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Demurrage and Detention Management

Detention and demurrage invoices laid out container by container and day by day, each billed day proved or disputed with its record, and the waiver request signed inside the dispute window.

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The problem

The dispute window opens on the invoice date, before the gate receipts arrive

An ocean carrier's D&D invoice bills container-days that only five records can prove or disprove: the service contract's free-time clause, the arrival notice, CBP's hold status, the terminal's appointment log and the trucker's gate receipts. They sit in five places, and the window to dispute starts on the invoice date, not the day someone opens it.

So the analyst rebuilds each container in a spreadsheet and chases interchange receipts by email. Payables pays the whole invoice because nobody split it, and an exam inside free time that should have extended it goes unnoticed.

A dispute that claims a holiday the contract plainly counts loses credibility on each strong day beside it.

Built forImportersImport logistics teamsCustoms complianceAccounts payableCounsel

The Problem Today

Importers pay ocean D&D invoices whole, or dispute them with evidence the carrier can wave away.

189
charge complaints the FMC received in fiscal 2024 published

Rebuilt by hand, box by box

  • Free time
  • Arrivals
  • CBP holds
  • Gate slips
  • Receipts chased by emailThe window runs from the invoice date, not the reading
  • One weak claim sinks the restA holiday the contract counts undermines the strong days

The Solution

  1. Each container laid out by the dayContract clause, arrival notice, CBP hold, appointment log and gate receipts
  2. The invoice read against the FMC ruleRequired content, the issue deadline and the dispute window
  3. The carrier's case heard before the letterA challenger strikes the agents' own weak claims
  4. The manager signs, payables splitsThe undisputed part paid on time, the disputed part held

Built-in controls

  • Large disputes need the manager's signature
  • An outside note or screenshot moves no billed day
  • Complaints to the FMC decided with counsel

What You Get

The importer pays what it owes on the due date and disputes only the days its records prove.

30 days
the least time to dispute from the invoice date, under FMC rule published
  • A record behind each billed dayEach cell cites the passage that settles it
  • Requests sent early in the windowPrepared, challenged and signed well before the deadline
  • The owed part paid on timePayables releases exactly the split the manager signed
Features

Detention and demurrage features, from the carrier's invoice to the paid split

Import logistics analysts and managers use them to check ocean D&D invoices against the records and dispute inside the window. The screens follow one invoice for six forty-foot containers.

demoNames, containers and dollars in these screens are invented for the sample.

  1. 01Container calendar

    Container-day calendar with the carrier's invoice drawn over each row

    • One row per container, one column per day. Each day reads as discharge, free, CBP hold, no appointments, billed or returned, so a billed day that should be free stands out.
    • Agents steered in plain words mid-run. The analyst can add the vessel's other invoices to the check, and the added step is logged with the analyst's name.
    • Billed, disputed and to pay as the case stands. Days still waiting on a record are starred, so the analyst sees how much of the dispute rests on the terminal's full-day log.
  2. 02Day record

    Free time extended for a CBP exam hold, cited to the contract clause

    • Any day opens its record. The status of a day comes with the contract clause, the ACE release status and the invoice line behind it.
    • Exam holds counted against free time. Days under a government exam extend free time where the contract says so, unless the importer's own late filing caused the hold.
  3. 03Invoice check

    D&D invoice checked against the FMC billing rule, item by item

    • Each required item pinned to the invoice. Bill of lading, free time, availability date, rates and dispute contact are found where they sit, each with the reader's confidence.
    • Issue deadline and dispute window checked. The analyst sees whether the carrier billed within the rule's deadline and how long remains to ask for a waiver.
    • Legal effect left to counsel. Whether a content gap removes the duty to pay is marked as counsel's view, and the agents give none.
  4. 04Carrier's side

    The ocean carrier's rebuttal argued before the waiver request goes out

    • Objections in the D&D desk's own words. The analyst reads what the carrier will answer while the letter can still change.
    • Weak claims struck from the draft. A holiday the contract counts, or days the importer's own dock could not take, come out so the strong days stand.
  5. 05Trucker's portal

