Your container is headed to New Jersey and you need a warehouse to break it down. Before you pick one, answer one question: did the box land at Port Newark-Elizabeth (the Port of New York and New Jersey’s container terminals in Newark and Elizabeth), or is it coming through Philadelphia?
Start with the gateway, not the map. A container off a Newark/Elizabeth vessel goes inland to warehouses around Secaucus, Dayton, and Branchburg, off the New Jersey Turnpike and the I-78 corridor. A container arriving through the Port of Philadelphia goes to warehouses in Camden, Cinnaminson, and Swedesboro, off I-295 on the South Jersey side. Match the wrong gateway and you pay for a dray you never needed.
Transloading in New Jersey means a drayage carrier pulls your ocean container from the terminal to an inland warehouse, where the crew unloads it, palletizes the freight, and reloads it onto domestic trailers or into short-term storage. The work happens off terminal ground. The Port of New York and New Jersey handled 8.9 million TEUs in 2025, the busiest container port on the East Coast, and no listed warehouse sits inside the port terminals.
Which gateway did your box come through?
That one question picks your warehouse. The delivery address matters less than the dray. A New York box going to a South Jersey customer still starts at Newark/Elizabeth, and a Philly box headed to North Jersey still starts across the Delaware. Either way, the warehouse sits inland of the terminal, not inside it.
Newark/Elizabeth freight goes to warehouses in Secaucus, Dayton, and Branchburg, off the New Jersey Turnpike and the I-78 corridor, with I-80 and I-287 as the belts around them.
Philadelphia-gateway freight goes to warehouses in Camden, Cinnaminson, and Swedesboro, off I-295.
Matching the gateway is the normal read, not the only one. In real life a longer dray to the other gateway’s warehouses can work in some cases: a Newark box to a South Jersey warehouse, for example, if that warehouse is the one that fits the load. Confirm the inland leg in the quote request.
No warehouse is featured here. Compare the listings on the New Jersey warehouse map by city and services, and send the quote request straight to the one that fits the gateway and the load.
Newark/Elizabeth freight: warehouses inland off the Turnpike
Port Newark-Elizabeth is the principal container ship facility for the New York metropolitan area and the northeastern quadrant of North America, and the largest container port complex on the East Coast. In 2025 the Port of New York and New Jersey handled 8.9 million TEUs, the busiest East Coast container port and the third busiest in the country. Most East Coast-bound ocean carriers call here first, which is why the volume funnels through Newark Bay.
The access roads are the reason the warehouses sit where they do. APM Terminals Elizabeth sits less than one mile off Exit 13A of the New Jersey Turnpike, near Routes 1 and 9 for points north and south, and less than two miles from I-78 for points west. The port also holds the largest rail lift capacity of any US East Coast port, so boxes move off terminal ground by truck and by rail alike.
The devan work happens inland of all that. A drayage carrier pulls your container from the terminal to a warehouse near Secaucus, Dayton, or Branchburg, where the crew unloads it. The terminal is the front door, not the work floor.
Philadelphia-gateway freight: warehouses on the South Jersey side
The other gateway is across the Delaware. The Port of Philadelphia’s container terminal is the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, and PhilaPort handled a record 889,268 TEUs in 2025, up 6 percent on the prior year. 64 percent of its containerized imports in 2025 were refrigerated, which tells you the kind of freight that port moves.
If your box comes in through Philadelphia, the warehouse choice is straightforward: Camden, Cinnaminson, and Swedesboro, off the I-295 corridor. That is a short inland dray instead of a long haul from Newark/Elizabeth. Name the Philadelphia gateway in the quote request so the warehouse plans around the right inland leg.
Related work on this site: short-term warehouse space in New Jersey, cross-docking in New Jersey, container unloading at Newark/Elizabeth, and pallet restacking in New Jersey.
What happens between the terminal and the outbound trailer
A New Jersey transload follows one flow, whichever gateway the box came through.
- A drayage carrier pulls the container from the terminal to the warehouse. Either you or the warehouse can arrange the dray. Settle who has it when you get the quote, so nobody assumes the other side covered it.
- The crew unloads the container. The starting condition decides the crew. Per an industry guide, a floor-loaded 40 means three to five hours of hand work; the same box palletized clears in 30 to 60 minutes on a forklift. Those are industry guide figures, not a New Jersey warehouse standard. An industry guide also puts devanning labor at most US destination facilities at $300 to $600 per container in lumper fees. That is what the work costs the warehouse, not what the shipper pays.
- The freight gets palletized and sorted. Floor-loaded freight is built to pallets by hand, piece by piece. An industry guide puts a 40-foot container at about 20 pallet positions and a 20-foot container at about 10, so send the pallet count or the carton count when you have it.
- The freight reloads into 53-foot dry vans, the standard enclosed domestic trailers, or sits in short-term storage until the customer is ready. The number of outbound trailers comes from pallets and pounds, not from the container count. A 20 or 40 on the way in does not set the ratio on the way out. Three 40-foot containers into two 53-foot vans holds only for lightweight palletized freight, never as a safe assumption. One loose 40 built to pallets can fill two dry vans by itself, since palletizing eats cube. Heavy freight goes the other way: the van hits its weight limit before the cube is full. Plan the outbound trucks from the pallet count and weight the warehouse confirms once the doors are open.
Not every job needs storage. That is cross-docking, with freight moving from the inbound container straight to outbound trailers instead of sitting in warehouse storage first.
One box, several drops
Splitting a container is a standard transload job, not an exception. A Newark box might split to a North Jersey customer, a central Jersey customer, and a New York delivery in one move. A South Jersey box might split to Camden, Cinnaminson, and a Philadelphia-area customer.
