Demurrage vs. Detention: What Importers Pay at the Port of Virginia and How to Avoid It

Demurrage is charged while a loaded container stays inside the marine terminal past its free time. Detention is charged while a container is outside the terminal, in your possession, past its free time, until the empty is returned. The easy way to remember it: demurrage is about the terminal, and detention is about the equipment.

On the trucking side, container detention is often called per diem. Be careful with the vocabulary on invoices, though. Truckers also use “detention” for the fee charged when a driver waits too long at a shipper or consignee dock, which is a separate charge entirely.

A container needs a chassis to move by road. If your drayage carrier uses a pool chassis, a daily chassis charge can run alongside detention for as long as the container sits on it. At the Port of Virginia, the port-owned HRCP II pool supplies more than 17,000 chassis to motor carriers. Carriers running company-owned chassis bill that time differently, so ask how chassis days are charged when you compare drayage quotes.

Free time is the number of days you can use the terminal or the carrier’s equipment without charge. Your ocean carrier’s tariff or service contract sets it for the equipment, and the terminal’s schedule governs storage on the pier. Across U.S. ports, import free time commonly runs between three and seven days, but the only numbers that matter are the ones in your contract. Check these details before your vessel sails:

• Calendar or working days. Weekends and holidays may count against you.
• The trigger event. Some contracts start the clock at vessel discharge, others when the container is available for pickup.
• Separate or combined free time. Some carriers pool demurrage and detention days into one allowance, which adds flexibility but requires closer tracking.
• Tiered rates. Daily charges usually escalate the longer a container sits.
• When to negotiate. Extended free time is far easier to secure at contract or booking than after the box has landed.

Under Virginia International Terminals’ Schedule of Rates, cargo held on the terminals past the free time it allows, including loaded containers, is subject to demurrage. Your ocean carrier may assess its own charges under your contract as well, so review both. Pickup at Norfolk International Terminals and Virginia International Gateway also requires a PRO-PASS truck reservation during mandatory hours. Appointments are limited, and waiting until the last free day to book is how a manageable timeline turns into a bill. Our Port of Virginia guide covers the terminals in more detail.

In our experience moving containers out of Norfolk since 1977, most charges trace back to a handful of problems:

• Customs, freight or carrier holds that delay release
• Missing paperwork, such as an unpaid freight bill or delivery order not sent to the trucker
• No drayage capacity or truck appointment during a vessel surge
• Chassis shortages or chassis splits that add a stop before pickup
• A consignee dock that cannot receive, especially for floor-loaded containers that take hours to unload
• Empty return delays from depot changes or limited return appointments

1. 01

   Book drayage before the vessel arrives. Send container numbers, vessel ETA and last free day to your trucker early so appointments are booked around your dates. See how we handle container drayage in Norfolk.

2. 02

   Clear holds early. Confirm customs release, freight payment and the delivery order before discharge, not after.

3. 03

   Pre-pull when your dock is not ready. Pulling the container to a secure yard stops demurrage. Keep in mind that it starts the detention clock, so pair a pre-pull with a firm unload plan.

4. 04

   Unload near the port. Devanning close to the terminal and returning the empty quickly cuts detention days. Our container unloading and devanning service is built for exactly that.

5. 05

   Transload freight headed inland. Moving cargo into a 53-foot trailer near the port frees the ocean container right away. Learn more about Norfolk transloading and transloading import and export containers.

6. 06

   Store freight, not containers. If product is not needed yet, unload it into Norfolk warehousing instead of paying daily charges on a box.

7. 07

   Track every gate event. Keep equipment interchange receipts (EIRs), gate times and appointment records for every container. They are your evidence if a charge is wrong.

The Federal Maritime Commission’s billing rule, in effect since May 28, 2024, changed the rules for these invoices. Ocean carriers and terminal operators must issue them within 30 days of the date the charge was last incurred. If they miss that window, the billed party is not required to pay.

Billed parties have 30 days to request a fee reduction, refund or waiver, and the billing party then has 30 days to try to resolve it. Invoices can go only to the party that contracted for the transportation or storage, or to the consignee, and must include required details such as how the charge was calculated and a certification that the billing party’s own performance did not cause it. Check invoice dates and contents first. An incomplete or late invoice may not be payable at all.