Short answer
Detention is the charge a carrier bills when a truck is held at a shipper or receiver past the agreed free time, commonly two hours. It is billed per hour once free time ends, based on the driver’s documented arrival and departure times. Brokers usually pay the carrier and bill the shipper under each party’s contract terms.
Why detention matters
A truck sitting at a dock isn’t earning. The driver’s clock is also running. Under FMCSA hours of service rules, a property-carrying driver can’t drive past the 14th hour after coming on duty, and off-duty time doesn’t extend that window. Four hours at a receiver can cost the next load.
The federal data backs this up. FMCSA’s summary of detention research says a 2014 study found detention on about 1 in 10 stops, averaging 1.4 hours beyond the 2-hour standard. A 2018 DOT Inspector General report estimated detention reduces annual earnings for truckload drivers by $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion, and that a 15-minute increase in average dwell time increases the expected crash rate by 6.2 percent.
How detention works on a load
- Free time is set in the rate con and the shipper contract. Two hours is common.
- The clock usually starts at the appointment time or check-in, whichever is later, if the truck arrived on time. Late trucks often lose detention.
- Proof is the in and out times on the BOL or POD, signed by the facility, backed by tracking or ELD timestamps.
- Notice matters. Many brokers require the carrier to call before free time runs out so the broker can warn the shipper.
Detention vs layover vs demurrage
| Term | What is being held | How it’s usually billed |
|---|---|---|
| Detention (trucking) | The truck and driver at a pickup or delivery | Hourly, after free time |
| Layover | The truck and driver overnight or for a day, when the load can’t be worked | Flat rate per day |
| Demurrage | A container or railcar sitting at a port or rail terminal past free time | Per day, by the terminal, railroad or ocean carrier |
| Container detention | An ocean container kept outside the terminal past free time | Per day, by the ocean carrier |
Contracts define these terms, and some use them differently. See the glossary entry on demurrage for port and rail charges.
A detention example
Example (illustrative rates): the appointment is 8:00 AM. The truck checks in at 7:40 AM and leaves loaded at 12:10 PM. With two hours free from 8:00 AM, detention starts at 10:00 AM and runs 2 hours 10 minutes. The rate con pays $60 per hour in quarter-hour increments, so the carrier bills $135 for 2.25 hours. The shipper contract pays $75 per hour, so the broker bills $168.75.
Common mistakes
- No detention terms on the rate con. Then every hour is a negotiation.
- Missing in and out times. A driver’s word against a facility’s gate log is hard to win.
- Paying the carrier before the shipper approves. If the shipper denies it, the broker eats the charge.
- Billing late. Many shipper contracts set a short deadline for accessorial charges. For motor carrier bills, 49 U.S.C. 13710 gives a carrier 180 days from receipt of the original bill to issue a bill for additional charges.
How FreightVero handles it
FreightVero doesn’t calculate detention charges yet. It does keep the times a detention claim depends on. Arrived Pickup and Arrived Delivery are statuses on every load, and a driver confirming arrival in Load Market tracking moves the load to that status. Status changes are written to an append-only audit log, and the signed BOL and POD are stored on the load. Live tracking checks the ETA against the carrier’s appointment, so you know before a late arrival puts detention at risk.