Container Free-Time Expiry Tracker
Track last free days across all your containers and see what's expiring before demurrage starts.
Sources & references
- FMC — Demurrage & Detention: 'incentive principle' interpretive rule
- Carrier arrival-notice and terminal-portal LFD documentation
Demurrage, detention and storage tariffs are set by each carrier, terminal and contract and change frequently. The preloaded figures are editable industry-typical examples, not quotes — always verify against the current published tariff or your service contract before paying or disputing an invoice.
Every demurrage dollar starts the same way: somebody lost track of a last free day. This tracker is the simplest defence — a board of your live containers sorted by how close each one is to its LFD, kept entirely in your browser. Boxes inside the 3-day warning window show amber; anything past LFD shows red with the days already accruing.
About Container Free-Time Expiry Tracker
Use the carrier's arrival notice or terminal portal to get each container's last free day (it can shift if the vessel discharges late or free time is extended — re-check after holidays and weekend closures). Enter the container number, reference and LFD; the status column does the math daily and the CSV export drops straight into your dispatch sheet. Teams that run an LFD board typically cut demurrage to near zero, because the failure mode isn't ignorance of the tariff — it's a box nobody flagged on Thursday that became three billable days by Monday. Pair this with appointment booking two days before LFD, and reserve the final free day as buffer for rolled appointments.
How to use Container Free-Time Expiry Tracker
- 1Add each record with its expiry date — data stays in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
- 2Statuses compute automatically: red for expired, amber for expiring soon, green for valid.
- 3Use the three summary counters to prioritise renewals before deadlines bite.
- 4Export the CSV to share the matrix with your team, customer or auditor.
Why use Container Free-Time Expiry Tracker?
- ✓Automatic red/amber/green expiry statuses with a configurable warning window
- ✓Summary counters show valid / expiring / expired at a glance
- ✓CSV export for sharing with teams, customers and auditors
- ✓Data persists locally in your browser — private by design
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is the last free day (LFD)?+
The final day you can pick a container up without demurrage. It's derived from free time granted in the tariff or contract, counted from availability or discharge — and it moves with extensions for terminal closures or holidays, so always confirm it on the terminal's portal rather than computing it once and trusting it.
Why a 3-day warning window?+
Because pickup appointments at congested terminals book out 24–72 hours ahead. Flagging a container three days before LFD leaves enough runway to secure an appointment, arrange a chassis and still keep the last free day as a buffer if the first appointment gets rolled.
Where is my container data stored?+
Locally in your browser (localStorage) — nothing is uploaded anywhere. That makes the tracker safe for commercially sensitive shipment data, but it also means it's per-device: export the CSV if you need to move the board to another machine or share it with the team.
Can this stop detention charges too?+
Indirectly. The board tracks the demurrage-side LFD, but the same discipline applies after gate-out: add a second entry using the empty-return deadline as the date and you're tracking the detention clock with the same amber/red logic.
Embed Container Free-Time Expiry Tracker on your website
Want Container Free-Time Expiry Trackeron your own site? Paste this snippet into any HTML page — it's free, with no API key or sign-up. The tool loads in an iframe and keeps working exactly as it does here.
<iframe src="https://tooljolt.com/tools/container-free-time-tracker" width="100%" height="640" style="border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px;max-width:680px" title="Container Free-Time Expiry Tracker — ToolJolt" loading="lazy"></iframe>Related Logistics tools
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● Live