Door-to-Port Auto Transport — Vehicle Delivery to US Ports

Major US Export Ports: What to Know

Each port operates differently, and those differences affect how we plan your domestic transport. Here is a brief overview of the six ports we deliver to most frequently. For full details on each port — including warehouse contacts, terminal maps, and delivery scheduling — see the individual port pages linked below. The per-port timing notes below reflect our operating experience rather than a measured dispatch sample — only the New Jersey figures elsewhere on this page are drawn from Y7’s New Jersey dispatch data (27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026).

Port Newark, NJ is a major vehicle-export port on the East Coast; Y7 delivers here for cars bought in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Delivery to port warehouses is appointment-based — you cannot just show up with a car hauler and expect to drop off. Yard parking near the port is limited and expensive, so timing matters. Most warehouses in the Newark port area (along Doremus Avenue and surrounding blocks) require 24-48 hour delivery scheduling. We coordinate directly with your warehouse to secure a delivery window that aligns with your vessel date.

Port Houston, TX is a major vehicle-export port on the Gulf Coast, primarily through the Barbours Cut terminal; Y7 delivers here for cars bought in Texas and nearby states. Houston handles a massive flow of auction vehicles headed to West Africa, the Middle East, and Central America. Scheduling is more flexible than Newark — most Houston-area warehouses accept deliveries on a wider window. The advantage of Houston for Texas-based auction purchases (Copart and IAAI both have major yards across Texas) is that domestic transit is short: routes under 500 miles typically take 1–4 days after dispatch.

Port Savannah, GA is a South Atlantic export hub, operating through the Garden City Terminal. Savannah is increasingly popular with exporters because warehouse and handling fees tend to be lower than Newark or Houston. It is well-positioned for auction purchases from the Southeast — Copart and IAAI yards in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas are all within a day's drive.

Port Los Angeles, CA is the Pacific gateway for exports to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. LA port operations involve stricter emissions and compliance checks than East Coast ports, and security screening is more rigorous. Warehouse access in the LA/Long Beach port complex can be congested, especially during peak shipping periods. We factor in extra buffer time for LA deliveries to account for port-area traffic and warehouse scheduling constraints.

Port Baltimore, MD operates a RoRo (Roll-on/Roll-off) terminal at the Dundalk Marine Terminal. Baltimore suits exporters shipping running vehicles via RoRo service rather than container. The port has deep relationships with major ocean carriers offering RoRo routes to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Delivery coordination at Dundalk requires advance scheduling through the terminal operator.

Port Jacksonville, FL serves as a gateway for Caribbean and South American vehicle exports, operating through JAXPORT's Blount Island terminal. Jacksonville is a nearby major port for the Florida auction market: dozens of Copart and IAAI yards across the state feed vehicles into Jacksonville-area warehouses. Transit from South Florida auctions (about 350 miles) to Jacksonville port warehouses typically takes 1–4 days after dispatch.

What Y7 Handles vs. What You Handle

This is the most common source of confusion for first-time exporters, so here is a clear breakdown of responsibilities.

Y7 Logistics handles: the entire domestic transport leg. That means pickup from your origin (home, dealership, auction yard, or any US address), carrier dispatch, transit management, and delivery to the specific port warehouse or facility you designate. We provide delivery confirmation documentation showing when and where the vehicle was dropped off. If you are shipping multiple vehicles, we coordinate consolidation so all units arrive at the warehouse within your target window.

You or your freight forwarder handle: everything on the export side. That includes customs documentation, export declarations (EEI filing through AES), ocean freight booking (container or RoRo), port warehouse handling fees, title surrender or processing for export, and any destination-country import requirements. If you do not have a freight forwarder, we can recommend partners we have worked with at each port, but we do not act as a freight forwarder ourselves.

This division of responsibility exists because domestic auto transport and international freight forwarding are two different regulatory environments with different licensing requirements. We are experts at the domestic leg. Your freight forwarder is the expert at the international leg. Clean handoff at the port warehouse.

Warehouse vs. Direct Terminal Delivery

Most exporters use a warehouse or consolidation facility near the port rather than delivering directly to the terminal. Here is why.

Port terminals generally do not accept individual vehicle deliveries from car haulers. Vehicles going into containers need to be loaded at a warehouse — the container is packed there, then trucked to the terminal as a sealed unit. Even for RoRo shipments, most exporters stage vehicles at a nearby warehouse first for inspection, documentation, and scheduling alignment with the vessel.

The warehouse serves as a buffer zone. Your vehicle might arrive 3-5 days before the vessel sails, and it needs somewhere to sit. The warehouse handles storage, pre-export inspection, container loading (if applicable), and final documentation. We deliver to the warehouse door, your freight forwarder manages everything from that point forward.

In rare cases — typically large dealer or fleet exports with direct terminal agreements — we can arrange terminal delivery. But for most export shipments, warehouse delivery is the standard and most practical option.

What Door-to-Port Costs (New Jersey Corridor)

The carrier rate for the domestic leg is set almost entirely by distance. The table below shows typical carrier rates into the export warehouses on the New Jersey corridor, measured on Y7’s own dispatches from 27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026. These are band-level carrier rates for the NJ-inbound corridor only — not a quote for a named lane, and not transit for the other five ports. Carrier prices are not fixed: they spike and dip with fuel prices, season and driver availability, so the table describes that period, not a quote.

