Dock (loading dock)
A loading dock is a raised platform at a warehouse or distribution centre where trucks back up to load or unload. Dock height typically matches trailer floor height (48-52 inches), allowing forklifts to drive directly into a trailer.
Dock height vs ground-level loading is the first design decision. Dock-height saves time per trailer but requires building or modifying the warehouse; ground-level loading needs a ramp or forklift attachment but suits low-volume sites.
A dock leveller bridges the gap between the dock floor and the trailer floor, accommodating trailers of slightly different heights. Mechanical, hydraulic, and air-powered levellers are all common.
Dock doors are numbered. The number is the addressing system for inbound and outbound trailer assignment — a manifest line might read 'unload at door 14' or 'load at door 7'. Cross-dock facilities use door numbers as the primary routing key.
Related terms
- DrayageDrayage is short-haul trucking of containers, typically from a port or rail yard to a nearby warehouse or vice versa. It is one of the most expensive per-mile legs in a container's journey.
- LTL vs. FTL (less than truckload vs. full truckload)FTL means a shipper has booked an entire truck for their cargo. LTL means the cargo shares a truck with other shippers' cargo, picked up and dropped off via terminal hubs. LTL is the trucking analogue of LCL.
Tired of looking these up by hand?
PaperFlo builds custom document automation that extracts these fields cleanly from supplier PDFs, so your team can stop typing them in.
Book a discovery call