Drayage Accessorials: What Charges Itself, and Where the Proof Is

Pre-pull, chassis flip and yard storage are charged automatically from job events; overweight needs one confirmation with the weight from your scale ticket or bill of lading. Every automatic charge keeps its proof — the event, the time and the photos — on the charge itself.

Accessorials are where drayage money leaks: a pre-pull nobody wrote down, a chassis flip nobody billed. In Docklify, five accessorials are generated for you from what already happens on the job — no separate data entry. This article explains, one by one, what charges itself, what needs one confirmation from you, and where the proof lives when a customer asks.

What charges itself#

• Pre-pull: if the container is picked up from the terminal before the delivery appointment day — the classic "pull it out early and hold it" — a pre-pull charge is created from the pickup event itself. Same-day pickup for a same-day appointment does not count.
• Chassis flip: when the container is moved from one chassis to another, log a "Chassis flip" event on the order (Drayage → Orders → open the order → add event) and the charge follows. If your chassis usage records show a second, different chassis on the same order, Docklify also catches the flip from there — either way it is charged once, never twice.
• Chassis split: when the chassis has to be picked up or dropped off somewhere different from the container (an extra separate trip), log a "Chassis split" event on the order and the charge is created from that event.
• Yard storage: a pre-pulled container sitting in your yard is charged per day after the free days (one day by default; your company can change it). Storage stops the day it is delivered, and it is counted once per day — re-running a check never double-charges a day. Note it is a different charge from per diem: per diem pays the shipping line for their container, yard storage pays for your yard space.

Overweight: one confirmation, with the weight in hand#

Overweight is the one accessorial Docklify will not guess. The system does not weigh containers, so there is no honest way to charge it automatically. When you have the weight — from a scale ticket or the bill of lading declaration — submit an overweight confirmation for the order through the accessorials API (POST /api/drayage/orders/{id}/accessorials, action "confirm_overweight", with the weight and where it came from) — your dispatch or billing system can send it; there is no order-page button for this yet, that page entry arrives in a later batch. If the weight is over your company limit (44,000 lb by default), the charge is created on the spot; under the limit, nothing is charged and you are told so. Confirming twice never charges twice.

Where the proof is#

Every automatic charge carries its proof on the charge itself: the event that triggered it, when it happened, the GPS point if the event had one, and the photos or documents attached to that event. When a customer questions a flip or a storage day, pull the accessorial list for the order from the accessorials API (GET /api/drayage/orders/{id}/accessorials) or ask in AI Rollie what accessorials were charged on the order — each charge in the list comes with its proof attached, so you no longer have to dig through the timeline and match things up by hand. An order-page view of the list arrives in a later batch. Amounts follow the rates in the customer contract rate sheet when the monthly bill is produced, so what you agree in the rate sheet is what gets charged.

Docklify features used in this article#

• Log order events (pickup, chassis split, chassis flip, delivered) — Drayage → Orders → open an order (/drayage/orders)
• Accessorial charges and proof for an order — accessorials API (GET /api/drayage/orders/{id}/accessorials) or ask AI Rollie about the order; the order-page list arrives in a later batch
• Chassis usage records (which container used which chassis, from when to when) — Drayage → Chassis usage
• Customer contract rate sheets (the prices these charges use) — Billing → Rate sheets