What this is
What counts as "free time" on this log, and who sets it?
What counts as "free time" on this log, and who sets it?
Free time is the number of hours a carrier's tariff or your contract allows a vehicle or container to sit before detention or demurrage starts to accrue. It is defined by the carrier's or terminal's terms, not the yard, which is why Free Time Expired is a fact taken from the contract, not a judgement call.
What is the difference between detention, demurrage and a congestion surcharge?
Detention charges for time a vehicle or trailer is held beyond free time, typically at the shipper's premises; demurrage charges the same kind of delay at a terminal or port, against a container. A congestion surcharge is separate — levied for the yard or terminal failing to process the unit promptly, independent of fault — which is why Event Type keeps the three apart.
Why does the log ask who is liable, separately from why the delay happened?
Liability and Reason answer different questions: liability decides who pays, reason explains what caused the hold. A dock-congestion delay can still be the carrier's liability if the contract puts that risk on them, which is why collapsing the two into one field would lose the distinction a dispute depends on.
Scope
When is a detention and demurrage log required?
This log is one step in a larger programme. Using it for work that belongs to a neighbouring claims or yard template produces evidence nobody can find when the invoice lands.
Use this template when
- A vehicle, trailer or container is on site and its free time is running or has expired
- A detention, demurrage or congestion invoice has arrived and needs a record to weigh against it
- The yard is running the Yard and Mobile Plant or Yard and Gate Control programme and this is its detention step
- A pattern of delay is forming and the period summary needs to catch it before the next invoice
- A linked record depends on this one existing: the trailer inventory or a dock schedule review
Do not use it for
- Freight Claim Record, which pursues a claim against a carrier for loss or damage in transit, not time held beyond free time.
- Carrier Service Failure Record, which records a carrier failing to deliver the agreed service — late collection, missed delivery, refusal or damage — not a chargeable delay.
- Dock Schedule Adherence Review, which examines whether the dock runs to schedule, not whether one unit's detention charge is defensible.
- Gate Entry and Exit Log, which is the raw in/out record a detention event should be checked against, not a substitute for liability and reason.
- Shortage Investigation Record, which investigates a quantity mismatch, not time held on site.
Compliance mapping
Which Contract requirements requirements does this satisfy?
Detention and demurrage are contractual charges, not statutory ones, so the log has to be read against whichever tariff, bill of lading or standard trading conditions the carrier or terminal is invoicing under. The clauses below decide whether a charge sticks or gets disputed successfully.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| Detention and Demurrage Billing Requirements (46 CFR Part 542) | An invoice must state the specific date and time free time began and ended, and the rule it was billed under, before it is a valid demand | Events |
| 46 CFR Part 542 dispute provisions | A billed party has a defined window to dispute an invoice and the carrier must respond — a right this log exists to exercise | Period summary |
| Carrier or terminal free-time clause (bill of lading / tariff) | Free time is set by the carrier's own terms, not negotiated at the yard, so the log must record it as read from the contract | Header |
| Standard trading conditions demurrage clause (e.g. BIFA STC, RHA Conditions of Carriage) | A demurrage or detention charge is only enforceable if those conditions were properly incorporated into the contract | Header |
| Burden-of-proof principle for liquidated-damages claims | The party disputing a charge carries the burden of showing the invoiced times are wrong, which only a contemporaneous record satisfies | Events |
| Liability apportionment clause (3PL / warehousing service agreements) | Fault has to be attributed to a specific party — own operation, carrier or customer — before a charge is passed on or disputed | Events |
| Corrective action clause (continuous improvement / quality agreement) | A recurring dominant cause of delay obliges the yard to raise and track a corrective action, not treat each charge as isolated | Period summary |
What it does not cover
- Evidence Recorded At The Time marked No, which leaves arrival, expiry and release resting on recollection instead of a contemporaneous note.
- Liability left as Disputed with no Reason recorded, which gives a later reviewer nothing to weigh the dispute against.
- Free Time Expired entered earlier than Arrived, which means the free-time clock was set from the wrong reference point.
- Chargeable Hours populated with no Released time, which cannot be a closed calculation while the unit is still shown on site.
- Dominant Reason recorded with Dock Schedule Review Triggered left blank, which breaks the link between a recurring cause and the review it should prompt.
Global
Detention and Demurrage Log requirements by country
Detention and demurrage sit almost entirely inside contract terms rather than statute, but where a regulator steps in, or standard trading conditions dominate a market, the framing of a dispute changes.
FMC Detention and Demurrage Billing Requirements, 46 CFR Part 542
A federal regulator requires ocean carriers and marine terminals to itemise exactly how a detention or demurrage charge was calculated before it can be enforced.
The log's per-event fields — arrival, free-time expiry, release — are what a US shipper needs to hold an invoice to that standard and dispute the parts that don't match.