The per-mile rate falls as the haul lengthens because a fixed per-vehicle cost (dispatch, paperwork, loading, unloading) is spread over more miles. For the full explanation and the live rate on your exact route, see our NJ export-warehouse shipping cost methodology page. Separate Y7 fees per vehicle: dealer $50 with direct carrier payment or dealer-only $60 when Y7 handles it; exporter $50 including payment handling; individual greater of $75 or 10% of carrier price.

The Door Premium: Auction Yard vs. a Private or Dealer Address

This is the part of “door-to-port” that most exporters underestimate: where the car is picked up changes the rate. A pickup from a private residence or a dealer lot costs roughly $70 more per vehicle than the same haul out of an auction yard (New Jersey dispatches, 27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026), and that surcharge is roughly flat in dollars no matter how far the car is going. That $70 is added to the carrier rate — the amount paid to the trucker — not to Y7’s fee, which stays the same flat figure whichever pickup point you choose.

The economics are operational, not arbitrary. An auction yard is built for carriers: several vehicles can be collected at one organised stop, there is loading equipment, and the hours are predictable. A private or dealer address is a dedicated detour for a single car, frequently with no dock, no forklift, and uncertain availability — the driver may wait or make a second trip. That extra time and risk is the roughly $70.

Because the surcharge is flat in dollars, it is a large percentage on a short haul and a small one on a long haul: about +48% on a haul under 100 miles and only about +14% on a haul over 500 miles. If you are exporting and have a choice of pickup point, an auction or a consolidation yard is measurably cheaper than a residential door — most on short local runs, least on long hauls.

Transit Times and Scheduling

Assigning a carrier typically takes 1–2 days on active lanes. Once a carrier is dispatched, the domestic leg typically takes 1–4 days for routes under 500 miles and 2–7 days for 500–1,200 miles, the scale measured on Y7’s New Jersey-inbound dispatches (27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026); a Midwest auction to Port Newark falls in the second band. Cross-country routes (West Coast origin to East Coast port or vice versa) typically take 7–12 days. Route, season, weather and driver hours change these times; they are typical, not a promised window.

On top of domestic transit, budget 1-2 days for port processing — that is the time between when the vehicle arrives at the warehouse and when it is ready for container loading or RoRo staging. So total time from booking to "ready for export" is typically 3–11 days for routes under 1,200 miles, and longer cross-country.

The key to smooth port delivery is working backward from your vessel date. Tell us when the ship sails, and we calculate the latest pickup date that still gives enough buffer for transit and warehouse processing. We always recommend at least 2 days of buffer between scheduled warehouse arrival and vessel cutoff — ocean schedules shift, weather happens, and having your vehicle sitting at the warehouse a day early costs almost nothing compared to missing the vessel and waiting two weeks for the next one.

Where the Time Actually Goes: Sourcing vs. Driving

The timeline above is a range for one reason: it has two parts that behave very differently.

Sourcing the carrier is the variable part. Before any truck moves, a carrier has to accept the load at a fair market rate for the lane. On a busy corridor with an honest rate, that can happen the same day; on a thin lane, or with a rate posted below market, it can sit for days. This interval is exactly why the quoted window is a range rather than a fixed number — and it is not something we can quantify from delivery data, because the export records the dispatch date, not the date the load was first posted.

Once a carrier is dispatched, the driving is fast and consistent. On Y7’s New Jersey-inbound dispatches with confirmed delivery dates (27 August 2025 to 23 July 2026), here is how long the trucking leg took, measured from dispatch (a carrier already assigned) — not from booking or from pickup:

71% of these vehicles were delivered within 3 days of dispatch, and 96% within 7 days of dispatch. These figures are New Jersey-inbound only and describe the trucking leg after a carrier is assigned; they are not transit times for Houston, Savannah, Los Angeles, Baltimore, or Jacksonville, and they do not include carrier sourcing.

The practical lesson: a low quoted rate does not make a car arrive sooner. It leaves the load sitting on the board while the storage clock runs. A rate that actually clears the market gets a carrier assigned — and once assigned, the drive is quick and predictable.

Common Export Corridors

Most auction-to-port shipments follow predictable corridors based on geography. Understanding these patterns helps you plan purchasing and budget for transport costs.

Texas auctions to Port Houston. This is the shortest and cheapest corridor. Copart and IAAI have over a dozen yards across Texas. Transit to Houston-area warehouses typically takes 1–4 days after dispatch. If you are buying Texas auction vehicles for export, Houston is almost always your best port choice.

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic auctions to Port Newark. Auctions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and surrounding states route naturally to Newark. This is a high-volume export corridor; its dispatch-to-delivery times are the New Jersey-inbound figures shown in the transit section above.

Southeast auctions to Savannah or Jacksonville. Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama auction purchases feed into these two ports. Jacksonville is better for Caribbean-bound exports; Savannah offers more container route options for West Africa and the Middle East.

Midwest auctions to any coast port. Vehicles purchased at auctions in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and surrounding states are roughly equidistant from Newark, Savannah, and Houston. The best port choice depends on your ocean freight route and rates, not domestic transit cost. We quote all options so you can compare.

When You Need This

• Exporting a vehicle overseas
• Shipping auction purchase to port for export
• Dealer sending inventory to port
• Relocating vehicle for international shipping
• Consolidating multiple vehicles at port

How It Works

What You Need

• Vehicle details
• Origin address
• Destination port
• Target delivery date
• Warehouse/facility name at port (if applicable)
• Any export documentation needs

Our Capabilities

Frequently Asked Questions