Accessorial charges explained: detention, TONU, layover, lumper and more

What counts as an accessorial charge

The linehaul rate pays a carrier to move freight from pickup to delivery. Everything else the carrier does or waits through is an accessorial: time at the dock, a second day, a canceled truck, a stop that wasn’t on the original order, a liftgate at a residential address.

For a broker, every accessorial has two sides. You owe the carrier under the terms on your rate confirmation. You collect from the shipper under your quote or contract. When those two sets of terms don’t match, the difference comes out of your margin.

That’s why accessorials cause more billing fights than the linehaul rate does. The rate is agreed before the truck moves. Accessorials get argued about after the fact, usually by people who weren’t on the phone when the driver was sitting at the dock. For the short definition, see our accessorial charges glossary entry.

Detention pay in trucking: how it usually works

Detention pays a carrier for time spent waiting beyond the free time agreed for loading or unloading. Two hours of free time is a common starting point. The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) uses more than two hours at a facility as its definition of detention.

It is a big problem. In ATRI’s September 2024 report, drivers said they were detained at 39.3 percent of all stops in 2023. ATRI also found that 94.5 percent of fleets charge detention fees, but payment happened on fewer than half of those invoices. A 2018 DOT Inspector General report tied a 15-minute increase in average dwell time to a 6.2 percent increase in expected crash rates, and estimated detention cut truckload drivers’ annual earnings by $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.

One published schedule

Most detention rates live in private contracts. One public example is the standardized carrier accessorial schedule J.B. Hunt published for its Carrier 360 platform in December 2020. Detention started two hours after the arrival check call, paid $50 per hour with automated updates or $40 per hour when recorded manually, and capped at five hours before converting to layover. Layover paid $250 per day with automated updates or $150 manually. TONU paid $200 with location services on or $150 with them off.

Treat that as one example, published by a large broker for its carriers in 2020. Its structure is still useful: a clear start trigger, a per-hour rate, a billing increment, a cap, and a higher rate when the timestamps come from tracking instead of someone’s memory.

Example detention math

Example with made-up terms: your rate con gives two hours free, then $50 per hour in 15-minute increments, with the clock starting at the appointment time if the driver is on time. The driver checks in at 7:40 for an 8:00 appointment and leaves at 12:10. Free time runs to 10:00, so 2 hours 10 minutes is billable, which rounds to 2.25 hours if you bill each started quarter hour. You owe the carrier $112.50. If your customer contract pays $75 per hour after two hours, you bill $168.75.

Change one term and the numbers move. If the customer contract gives three hours free, you bill $93.75 and lose money on the same wait. Read both sets of terms before the truck arrives, not after.

Demurrage vs detention

In over-the-road trucking, detention means a truck and driver held at a facility. In ocean and port shipping, the words mean something else. Demurrage and detention there are charges from ocean carriers, marine terminal operators and NVOCCs for the use of terminal space or shipping containers. In everyday use, demurrage usually refers to a container sitting at the terminal past its free days, and detention (often called per diem) to keeping the carrier’s container or equipment out past its free days.

The Federal Maritime Commission regulates how those charges are billed. Its rule at 46 CFR Part 541, effective May 28, 2024, requires a demurrage or detention invoice within 30 calendar days of the date the charge was last incurred. If the billing party misses that deadline, the billed party is not required to pay. Billed parties get at least 30 days from the invoice date to request mitigation, refund or waiver. The FMC chose not to define the two terms separately, because the rule treats both charges the same.

One part changed in court. On September 23, 2025, the D.C. Circuit set aside section 541.4, which covered who could be billed. The FMC says the rest of the rule, including the 30-day invoice deadline, remains in effect.

If you broker drayage, you’ll see both kinds on one move: container charges from the port side and trucking detention from the dray carrier. Keep them on separate lines with separate backup. The demurrage glossary entry covers the port terms in more detail.

Layover pay and TONU

Layover applies when a driver can’t load or unload until a later day. It often starts where detention stops, once a cap is reached or the facility closes. Hours of service make it expensive for the carrier. Under FMCSA rules, a property-carrying driver may not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, so a long wait at the dock can use up the driver’s working day even though the truck never moved.

TONU (truck ordered not used) pays the carrier when you dispatched a truck and the load canceled or wasn’t ready. It’s usually a flat fee. The fight is almost always about timing: when the truck was dispatched, when the cancellation happened, and whether the carrier had already turned down other freight. Write the cutoff into the rate con. See the TONU glossary entry for the short version.

Lumper fees and the law on unloading

A lumper is a person or crew a facility uses to unload freight. The driver usually pays at the dock with a fuel card check or similar payment, then sends the receipt for reimbursement.

Federal law puts the cost on the facility that requires the help. Under 49 U.S.C. 14103, when a shipper or receiver requires that a truck be assisted in loading or unloading, the shipper or receiver is responsible for providing that help or paying the owner or operator for it. The same section makes it unlawful to coerce a driver to load or unload, or to hire and pay lumpers.

In practice, the broker reimburses the carrier against the receipt and bills the shipper. No original receipt, no reimbursement. Many brokers also require a lumper approval code before the driver pays, so nobody is surprised by the amount.

How to bill accessorials back to shippers

Start with the contract. Shipper contracts and routing guides often list which accessorials they pay, the rate, the free time and the paperwork they require. Some require approval in their own portal before the charge is incurred. If you can’t find the approval rule, ask before you need it.

Bill each accessorial as its own line, with the stop, date, times and supporting document named on the invoice. A line that says only “detention $150” invites a phone call. A line that says “Detention at delivery, appointment 08:00, in 07:40, out 12:10, 2.25 hours at $75 per BOL signed times” usually doesn’t.

Decide your pass-through policy in writing. Some brokers bill accessorials at cost, some add a margin, and some absorb small amounts to protect a relationship. Any of these can work. Deciding case by case at invoice time is how charges get missed.

Track what you paid carriers against what you collected from shippers, by customer and by facility. The receivers that keep drivers waiting show up quickly, and that list is worth taking to the customer’s transportation team.

How FreightVero handles accessorial paperwork today

In the FreightVero broker TMS, rate confirmations carry your company letterhead and terms, and changing terms creates a new version (live). Lumper receipts, BOLs, freight photos and PODs are stored on the load (live). The billing queue checks each delivered load against that customer’s paperwork rules before it’s billed (live). Separate detention, layover and TONU charge tracking is not a shipped feature today, so plan to handle those amounts in your billing process.