The logistics practice of transferring goods directly from inbound to outbound vehicles without warehousing is called cross-docking.
In a cross-docking operation, incoming shipments are unloaded at a facility, sorted or consolidated, and quickly loaded onto departing trucks, railcars, or other vehicles. The goods spend little or no time in storage, so the facility functions primarily as a transfer point rather than a conventional warehouse.
Retail distribution is a common use. Products from several suppliers can arrive at a cross-dock, be organized by store or delivery route, and leave on outbound vehicles the same day. This can reduce storage needs, handling, inventory holding costs, and delivery lead times.
Cross-docking is different from transshipment, a broader term for transferring cargo between transport modes or vehicles. It also differs from break-bulk, which describes separating a consolidated shipment into smaller consignments, and from warehousing, where goods are intentionally stored for later retrieval.