BIFA Standard Trading Conditions / RHA Conditions of Carriage
There is no statutory billing standard; demurrage and detention are enforceable only to the extent the forwarder's or haulier's standard terms were properly incorporated into the contract.
The Header's Site and Period fields matter here because a charge stands or falls on which contract terms applied at that site on that date, not a regulator's formula.
Carrier's bill of lading demurrage clause
Demurrage is treated by courts in most trading jurisdictions as agreed liquidated damages, enforceable on the carrier's tariff terms once accepted, not compensation a shipper can argue down on the facts alone.
Because the clause is largely self-executing, the log's contemporaneous record is often the only lever a shipper has to challenge specific hours.
How to complete it
How to complete a detention and demurrage log, step by step
Filling in the fields is the mechanical part. The judgement calls below decide whether the finished log actually stands up when an invoice is challenged.
Free Time Expired has to be calculated from the carrier's or terminal's own tariff clock — gate-in, notice of readiness or unloading complete, depending on terms — not whichever time is easiest to observe. Get this reference point wrong and every Chargeable Hours figure downstream is wrong the same way.
Liability should follow whatever the governing terms say about who carries risk for a given cause, which is why it is recorded separately from Reason. Marking a delay "Carrier" because the driver was late, when the contract puts congestion risk on the customer, undoes the point of keeping the fields apart.
Disputed should mark a live disagreement over the charge, not a placeholder for an event nobody has finished checking. Events left on Disputed because Evidence Recorded At The Time was never followed up quietly turn a paperwork backlog into something that looks like an active claim.
This figure should be calculated from the Liability entries actually logged, not estimated down because a high number reflects badly on the yard. A summary that never shows the yard at fault is a sign the events were not attributed honestly, not that the yard is faultless.
What auditors find
Most common detention and demurrage log findings
What an internal review or a customer audit usually turns up first.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Events are opened and closed the day the invoice arrives, weeks after the vehicle left site. | 46 CFR Part 542 (billing requirements) | Require an Arrived time logged at gate-in, checked against the Gate Entry and Exit Log, not backfilled from the invoice. |
| Free Time Expired is calculated from the yard's own clock rather than the contract's defined start point. | Free-time clause (bill of lading / tariff) | Attach the governing tariff clause to the Site record so Free Time Expired is derived the same way each time, not re-interpreted per event. |
| Reason is filled in with a default (usually "Dock congestion") regardless of the actual cause. | Liability apportionment clause | Check Reason at gate-out rather than period close, and treat a repeated default as a prompt to review, not accept. |
| Disputed events accumulate with no Liability resolution and no trail of what happened to them. | 46 CFR Part 542 (dispute provisions) | Add a standing review of open Disputed events to period close, and require Liability to move off "Disputed" before sign-off. |
| Dock Schedule Review Triggered is answered "No" even where Dominant Reason has repeated for several periods. | Corrective action clause | Set the trigger from the data — a repeated Dominant Reason across periods — not a judgement call made under time pressure. |
| Signatures are collected before Total Chargeable Hours and Estimated Cost are reconciled against the events. | Burden-of-proof principle | Sequence sign-off after the summary figures are checked against Events, so the signed record cannot diverge from the underlying entries. |
Case in point
Case in point: a demurrage invoice with nothing to answer it
A container sat on a customer's site for four days past its free time before release. Nobody at the yard had logged an arrival, free-time expiry or reason, because the log was only opened once the terminal's demurrage invoice arrived three weeks later — by which point the invoice itself was the only record of the container's movements.
With Evidence Recorded At The Time unanswerable after the fact, the yard had no basis to argue the hours down, no way to show whether the delay was its own congestion or the customer's slow unload, and no figure to feed a Dock Schedule Review that might have caught the pattern earlier.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
3 sections
- Reference
- LOG-026
- Archetype
- Log
- Record ID
- DET-2026-000
- Scoring
- Detention hours
- Direction
- High is bad
- Singleton
- Yes
- Basis
- Contract requirements
- Links
- Links Trailer Inventory and Dock Schedule Review
- Tags
- Claim, Detention
- Sections
- 3
- Fields
- 33
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 3
Header
7 fieldsLog ID*
Auto sequence. Format DET-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Period*
Maintained By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Charged Without Records Is Charged Without Argument
Detention invoices arrive months later with times you cannot contest. Recording arrival, start, finish and the reason at the time is the only way to push back.
Events
Repeats12 fieldsUnit Number*
Carrier
Event Type*
Arrived*
Free Time Expired*
Released
Chargeable Hours*
Estimated Charge
Liability*
Ours, the carrier, the customer, or disputed.
Reason*
Dock congestion, labour, equipment failure, paperwork, customer delay, or vehicle late.
