The Hidden Lane — What Most Truckers Don't Know About Drayage | The Long Haul

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Well, guess what? That's dredge. And many truckers have never thought about it once. Sergio Manzo has been in it his entire career. Eight years as a driver moving containers through Chicago's rail yards. Now the CEO, or COO, excuse me, a Severo Trucking. That's the family business. His family has been running for over three decades in one of the most demanding intermodal markets in the country. Today, we're getting into a part of this industry that the load board crowd has probably never seen.

I think when you hear what dredge actually involves, the complexities, the discipline, the relationships you have to build, you're going to understand why the carriers who do it well are some of the most insulated operators in the business. Let's get into it. If you run your business on guesswork, you're putting yourself in a bad position before the wheels even turn. Right now, more than ever, who you align your business with matters. One thing I've always been a big fan of is transparency, whether it's knowing your numbers, knowing your lanes, and knowing exactly what you're getting into before you even book a load. That's why Amazon Relay stands out. Up front rates, unlimited mileage, accurate mileage, and real appointment times, these are the things you can actually make a decision based on facts and not just assumptions. Whether you have box trucks, drive vans, it doesn't matter. What matters is you're operating with clarity and consistency. So if you're serious about building something sustainable and not just chasing whatever pops up, make sure you go to relay.amazon.com and check it out.

Welcome to The Long Haul, the podcast dedicated to empowering small carriers and owner-operators to drive their business forward. I'm your host, Adam Wingfield, bringing you insights from industry leaders, real-world success stories, and strategies to help you navigate the road to profitability. Whether you just getting started or looking to take your fleet to the next level, this is the show where trucking meets opportunity. So buckle up, it's time to go to distance.

Welcome back to The Long Haul. I'm Adam, and today we're going somewhere most in many podcast conversations about trucking typically never go. The majority of content in this industry, including a lot of what we do on this show, is focused on over-the-road, drive-ins, flatbeds, spot market load boards, contract plate, and all that matters enormously to the carriers we serve. But there's a whole lane of this industry that operates almost completely separately from all of that. And the carriers who work in it are dealing with a set of challenges, a set of relationships, and a set of business dynamics that many OTR operators have never had to think about.

My guest today is Sergio Manzo Jr. as he goes by COO of Severo Trucking Incorporated out of Joliet, Indiana, Illinois. Excuse me. It's a family-owned drayage and intermodal operation serving the Chicago market just over the last 30 years. Sergio drove intermodal for eight years before stepping in operations, and he knows what it looks like from the seat of the truck and from the desk running the company. Today, we're talking drayage, what it actually is, how it works, what's broken in the system right now, and what small carriers need to understand about this critical part of the supply chain, whether they're in it or just trying to understand where their freight actually comes from.

Sergio, welcome to The Long Haul, my guy.

Sergio Manzo (4:12)

Adam, thank you so much for having me on.

Adam Wingfield (4:13)

Man, it's excited to be able to talk about this because I think as we talked about in pre-production, you know, this is Elaine that you don't hear much about. You know, you see it a lot, you see a lot about it, but you really don't hear the dynamics go about it. So I'm really excited to join into this discussion. Many of our audience knows the OTR side, right? So they see it, they live by it every day. They know the load board, they know brokers, they know drive-in, they know flatbed, but walk me through from your perspective what dredge actually is. In the plain language you use, if you were explaining to a driver, consider it a market to switch.