    Gate times asked of the drayage carrier in fixed fields, EIRs attached

    • Fields per container, with the EIR attached. Out-gate and empty in-gate come back as dates and times the calendar can use, each backed by its interchange receipt.
    • Only container numbers and dates go out. The request carries what the trucker needs to answer and no personal data.
  6. 06Outside requests

    Terminal and trucker replies that change the calendar only through fields

    • An early empty return found in the EIR. A return earlier than the invoice bills adds detention days to the request, backed by the trucker's own record.
    • Full-day appointment logs before a claim. No-appointment days stay probable until the terminal's log covers the whole day, so a half-day screenshot carries no claim.
    • Free text read by a person, word for word. The dispatcher's note and screenshot are shown as written and move no number.
  7. 07Analyst's call

    Outage days kept or dropped by the analyst, with a reason code

    • A judgment call the agents leave alone. The agents lay out the record and what dropping the days would cost, then wait for the analyst.
    • A coded reason in the person's own words. Each decision carries a reason code and a written reason, so the manager reads why before signing.
  8. 08What-if

    Three D&D invoice dispute paths played forward in money and deadlines

    • Dispute the days, the invoice, or both. Each path shows what is held, what is paid by the due date, when the carrier can reissue and what it can answer.
    • Paths that rest on a legal point marked. A path built on the invoice's content gap says counsel's view is needed before anyone chooses it.
  9. 09Manager's signature

    Waiver request signed by the manager after opening the challenger's points

    • A second signature above the threshold. Disputes over the set amount need the import logistics manager, who cannot sign a request of their own making.
    • Sign locked until the points are opened. The manager opens the six points and the letter before the button works, and the reason box starts empty.
    • Each letter line cited. Every disputed line carries its footnote to the record, and the attachments go with the letter.
  10. 10Payment split

    Undisputed D&D charges paid on the due date, the disputed part held

    • Released only after the manager signs. Payables opens the signed split and releases the undisputed part into the payment run.
    • Credits matched to earlier disputes. A carrier credit is matched to the dispute it answers, so recoveries are counted.

Who works detention and demurrage, and what each person gets

The import team owns the invoice; customs, payables and counsel each hold one fact or one decision it depends on.

Import logistics analysts

Work the D&D inbox, ask for gate records and prepare each dispute

  • Each container's days on one calendar
  • Days remaining to dispute on each invoice
  • Gate records back as fields, with the EIRs
Import logistics managers

Sign larger disputes, approve learned rules and carry patterns into contracts

  • The carrier's objections answered before signing
  • Repeat causes by carrier and terminal
  • A free-time clause drafted for the next contract
Customs compliance specialists

Confirm each CBP hold and whether the importer's filing caused it

  • The ACE release record beside each hold
  • A confirmation the dispute can rely on
  • Holds caused by a late filing kept out of the claim
Accounts payable specialists

Pay the undisputed part on time and hold the rest

  • The exact split the manager signed
  • Carrier credits matched to their disputes
  • Release locked until the manager signs

An exam that moved free time, a wrong date, an outage and two weak claims

Container demurrage charges a quick check would have paid, and two claims that would have weakened the dispute.

Free time the CBP exam extended

Three containers spent three free days under an exam hold, so the contract moved free time out; the carrier billed those days anyway: 9 container-days, $1,890.00.

Availability shown as the discharge day

The invoice gave three containers the discharge day as their availability date, though CBP released them three days later: an inaccuracy under 46 CFR 541.6.

Two days with no import appointments

The terminal's full-day log showed no import slots on two outage days, so five containers could not be picked up: 10 container-days.

Two of the agents' own claims, struck

A holiday the contract counts and two days the importer's own dock could not take came out of the draft: $1,050.00 removed before the letter went.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Six agents build the case, and none of them pays, signs or files

The relay runs from the invoice to the letter; whatever an agent cannot settle lands with a named person.

