When your container reaches its destination port, a lot needs to happen before your goods get to market. At this point, it is possible to begin incurring accessorial charges, which can pile up quickly. In this blog post, we’ll cover detention charges in shipping – one of the most common charges you’ll want to avoid after your container hits the port.
To illustrate, you (the shipper) are importing a container to the Port of Los Angeles via ABC shipping line. Once the container clears customs and is ready for drayage services, you then have a certain number of free days (set by the BCO’s ocean carrier contract) in which to return the container back to the port. You will be charged a fee by the ocean carrier (per-diem/detention charge) for every day outside of this free-day window. The ocean carrier will typically bill the drayage carrier who hauls the container, and that carrier will pass on the charges.
Therefore, if ABC shipping line offers seven free days, you will be liable for a fee (typically between $125 and $175 per day) on the 8th day and on every subsequent day until the container is returned. This can add up to very sizeable sums if you’re dealing with thousands of annual containers.
People sometimes confuse per-diem/detention charges with “demurrage charges,” which refer to fees assessed when a container is not picked up from a port terminal within a set number of “free” days after release.
There are a number of things that you can do to avoid – or at least limit – detention charges.
Many 3PLs, like Weber Logistics, provide warehousing and drayage services as part of one integrated service. This allows for one company and one system to coordinate your container’s movements from arrival to delivery back to the SSL. When this happens, it generally results in faster supply chain cycle times.
Weber’s system also speeds turn times through alerts and notifications related to detention. These notifications occur in real-time when a container has not been unloaded within 48 hours (and therefore needs to be emptied) and when a container has been unloaded and is ready to return to the port. In Weber’s case, in the unlikely event that a detention/per-diem charge is caused by our warehousing operations, we do not pass those fees on to our customer.
To learn how Weber can speed your turn time and reduce your accessorial charges related to port drayage, contact us today.