Detention Time Charges

Category: finance

An hourly fee assessed by carriers when a shipper or receiver keeps a truck waiting past the standard contractually agreed loading window.

Detention time acts as a financial penalty for tying up a carrier's mobile asset. Standard freight contracts allow for a two-hour grace period for loading or unloading; once this window expires, the detention clock triggers an hourly fee. This compensates the carrier for the lost asset utility and missed connection schedules caused by warehouse terminal inefficiency.

Common Examples

• We billed the distribution facility a three-hundred-dollar detention fee after our tractor-trailer was held at their loading dock for five hours past schedule.
• Tracking facility gate-in and gate-out timestamps inside our local database provides the concrete audit trail required to dispute unpaid detention claims.