What does cartage mean?
Cartage is a commercial term for the transport of goods over relatively short distances, originally by horse-drawn cart but now by any light vehicle. It names both the activity itself — the hauling of freight from a depot, dock, or railhead to its final destination — and the fee charged for that service, which often appears as a distinct line item on shipping invoices alongside freight and handling costs. The word belongs chiefly to the vocabulary of logistics, warehousing, and trade, where it retains a formal, slightly old-fashioned flavor; in modern American usage it overlaps with "drayage," the term for similar short-haul work around ports and intermodal terminals. Though rarely heard in casual conversation, cartage remains a precise and useful term whenever a bill of lading or contract needs to distinguish local delivery from long-distance carriage.
nounThe action or cost of transporting goods by cart, or more generally the conveyance of goods over a short distance, especially as part of a delivery service.
- The act or process of transporting goods by cart; short-distance haulage of freight.
- The charge or fee levied for such transportation.
"The invoice included a separate line for cartage from the railway depot to the warehouse."
"Cartage between the port and the distribution center was handled by a local contractor."
"The buyer agreed to pay all cartage costs once the goods left the factory gate."
Rarely pluralized; the uncountable singular is standard even when referring to multiple trips or charges, though "cartages" occasionally appears in accounting contexts for individual hauls.
"The ledger recorded several separate cartages during the month of June."
Before trucks took over, "cartage" was big business — whole city economies ran on men and horses moving other people's goods a few blocks at a time.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cartage
Cartage derives from "cart," a Middle English noun borrowed from Old Norse "kartr," combined with the suffix "-age" used to form nouns of action or charge (as in "carriage" and "haulage"). It entered English in the late medieval period as commerce and urban delivery systems grew, denoting both the work of carting goods and the payment made for it. It shares its Germanic root "cart" with related terms such as "carter" and "cartload."
How cartage is actually used
Somewhat formal and commercial in register; common in shipping, logistics, and trade documentation. In North American trucking contexts it overlaps with "drayage." Increasingly rare in everyday speech, surviving mostly in invoices and freight contracts.
Easily confused with cartage
"Carriage" refers primarily to a horse-drawn vehicle or the transport of passengers/goods in general (or pregnancy), while "cartage" specifically denotes the hauling of goods by cart or short-distance freight transport.