We absolutely used to have that same "feast or famine" problem, and it made cost forecasting impossible. The fix for us was partnering with a company that treats the port move and storage as a single, managed service. They don't just haul when there's a truck free; they schedule and execute the container transport as part of a coordinated workflow with their own warehousing. This means they can pace the moves based on our actual intake capacity. It turned a chaotic cost into a predictable, fixed line item. The service from PNW Warehousing was the key to stabilizing that for us. You can see their detailed approach here.