Drayage: why the clock starts before your container moves

The container discharges from the vessel on a Tuesday. Your truck isn't booked until Thursday because the terminal hasn't released it, customs flagged it for an exam, or there's no chassis available at the ramp. By the time the box is actually sitting on a truck, two or three free days are already gone. This is the part of drayage that catches shippers off guard: the clock on demurrage doesn't wait for you to have physical control of the container. It starts on discharge, not on pickup.

Two different clocks, two different owners

It helps to separate the two charges that get lumped together as "drayage fees":

• Demurrage is charged by the terminal or port for a container sitting in their yard past the free time window. It starts counting from vessel discharge, regardless of why the container hasn't moved.
• Detention is charged by the steamship line or equipment owner for a container (or chassis) sitting outside the terminal, usually after it's picked up and before it's returned empty.

Both run on fixed windows that vary by port, carrier, and contract. Neither one cares whether the delay was your fault, a customs hold, a chassis shortage, or a truck appointment that didn't exist.

What eats free time before the truck even shows up

Several things commonly burn days before a drayage carrier can legally move the box:

• Customs or partner government agency exams, which can hold a container regardless of how fast your paperwork moves.
• Terminal congestion that delays container availability status even after discharge.
• Chassis shortages at the ramp, which are a trucking capacity problem, not a paperwork problem.
• Missing or incomplete release documentation, including the ISF, bill of lading, or customs release, that keeps the container in "hold" status in the terminal's system.

Practice on exactly how much free time you get, and how exams or holds interact with that window, varies by port and by line, so it's worth checking the specific terms on each bill of lading rather than assuming a standard.

Why this is a dispatch problem, not just a documentation problem

Because the clock starts at discharge, the only real lever you have is compressing the time between "container is available" and "container is on a chassis and moving." That means having a drayage carrier who is tracking availability status in real time, not waiting for a phone call, and who already has equipment and a driver lined up before the release actually clears. A carrier scrambling to find a chassis or a driver after the fact is spending your free time, not theirs.

This is part of why carrier vetting matters more in drayage than in a lot of other freight. A carrier network that's checked against live FMCSA data and monitored on an ongoing basis, which is how Ellys International Logistics screens the carriers it dispatches, reduces the odds that you're paired with someone who can't move on short notice at a congested port.

What to ask for before you book

Before the container is even on the water, confirm how your broker or carrier tracks discharge and availability status, what the published free time is at that specific terminal, and who is responsible for flagging a customs hold the moment it posts. The earlier you know the clock has started, the more of the free window you actually get to use.

If you're moving containers through the US-Mexico corridor and want a drayage plan built around the actual free time at your port and crossing, start a request at /quote.