A drayman was historically the driver of a dray, a low, flat-bed wagon without sides, pulled generally by horses or mules that were used to transport all kinds of goods.

Modern use

The word "drayman" is used in U.S. ports as the term for over-the-road highway

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

s who deliver

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

to and from the port. A

drayage Drayage is the transportation of shipping containers by truck to its final destination. Drayage is often part of a longer overall move, such as from a ship to a warehouse. Some research defines it specifically as "a truck pickup from or delive ...

company and draymen provide carriage from or to a port or railway ramp. The items hauled are either ocean or rail containers. The contents are either cross docked for outbound long haul carriage or the container is drayed to the receiver who unloads it. The drayman then hauls the empty back to the ocean port or rail yard. The term is used in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

delivery men, even though routine horse-drawn deliveries are almost entirely extinct. Some breweries still maintain teams of horses and a dray, but these are used only for special occasions such as

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

s or opening new premises. There are some breweries still delivering daily/weekly using horses, Hook Norton in Oxfordshire and Sam Smiths in Tadcaster being two of them. ''Punch Almanac'' (June 24, 1908) published a cartoon, making fun of a social distinction between omnibus drivers and brewery draymen, as one of two cartoons ridiculing city transport.

References

Transport occupations Port infrastructure {{Job-stub