An invoice for a container everyone forgot
The carrier's invoice arrives with detention charges on a container that was delivered to a customer's warehouse and never returned. The customer unloaded it slowly, the haulier was waiting to be told it was empty, and nobody had told anyone that the free days were running out. Another container sat at the terminal for a week after discharge because the customs entry was held, and the storage bill arrives separately.
Now you have a dispute with your customer about who pays, and no clear record of who knew what, when.
Why free time is hard to watch
Free time is simple for one container and hard for hundreds. Each one has its own allowance and clock, and the events that start and stop the clock happen at the terminal and at the customer's site, not in your office.
- Free days vary by carrier, contract, port and equipment type.
- Demurrage, detention and port storage run on different clocks.
- Discharge, gate-out and empty return events are on carrier and terminal systems.
- Customers unloading containers do not know how long they have.
- Hauliers wait to be told a container is empty.
What the surprises cost
Charges that could have been avoided land on you or your customer, and either way someone is unhappy. Disputes about who is responsible take time and damage relationships, especially when neither side has a clear record. And the invoices often arrive weeks later, when the job has already been closed and invoiced, so the charge comes out of margin unless someone catches it.
The free time tracking we build
- Your carrier terms are entered: free days by carrier, contract, port and equipment, and whether demurrage and detention are combined or separate. Where you have negotiated extra free time, that is recorded per contract.
- Each import container is linked to its terms when the job is created.
- Discharge, gate-out, delivery and empty return events are pulled from carrier and terminal data, and the clocks start and stop on them.
- Operators see a list of containers sorted by days of free time left, with warnings at thresholds you set.
- Customers are told, at delivery booking, how long they have to unload, and reminded before it runs out. Hauliers are told when an empty needs collecting.
- When a carrier invoice arrives, the system compares the charged days with its own record, and flags differences.
| Question | Today | With tracking |
|---|---|---|
| How many free days does this box have? | Look up the contract | On the container |
| When does the clock start? | Nobody watches | From discharge and gate-out events |
| Who needs to act? | Unclear | Operator, customer and haulier warned |
| Is the carrier's invoice right? | Accepted | Compared with recorded events |
After
Containers are collected and returned in time more often, because the people who need to act know about it. When charges do arise, there is a record of warnings sent and events recorded, which makes the conversation with the customer factual. Carrier invoices are checked against events rather than paid as they come. And you can see which customers and lanes regularly run over, which is useful when you agree terms.
Operators stop keeping their own lists of containers to watch. The list is shared, so when someone is off, their containers are still being watched. Hauliers get a clearer instruction for empty returns, including which depot the carrier wants the empty back at, which is another place charges quietly start.
Who pays for a charge is a matter for your terms with the customer and your contract with the carrier. The tracking gives everyone the facts.
Checklist
- Demurrage and detention invoices surprise you.
- Free time terms are in contracts, not in a system.
- Customers do not know how long they have to unload.
- Empties wait for someone to tell the haulier.
- Carrier charges are paid without checking the days.