Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers)
Work out ocean container demurrage from free days and a tiered terminal tariff — with a per-tier breakdown.
Set a tier's days to 0 to mean “all remaining days”.
Tier structure mirrors a typical US import tariff: a moderate first bracket that roughly doubles within a week. Paste your terminal's published rates for exact figures.
With your numbers: 11 days − 5 free = 6 chargeable days = 3×$150 + 3×$225 = $1,125 per container × 2 = $2,250.
Sources & references
- FMC Final Rule — Demurrage & Detention Billing Requirements (46 CFR Part 541, 2024)
- OCEMA — Recommended Best Practice for Demurrage & Detention
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.
Demurrage is the daily charge a shipping line or terminal bills when an import container stays on the dock after its free time expires. It exists to keep yard space turning over — and it escalates in tiers precisely so that a box abandoned for two weeks hurts far more than one picked up a day late. This calculator runs the same math a carrier's billing system does: days on terminal minus free days, with each chargeable day priced by the tier it falls in.
About Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers)
Enter the number of days since the vessel discharged your container, your contractual free time, and the tier rates from the carrier's tariff (the preloaded example uses 5 free days, then $150, $225 and $315 brackets — a realistic US import structure). The breakdown shows exactly how many days land in each tier, so you can sanity-check an invoice line by line instead of trusting the total. Two practical habits save the most money: book your pickup appointment before the last free day, not on it (appointments sell out at congested terminals), and audit every demurrage invoice against the terminal's published tariff — billing systems routinely miss free-time extensions granted for vessel bunching, holidays or terminal closures, all of which are valid dispute grounds under the FMC's interpretive rules.
How to use Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers)
- 1Enter days since vessel discharge and how many containers are affected.
- 2Set your free days and edit the tariff tiers to match the published tariff or your contract — every figure is editable.
- 3Read the per-tier breakdown and the worked example showing exactly how the total is built, day by day.
- 4Change the inputs to compare scenarios (pick up now vs later) before the charges harden into an invoice.
Why use Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers)?
- ✓Per-tier breakdown mirrors how carrier and terminal billing systems itemise invoices
- ✓Every figure — free time, tier days, rates — is editable to match any published tariff
- ✓Instant what-if comparisons before charges harden into an invoice
- ✓Free and private — all math runs in your browser
Frequently asked questions
How is container demurrage calculated?+
Days on terminal minus free days, priced per tier. With the preloaded example (5 free days, then $150/$225/$315 tiers), a container picked up on day 11 owes 3 × $150 + 3 × $225 = $1,125 — and that is per container, so two boxes double it.
What is the difference between demurrage and detention?+
Demurrage is charged while the full container sits inside the terminal after free time expires. Detention (per diem) starts after you gate the container out and applies until the empty is returned to the depot. The two clocks run on different events and often have different free time and rates — check both lines on a D&D invoice.
Can demurrage charges be disputed?+
Yes, and successfully more often than people assume. Strong grounds include: no appointment availability before the last free day, terminal closures or vessel bunching that ate your free time, and incorrect free-time application versus your service contract. In the US, the FMC's 2024 billing rule requires invoices to show enough detail to verify the charge — an invoice missing it is itself disputable.
How many free days do I usually get?+
Ocean import demurrage free time commonly runs 3–7 calendar or working days depending on port, carrier and contract; 4–5 is the most common default at US gateways. BCOs with volume commitments often negotiate 7–14 days into service contracts, which is usually cheaper than paying even occasional demurrage.
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Want Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers)on 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/demurrage-calculator" width="100%" height="640" style="border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px;max-width:680px" title="Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers) — ToolJolt" loading="lazy"></iframe>Related Logistics tools
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