Invoice reader

Reads each D&D invoice into lines by container, dates, days and rate, and finds other invoices from the same vessel.

  • Never changes an amount
  • Never pays or approves
Calendar builder

Builds each container's days from the contract, arrival notice, ACE status, gate events, appointment logs and EIRs, citing each cell.

  • Never proves a day from free text, a screenshot or a half-day log
Rule checker

Checks the invoice's content, its issue deadline and the dispute window under the FMC billing rule.

  • Never says whether a gap removes the duty to pay
Outside requests

Drafts fixed-field requests to truckers and terminals and reads the replies field by field.

  • Sends nothing until a person approves
  • Lets no note or screenshot change a day
Waiver drafter

Drafts the request line by line, each line cited, and answers the challenger.

  • Never claims a day without a record
  • Never files with a government
Challenger

Argues the carrier's side, point by point, before the letter goes.

  • Never calls the carrier dishonest
  • Never lets an unanswered point through
Around the dispute

The D&D inbox, the letter, CBP holds, repeat causes and the rules kept

What the analyst, customs, counsel and the manager open around one ocean carrier's invoice.

D&D invoices23 open invoices, $204,540.00 billed, with what the agents found, days left of the window, owner and status, including one issued 34 days after the last charge.
The waiver requestThree lines, each with days, amount and footnotes, $4,440.00 disputed, nine attachments, and what must be done before it can be prepared and signed.
CBP holdsHolds that touch free time, with entry, placed and released times, ISF and entry filing dates, and the customs specialist's confirmation that the filing did not cause them.
Carriers and terminalsA year of invoices by billing party with billed, disputed, recovered and repeat causes, a complaint waiting for counsel, and a free-time clause proposed for the next contract.
Rules keptA rule proposed from this invoice waits for the manager. The rules in force say where each came from, who approved it and how often it applied.
SettingsA proposed lower signature threshold waits for the manager. Below it, the dispute target, reply times, retention, systems of record and who can and cannot do what.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

A charge complaint to the FMC is a call for the manager and counsel

The agents assemble the record; people file, sign, pay and judge.

Complaints go through counselThe manager proposes a charge complaint with a reason, and counsel decides to file, not file or ask for more. The agents never file and never predict the outcome.
Legal effect is counsel's viewWhether a content or timing gap removes the duty to pay is marked for counsel before anyone short-pays the whole invoice.
No one signs their own preparationThe analyst prepares and the manager signs; payables releases only the split the manager signed.
Disputed amounts are heldThe disputed part waits for the carrier's answer, and no agent writes it off.
No party is called dishonestThe agents report what the records show about carriers, terminals and truckers, and leave conclusions to people.

What import teams ask about detention and demurrage disputes

What is detention and demurrage?

Detention and demurrage are an ocean carrier's charges for keeping its container past free time: demurrage while the full box waits at the terminal, detention once it has left and until the empty is returned. This solution checks each detention and demurrage invoice day by day against the records.

Demurrage vs detention: which is which?

Demurrage runs on the terminal side, from the end of free time after discharge until the full container leaves. Detention runs outside, from the end of free time after pickup until the empty is back. The calendar shows both on one row per container.

What does the FMC rule require on a D&D invoice?

The FMC billing rule sets the content an invoice must carry, a deadline to issue it after the last charge, and a minimum window for the billed party to dispute. The solution checks each item and leaves the legal effect of a gap to counsel.

How do you dispute demurrage and detention charges?

Lay out each container's days, find the billed days the records show as free, attach the record for each, and send a written waiver request inside the window. Here agents draft it, a challenger argues the carrier's side, the analyst prepares and the manager signs.

Does a CBP exam extend free time?

Where the service contract says so. The agents read the ACE release status and the contract's hold clause, and the customs specialist confirms the hold was not caused by a late or wrong filing before those days are claimed.

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Bring one D&D invoice
you paid in full.

We will lay its containers out by the day with you and show which billed days the records support.

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