Clearance is not delivery. Tide runs the truck on the same record.

The crossover is usually around six to eight pallets, roughly half a trailer's worth of freight. Below that, LTL is cheaper because you are only paying for the space and weight you use; above it, a dedicated FTL trailer starts costing about the same per pallet and moves faster because it skips the terminal handling and reclassification that LTL freight goes through at each hub. Tide prices both side by side when your volume sits near that line.

Drayage is the short haul that moves a container from the port or rail ramp to a warehouse, distribution center, or rail yard, and back. It requires a chassis, the wheeled frame the container sits on, which the trucker does not always own. When chassis supply at a terminal is tight, a container can clear customs and still sit for days waiting for equipment to move it. Tide checks chassis availability at the terminal before committing to a pickup window, instead of finding out the pool is empty after the truck is already dispatched.

Free time is the window after a container discharges where the terminal does not charge to store it, typically a few days depending on the port. If the truck has not picked it up by the time free time expires, demurrage starts accruing at the terminal; once the trucker has the container, a separate detention clock starts if it is not returned to the terminal on schedule. The two charges sit at different points in the move, and both are avoidable with the same fix: booking the drayage pickup against the actual discharge date instead of the original ETA.

Yes. FTL, LTL, and drayage all book as standalone moves. The advantage of routing the international leg through Tide as well is that the trucking booking inherits the shipment details automatically, container number, weight, commodity, so there is no re-entry and no gap between when the box clears and when the truck is scheduled. A domestic-only booking works the same way, on its own.

Yes, on reefer trailers for both FTL and drayage moves. The set point, whether the load needs continuous monitoring, and any humidity requirements attach to the booking the same way they do on an ocean reefer container, and the trailer's temperature log rides with the shipment record so it is available if a receiver or insurer needs to see it after delivery.

Every carrier in Tide's partner network carries cargo insurance meeting standard federal minimums, and the specific coverage and liability terms attach to the load tender before dispatch, not after something goes wrong. For high-value freight, additional cargo insurance can be purchased at booking. The carrier of record and its coverage are part of the shipment record, so liability is not a question you have to reconstruct from a bill of lading after the fact.