The street-turn option represents a major strategy for the profitability of shipping companies supplying container-based transportation.
This option consists in the distribution of trucks delivering loaded containers to import customers, the subsequent allocation of empty containers to export customers and the final dispatch of loaded containers to departure ports. However, the determination of truck routes is a time-consuming activity for shipping companies, because available information can suddenly change while they are making their decisions. In this blog post we explain what the Street-Turn is in intermodal shipment and how it works.
Boosting Freight Efficiency with a Street-Turn Container Approach
Reusing containers through a street-turn strategy is a smart and efficient method to improve route planning and avoid sending trucks out with no cargo. Reducing empty miles is one of the most effective ways to cut operational costs and improve profitability. Moving freight—even at a reduced margin—is always better than traveling with an empty load, and street turns make that possible more consistently.
Understanding Street Turns in Freight Logistics
In freight logistics, a street turn happens when a container—rather than returning to the rail yard or depot—is redirected to pick up a new shipment. This process eliminates the need to drop the container off and fetch a different one. Instead, the same container is reassigned on the spot.
This method helps carriers operate more efficiently by skipping the extra trip to the rail yard, reducing idle time, and increasing loaded mileage. Carriers gain more revenue by completing two paying moves with one container. At the same time, shippers benefit from quicker container availability, making their supply chains more responsive. Everyone involved—from drivers to dispatchers to customers—wins through faster turnarounds and fewer delays.
Street Turns: A Win-Win for All in the Supply Chain
All four major stakeholders—trucking companies, exporters, steamship lines, and importers—benefit from reusing empty containers through street turns. Street turns also support the shift toward a greener, more sustainable supply chain.
For trucking companies, the primary benefit of turning empty containers on the street is fewer trips back and forth to the port. Normally, a driver picks up a loaded import container from the port and delivers it to a warehouse. After unloading, the empty container is returned to the port. At the same time, exporters pay trucking companies to
collect empty containers from the port, bring them to their facility, load them, and return them again. Street turns allow truckers to skip extra trips by matching returned empty import containers with exporters who need them—cutting total miles driven by up to 40%.
Exporters also benefit. Street turning reduces the need for extra equipment, which lowers overall equipment costs. It also cuts fuel use by keeping trucks off the road longer during each shift and reducing daily driving distance by minimizing unnecessary street-to-yard moves.
Steamship lines see reduced terminal congestion and fewer emissions. Turning empties directly on the street means fewer containers clogging port terminals, which lowers labor and equipment costs, fuel use, and even accident rates. Handling empties also takes less manpower than loaded ones. With less congestion, terminals can focus on faster cargo movement and minimizing driver fatigue—a major safety risk.
For importers, empty containers become valuable assets. Street turns cut required miles, saving on fuel costs. Using a spotter truck instead of a tow truck also means lower risk of injury or damage. Spotter trucks are purpose-built, which helps reduce fleet wear and tear—not only because of fewer accidents, but because they’re better suited for this task.
Why Are Street Turns So Hard to Organize?
Street turns are a highly efficient strategy that should be utilized whenever possible. However, arranging them remains a challenge, and scaling them up has proven difficult. The issue isn’t that the technology to facilitate street turns is ineffective—it’s that past efforts have yielded only minimal success. Increasing street turns by just two or three times could significantly reduce road miles. So, what makes them so difficult to coordinate?
Key Challenges in Arranging Street Turns
- Matching Equipment is Tough – Finding a container of the same size, from the same shipping line, and with the same product grade is no simple task.
- Lack of Visibility – Without transparency into container movements, locating an empty container is nearly impossible. Ports may not even know the final destination, and companies often hesitate to share customer or routing details. Street turns only work when stakeholders willingly provide this information.
- Timing Issues – Even if the right container is available, aligning schedules between parties is another hurdle.
- Labor-Intensive Process – Setting up a street turn requires significant effort, from identifying a suitable drop-off location to coordinating between multiple parties.
- Trucker Dynamics – If trucking companies don’t have a good working relationship, they may avoid collaborating—even when it benefits both sides.
- Permission Requirements – Both the shipping line and chassis pool must approve the street turn, adding another layer of complexity.
- Low Drayage Rates – When profit margins are slim, the extra time and effort needed to arrange a street turn may not justify the cost savings—making a traditional port return the easier choice.
- Industry Resistance – Labor unions sometimes oppose street turns, fearing reduced maintenance and repair opportunities and declining gate traffic. While these concerns may not be valid, the perception has made ports hesitant to adopt the practice.
- Chassis Complications – A street turn requires not just container coordination but also chassis alignment. Since chassis are typically leased from pools, obtaining permission adds another obstacle.
Despite these challenges, street turns remain a valuable opportunity for efficiency—if the industry can overcome these barriers.
Why a Street Turn Strategy Makes Sense for Modern Freight
Adopting a street turn strategy can transform freight operations, driving higher profits through smarter, faster logistics. This method brings several key advantages across efficiency, sustainability, and cost reduction.
Faster Turnaround, Faster Profits
By shifting directly from one drop-off to the next pickup without returning to a terminal, trucking operations become significantly more time-efficient. This live-to-live model shortens delivery cycles and speeds up earnings by reducing idle time between moves.
Improved Equipment Utilization
Keeping containers and chassis in active circulation—rather than returning them to the yard—means they’re working more often and waiting less. This increases asset productivity and helps maintain a smoother overall freight flow. Fewer delays mean fewer bottlenecks in your network.
Cutting Down Empty Miles and Environmental Waste
The industry’s slow adoption of wide-scale street turns is surprising, especially considering the environmental and operational upsides. If the logistics sector could match every empty container to a new shipment, over 20 million empty truck trips could be eliminated. With an average trip of 150 miles from port to warehouse, that adds up to a potential 3 billion truck miles saved. The ripple effects include a billion fewer trucker hours, 20 million fewer container returns, and a savings of nearly 923 million gallons of diesel. Even if these figures were halved or quartered, the positive impact would still be massive—on both the environment and the bottom line.
Bringing Visibility and Optimization to Inland Freight
Street turns, paired with real-time container tracking, help logistics managers fine-tune freight movement from ports to inland destinations. With modern tools, what once seemed complex or inefficient now becomes simple and streamlined.
Making Street Turns Work for Everyone
Through unified systems and smart automation, stakeholders—from brokers to carriers—can identify and act on street turn opportunities more easily. Automating and managing these processes through centralized systems reduces friction and opens up new possibilities for collaboration.
Lower Costs Across the Board
Improved coordination means less wasted effort, fewer delays, and tighter operations. This leads to measurable savings for all players involved. When street turns increase container turnaround speed and ease port congestion, the entire supply chain gains.
Advancing Sustainability Goals
Every mile saved means fewer emissions. With proper tracking of carbon output, distance, and fuel usage, logistics teams measure progress toward environmental benchmarks. With clear data, organizations can stay on track with green initiatives while staying competitive.
Conclusion
The implementation of a street-turn strategy presents a significant opportunity to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of container-based transportation. By reallocating empty containers from import customers directly to export users, and bypassing unnecessary returns to terminals, shipping companies can reduce operational costs, minimize travel distances, and accelerate container flow.
Although challenges remain—particularly in route planning and coordination across stakeholders—the potential gains are substantial. The integration of optimization models and decision-support tools can assist logistics managers in determining efficient truck routes under dynamic conditions. As demonstrated,
this approach not only improves container utilization but also contributes to lower emissions and streamlined freight operations. In a sector where time, distance, and visibility matter, embracing street-turn practices can ultimately lead to smarter, greener, and more profitable logistics systems.
