorted against outbound orders — without putting it away into storage. Freight typically arrives and departs within the same shift, so you pay for handling instead of pallet positions and you take days out of the order cycle.
How is cross-docking different from transloading?
They overlap, and the difference is what you are solving. Transloading moves one shipment between pieces of equipment — an ocean container into a 53′ van, or rail to truck — usually to win cube and stop per-diem. Cross-docking takes many inbound shipments and re-sorts them by destination so they leave as different outbound loads. If your goal is cheaper inland linehaul on an import, that is transloading; if your goal is getting one delivery to each store, that is cross-docking.
How is it different from warehousing?
Warehousing holds inventory until an order releases and is priced on pallet positions per month. Cross-docking never stores the freight — it is matched against an outbound order on arrival and leaves the same day. We run both, so freight that needs to wait can be stored and freight that does not can flow straight through.
Can you cross-dock temperature-controlled freight?
Yes, through a sealed dock with pre-cooled outbound equipment so the cold chain is never broken, and we log temperatures at transfer so the record stays intact. Because cross-docked freight is only on the dock for hours rather than days, it is often the better option for dated goods than storing them.
Will cross-docking meet my retailer’s routing guide?
That is a question to settle before the first load, not after the first chargeback. Send us the routing guide and we will confirm which labelling, appointment, pallet and ASN requirements we can meet on the dock. Compliance work is real handling, so we price it in rather than discovering it later.
Does the extra handling increase damage risk?
Any touch carries some risk, which is why freight is counted and inspected on receipt and blocked and braced on the outbound load, with condition documented at transfer so a claim is clean if one is ever needed. In practice cross-docked freight is handled fewer times than freight that is received, put away, picked and then loaded.
What does cross-docking cost compared with storing the freight?
Cross-docking is a one-time handling charge; warehousing is that same in-and-out handling plus rent for every month the pallet sits. If the freight is already sold, cross-docking is almost always cheaper because you never pay the rent. If demand is uncertain and you need stock close to customers, storage earns its cost. Send the volume, the number of destinations and whether the freight is palletized and we will price both so you can compare.
You may also need

One file. Multiple services. Same team.

Transloading

Transfer freight between modes and equipment — ocean container to domestic 53′, rail to truck, bulk to packaged — without a long-term storage commitment.

Warehousing

Bonded and ambient warehousing, pick-and-pack, B2B and DTC fulfillment with WMS visibility.

Less-than-Truckload (LTL)

Shared trailer space for shipments under a full load — predictable rates and reliable transit.

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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