Demurrage vs detention: what Indian exporters are actually paying for
By Freightflow Team
The two words get used as if they mean the same thing, and many invoices roll them together as "D&D". They are different charges. They run on different clocks and start on different events, and knowing which one you are looking at is the first step to checking either.
What is the difference between demurrage and detention?
| Demurrage | Detention | |
|---|---|---|
| What it charges for | A container that stays inside the port or terminal beyond its free time | The shipping line's equipment while it is outside the terminal, in the customer's hands |
| Who bills it | The shipping line, the terminal operator or both, depending on the port | The shipping line |
| On an export | Usually a laden box that gated in too early or was rolled to a later vessel | From empty pickup at the depot until the laden box gates in at the port or ICD |
| On an import | A discharged box waiting for the consignee to clear and collect it | From the box leaving the terminal until the empty is returned |
| In one line | Where the container is | Whose hands it is in |
What is demurrage? The box is sitting in the terminal
Demurrage is charged for a container that stays inside the port or terminal beyond its free time. On exports it usually means a laden box that gated in too early or was rolled to a later vessel. On imports it means a box that was discharged and is waiting for the consignee to clear and collect it. Depending on the port, the shipping line, the terminal operator or both can bill for that time.
What is detention? The box is outside, with you
Detention is the shipping line charging for its equipment while it is outside the terminal and in the customer's hands. For an export, the clock usually starts when the empty is picked up from the depot and stops when the laden box gates in at the port or ICD. For an import, it runs from the moment the box leaves the terminal until the empty is returned.
Demurrage is about where the container is. Detention is about whose hands it is in.
Where do the free days come from?
Free days are a commercial term, not a fixed rule. A line publishes standard free time per port and equipment type, and forwarders and large shippers often negotiate more. Two identical 20-foot boxes on the same vessel can therefore have different free time, because they were booked under different agreements. Reefers and special equipment usually get less.
That is why a single "free days" column in a spreadsheet goes wrong. The right number depends on the line, the port, the customer agreement and sometimes the individual booking, and someone has to apply them in the right order.
Where the money actually leaks
The expensive cases are predictable:
- An empty picked up days before the factory is ready to stuff.
- A rake that leaves the ICD a day late.
- A shipping bill held up so the box cannot be loaded.
- A vessel roll nobody passed on to the CS desk.
None of these is a bad decision on its own. Each is a delay nobody was counting against a deadline.
The fix is unglamorous, because it is a data problem: record the event that starts the clock, apply the right free days and put the days left where the people who can act will see them. In Freightflow that number sits on every container, so "how many days does this box have?" has one answer instead of three.
See it on your own documents
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