Demurrage and detention: how importers lose money quietly

Demurrage and detention are separate charges and people conflate them constantly.

Demurrage is charged when your container sits inside the terminal beyond the agreed free days. Detention is charged when the container is outside the terminal — at your factory or yard — beyond its free days. You can incur both on one shipment.

Where the days go - Delayed submission of the bill of entry or import documents. - A mismatch between the invoice, packing list and bill of lading that triggers a query. - Waiting for duty payment approvals. - No transport arranged for the day the container is available.

None of those are shipping-line problems, which is why the charges stick.

Habits that keep the clock short 1. Send draft documents to your customs broker before the vessel arrives, not after. 2. Pre-check HS classification and valuation on anything new; a first-time item is the most likely to be queried. 3. Book the haulage against the expected availability date, with a fallback slot. 4. Ask for free-time terms in writing at booking, per port, and negotiate them for regular volumes. 5. Return empties the same day they are unstuffed.

When to escalate If congestion at the port is the cause and it is documented, lines will sometimes waive part of the demurrage — but only if you ask within days, with evidence. Wait a month and the answer is always no.