Split deliveries are covered by every listed warehouse. The detail that decides the quote is scope. When you reach out to the warehouse, explain the full scope: which destinations, and how many pallets go to each. The warehouse can often arrange the outbound trucks, or you can bring your own carrier. Outbound is priced per truckload or per pallet, set by the load details and the warehouse’s rate structure.
What shapes the quote
No honest page gives one New Jersey rate, because the price follows your load and the warehouse. What moves it: floor-loaded versus palletized freight first, then pallet and carton count, and how much sort, palletize, and reload work the job needs. How fast you need it turned, how long it sits, whether it splits, and how far the outbound runs all move the number.
The unload benchmarks above explain part of the warehouse’s cost: a floor-loaded container takes hours of hand work, while a palletized container takes a forklift under an hour. That is the warehouse’s cost in time and crew, not what a shipper pays, and it is an industry guide figure, not a New Jersey price.
The charges that run while you decide
Two charges push shippers to move fast, and they are easy to mix up.
Demurrage is the per-day fee for a container sitting at the terminal past its free time. National guides put free time at about 4 to 7 days at the port, with demurrage starting around $200 per day and rising in tiers. Those are national guide ranges, not a Newark or Elizabeth terminal tariff.
Per diem, also called container detention, covers keeping an ocean carrier container outside the terminal past free time. A national guide puts it at about $75 to $200 per day after the free days expire. That number is a national guide, not something any port sets.
Get the container off the terminal and into a warehouse fast, even if the handling quote is not settled yet. Waiting on paperwork does not stop the clock. Get the Last Free Day in writing from the carrier or terminal and put it in the quote request, so the warehouse can plan the appointment around it.
What to send so the first reply is usable
Your quote request goes straight to the warehouse, which answers as soon as possible, normally within 24 hours or less. A full first message earns a usable reply. A thin one gets a round of follow-up questions while the box keeps moving.
Send this in the first message:
- Container size and type, and whether the freight is floor-loaded or palletized
- Weight and dimensions of the items, or an itemized pack list.
- Pallet count, or carton count and item sizes so the warehouse can estimate pallets
- Gateway: Newark/Elizabeth or Philadelphia, and which warehouse area that points to
- Last Free Day in writing from the carrier or terminal, where it applies
- Destinations, and pallets per destination if the load splits
- Who arranges the drayage from the terminal and who arranges outbound trucks: you or the warehouse
- Heavy, oversized, or special handling items, named plainly
- Target arrival date and whether same-day or next-day turn is needed
Most warehouses need advance appointments, so confirm how much notice the warehouse needs, whether it does live unload or drop trailer, and what appointment windows it offers. Same-day turnaround is often possible based on availability, and next-day is commonly doable, but neither is a New Jersey standard, so confirm timing before your freight arrives. Reach out before the freight rolls, and do not show up unannounced.
Frequently asked questions
It gets unloaded inland, not at the terminal. No listed warehouse sits inside the port terminals. A drayage carrier pulls the box from Newark/Elizabeth to a warehouse near Secaucus, Dayton, or Branchburg, off the New Jersey Turnpike or the I-78 corridor. Either you or the warehouse can arrange the dray. Settle it in the quote so nobody assumes the other side covered it.
Match the warehouse to the gateway the box came through. Newark/Elizabeth freight goes to Secaucus, Dayton, and Branchburg. Philadelphia-gateway freight goes to Camden, Cinnaminson, and Swedesboro. Sending a box to the wrong gateway’s warehouses buys a dray you never needed. That said, a longer dray can be the right call in some cases, if the warehouse on the other side is the one that fits the load. Name the gateway and the reason in the quote request.
It goes to the South Jersey warehouses: Camden, Cinnaminson, and Swedesboro, off the I-295 corridor. PhilaPort handled a record 889,268 TEUs in 2025 through the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal. Name the Philadelphia gateway in the quote request so the warehouse plans around the right inland leg.
Send container size and type, floor-loaded or palletized status, and the Weight and dimensions of the items, or an itemized pack list. Add the pallet or carton count, the gateway, the Last Free Day in writing where it applies, destinations with pallets per destination if the load splits, who arranges drayage and outbound trucks, and the turn you need. Quote requests go directly to the warehouse, which normally replies within 24 hours or less.
Same-day turnaround is often possible based on availability, and next-day is commonly doable, but neither is a promise for a specific load. Turn speed follows the load and the appointment more than anything else. Per an industry guide, a floor-loaded 40 means three to five hours of hand work; the same box palletized clears in 30 to 60 minutes on a forklift. Confirm appointment and timing with the warehouse before the box arrives.
Demurrage is the per-day charge for a container sitting at the terminal past free time, which national guides put at about 4 to 7 days, with demurrage starting around $200 per day and rising in tiers. Per diem, also called detention, covers keeping the carrier container out past free time, about $75 to $200 per day as a national guide. Those are national guides, not a Newark or Elizabeth terminal tariff. Get the Last Free Day in writing from the carrier or terminal and put it in the quote request.
Yes. Split deliveries are covered by every listed warehouse. The crew unloads the box, sorts the freight, builds it to pallets, and loads out trucks for each destination. Explain the full scope in the first message: every destination and the pallets for each. Outbound trucks can come from the warehouse or from you, and outbound is priced per truckload or per pallet depending on the load details and the warehouse’s rate structure.
Find a New Jersey warehouse on the map
The directory covers both gateways: listings in Secaucus, Dayton, and Branchburg for Newark/Elizabeth drays, and listings in Camden, Cinnaminson, and Swedesboro for Philly-gateway freight.
Compare New Jersey warehouses on the map by city, gateway, services, and quote route. Your quote request goes straight to the warehouse, which answers as soon as possible, normally within 24 hours or less. If you run a warehouse in New Jersey, list your warehouse so shippers searching this page can find you.