How to Avoid Demurrage and Detention Fees on Containers

Demurrage and detention are the parking tickets of the shipping world: quiet, automatic, and shockingly expensive. Demurrage is charged when your container sits at the terminal too long before pickup. Detention is charged when you keep the container or chassis too long after pickup. Both run per day, per box, and both are avoidable.

1. Book drayage before the vessel lands

The most common cause of demurrage is simple: the container arrived and nobody had a truck booked. Send your carrier the details when the shipment departs origin, not when it hits the rail. KDM pre-books chassis and pickup windows so free time is spent moving, not waiting.

2. Know your free time, in hours, not vibes

Every terminal and steamship line publishes free time, typically a few working days. Put the expiry date on the file the moment you get the arrival notice. Your drayage carrier should be tracking it too, and telling you before it burns, which is exactly what continual tracking updates are for.

3. Fix the dock problem before the box arrives

Detention usually happens at your end: the container shows up and there is no door, no crew, or no room. If your dock is jammed, a cross-dock is cheaper than a detention bill. KDM destuffs containers at our 200,000 sq ft Mississauga facility and returns the empty same day, then delivers your freight when you are actually ready for it.

4. Use a carrier with its own chassis

Rented chassis add a daily meter of their own. A carrier running its own pool, KDM keeps 50+, takes that line off your invoice and removes a whole category of delay.

5. Consolidate your gateway problem

If you import through multiple ports, every terminal has different rules and free times. One dispatch desk covering Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver means one phone number when routing changes, instead of five carriers pointing at each other.