Evidence Recorded At The Time*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Disputed
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Period summary
14 fieldsEvents In Period*
Total Chargeable Hours*
Estimated Cost*
Share Caused By Us Percent*
Dominant Reason*
Dock Schedule Review Triggered*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Yard Controller*
Signature*
Logistics Manager*
Second Signature*
LOG-026 · record IDs look like DET-2026-000 · Links Trailer Inventory and Dock Schedule Review
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The form is the easy part. Keeping the free-time clock honest and linking a pattern of charges to the review it should trigger is the work that actually slips.
Holds the detention and demurrage log against your sites and carriers, keeping Events linked to the Gate Entry and Exit Log so times can be checked against each other, not taken on faith.
Tracks which unit was on which site and for how long, giving Arrived and Released times something independent to be checked against, not a single yard entry.
Keeps the governing tariff or standard trading conditions attached to the site record, so Free Time Expired is calculated the same way every time, not re-interpreted per event.
Rolls open Disputed events and a recurring Dominant Reason into one view across periods, and holds every write back to the log for your approval before it changes a figure someone might dispute.
This template lives in KnowLogistics — supply chain execution. Inbound, outbound, inventory, yard, claims, supplier lifecycle and customs.
Glossary
Detention and Demurrage Log definitions and key terms
- Free time
- The period a carrier's or terminal's tariff allows a vehicle or container to sit before detention or demurrage charges start to accrue.
- Detention
- A charge for holding a vehicle or trailer beyond its free time, typically at the shipper's or consignee's own premises.
- Demurrage
- A charge for holding a container beyond its free time at a port or terminal, distinct from detention by where the delay occurs.
- Congestion surcharge
- A separate charge for delay caused by the carrier's or terminal's own inability to process a unit promptly, independent of fault.
- Liquidated damages
- A pre-agreed sum for a specific breach, such as a delay, that a court will generally enforce as written rather than requiring proof of loss.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about detention and demurrage log
What is a detention and demurrage log?+
It is the record a yard keeps of every vehicle or container held beyond its free time, covering arrival, free-time expiry, release, why, and who is liable. It exists because the invoices are drafted by the party charging you, and the log is the only independent check on those figures.
Who completes the detention and demurrage log?+
The yard controller maintains it per event, and the logistics manager countersigns the period summary alongside the figures they are attesting to.
Is this the same as a freight claim?+
No. A freight claim pursues loss or damage to goods in transit; this log tracks time and money lost to a vehicle or container sitting idle past its free time, and needs different evidence.
Why does the log separate detention, demurrage and a congestion surcharge?+
Because carriers and terminals bill each under a different part of their tariff or contract, and a dispute over one is argued differently to a dispute over another. One generic "delay" category would blur that distinction.
What happens if a delay is disputed?+
The event is marked Disputed and should stay open until Liability is resolved, not left indefinitely. Under the US FMC's billing rule, a disputed invoice also carries its own response window, which the log's evidence field supports.
Why record a Dominant Reason for the whole period, not just per event?+
A single event's reason is a fact; a dominant reason across a period is a pattern — recurring dock congestion, say — and it's the pattern that should trigger a review, not another isolated dispute.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Yard and Mobile Plant
Separation designed in, and operators observed rather than assessed once and forgotten.
Yard and Gate Control
Every unit on site accounted for, and detention argued from records rather than memory.
Claims and Carrier Performance
Claims filed inside the window with the evidence gathered at the dock.
Used together in Yard and Mobile Plant
Yard Check Record
Walks the yard and records what is actually parked where against what the system believes
Trailer and Equipment Inventory
Holds every trailer, container and piece of transport equipment on site, whose it is and how long it has been here
Gate Entry and Exit Log
Records every vehicle entering and leaving, who was driving, what they carried and whether they were expected
Dock Schedule Adherence Review
Reviews how the dock schedule performed against plan, covering slot adherence, turnaround and idle doors
Empty Equipment Release
Releases an empty trailer, container or pallet load of equipment back to its owner and records the condition it left in
Loading Dock Safety Check
Checks dock levellers, edge protection, lighting, restraints and pedestrian separation before and during loading
More in Claims and Exceptions
Freight Claim Record
Pursues a claim against a carrier for loss or damage in transit
Carrier Service Failure Record
Records a carrier failing to deliver the service agreed, covering late collection, missed delivery, refusal or a damaged load
Shortage Investigation Record
Investigates stock that left as one quantity and arrived as another, before anybody assumes theft
Returns and RMA Record
Authorises and tracks product coming back from a customer, from the request through to disposition
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- Federal Maritime Commission — Detention and Demurrage Billing Requirements, 46 CFR Part 542
- BIFA Standard Trading Conditions (British International Freight Association)
- RHA Conditions of Carriage (Road Haulage Association)
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.