Demurrage, detention, and rolled containers

Demurrage and detention are where quoted profit goes to die. They are avoidable with process, and almost never recoverable after the fact.

01The distinction, precisely

• Demurrage — the box is inside the terminal, past its free time. The terminal wants its ground slot back.
• Detention — the box is outside the terminal, at the client's yard or factory, past its free time. The line wants its equipment back.

Some lines merge both into "combined free time"; most do not. Read the booking confirmation, not the rate sheet.

02At origin (export)

• Detention runs from when you pick up the empty until you return it loaded to the terminal.
• Demurrage is rare at origin unless the box gates in very early and misses its vessel.

03At destination (import)

• Demurrage runs from discharge until the box leaves the terminal.
• Detention runs from when it leaves the terminal until the empty is returned to the depot.

04How free time actually works

Free time is typically 3–7 days at destination, sometimes 14 on contracted volume lanes. Three things people get wrong:

1. The clock usually starts on discharge, not on delivery order release. Customs delays eat free time.
2. Weekends and public holidays normally count. A Thursday discharge into a long weekend loses four days before anyone can act.
3. Rates escalate. Day 1–5 at one rate, day 6–10 at double, beyond that at triple. A week of inattention is not a linear cost.

05Preventing the charge

• Send the pre-alert with all documents the day the vessel sails, not the day it arrives.
• Confirm the consignee has funds and a broker appointed before ETA, not after.
• Track ETA changes daily in the last week; a vessel arriving three days early shortens everyone's runway.
• For import clients, agree who pays demurrage in writing before the first shipment. That conversation is cheap in advance and expensive afterwards.

06When your container is rolled

Rolling happens: the vessel is overbooked, or hits a weight or stability limit, or the terminal misses the cut-off. It is not usually personal and it is rarely compensable.

The playbook:

1. Confirm the facts. Get the new vessel, new ETD, and new ETA in writing from the line before you call anyone.
2. Tell the client immediately, with the new schedule and the options. A client who hears it from you at hour one forgives; a client who discovers it from a tracking page at day three does not.
3. Check the alternatives. Another line with space, a transhipment routing, or partial airfreight for the urgent portion of the cargo.
4. Recalculate the free time. A roll shifts the destination clock; make sure the consignee knows the new dates.
5. Log it. Repeated rolls on the same lane with the same carrier is a commercial conversation to have at contract renewal.

07Reducing roll risk

• Book earlier on peak-season lanes; late bookings roll first.
• Prefer a named-vessel booking with a confirmed allocation over a "next available" booking.
• Avoid the last vessel before a major holiday — Chinese New Year and Golden Week bookings roll at the highest rate of the year.
• Keep the VGM and shipping instructions in ahead of cut-off. A booking missing its VGM is the easiest one for the line to drop.