What is truck detention, and how is waiting time counted?
Truck detention is the trucker's charge when a truck waits past the free time on the rate confirmation. It is counted from the appointment time, and documented in and out times decide what is invoiced.
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Is truck detention the same as container detention?
No. Truck detention pays for the truck and driver's time. Container detention, usually called per diem, is the ocean line's charge for keeping its container.
The same word sits on two different bills. On a trucker's invoice, detention or waiting time means a truck held at a dock or a gate. On an ocean line's invoice, detention means its container kept past free time after it leaves the ramp.
One slow unload can run up both. The truck waits at your door, and the container stays out longer before the empty goes back. When the line's clock starts and stops is explained in container per diem.
- Truck detention: billed by the trucker
- Truck detention: the truck's time
- Per diem: billed by the ocean line
- Per diem: the container's time
When does billable waiting start?
Under our conditions of carriage, detention is measured from the appointment time written on the rate confirmation. Waiting time applies once the free time stated there has run out.
Free time is on the rate confirmation before you accept, so you know the rule before the truck moves. This page gives no length, because it is written on the rate confirmation for your load.
An early truck does not start the clock early. The count runs from the appointment time. No appointment time on the rate confirmation? Ask for one at tender, so both sides count from the same point.
The standing schedule is in the conditions of carriage. Where the rate confirmation for your load says something different, it governs.
- The appointment time
- The free time
- Waiting time as its own line
- Live unload or drop
How is waiting time proven?
With documented in and out times. Waiting time is billed with the in and out times attached, so you can check them against your own records.
Appointment time
Written on the rate confirmation before you accept. The count is measured from here.
In time
The time the truck arrives at your dock is documented.
Out time
The time the truck leaves your dock is documented.
The invoice
Waiting time shows as its own line, with the in and out times attached.
Compare those times with your own gate log or dock sheet. If they differ, send dispatch your record with the load number.
What usually makes a truck wait at a dock?
Most wait time at a GTA dock comes from something the truck cannot fix when it arrives. The door, the crew, the window or the paperwork is not ready.
Door or crew not ready
The door is busy, or nobody is free to unload. No forklift at the door is the same problem.
No appointment, or the wrong one
The receiver needs a booked window and none was given at tender. Or the window changed and nobody told dispatch.
Paperwork or access
Receiving paperwork is not ready. Or height, turning room or time-of-day limits were not mentioned at tender.
Each of these costs less to fix at tender than at the door. Tell us about them when you book.
How do you keep waiting time off the bill?
Tell us at tender how your dock really works, and have it ready when the truck arrives.
Live unload or drop
Tell us which at tender. If you have the yard space, a drop takes the truck off the clock while you unload.
Real receiving hours
Send the hours your dock actually receives, and the appointment window if you use one.
Dock and crew ready
Door clear, crew and forklift free when the truck arrives.
Container number early
Dispatch checks the releases before a truck goes out, so no truck waits on a container that cannot leave.
A drop takes the truck off the clock, but the line's per diem keeps running until the empty is back. How to choose: live unload or drop. What else sets the rate: drayage rates explained.
What does Setara Transport do?
Your rate confirmation shows the rate, and fuel surcharge and waiting time as separate lines where they apply. Free time is on the rate confirmation before you accept. Delivery runs across Peel, York, Halton, Toronto and Durham, and out into the rest of Ontario.
- The delivery address and receiving hours
- The appointment window, if your dock uses one
- Live unload or drop
- Access limits: height, turning room, time of day
- A dock contact with a phone number
- The container number, as early as you have it
- Put the free time on the rate confirmation before you accept
- Measure waiting from the appointment time written on it
- Show waiting time as its own line where it applies
- Attach the in and out times when waiting is billed
- Check the releases before a truck goes out
Documented in and out times decide what is invoiced. The standing schedule is in the conditions of carriage, and detention is also covered in the FAQ. Dispatch, at (905) 745-2322, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00 ET, or dispatch@setara.ca.
Waiting time questions.
What is detention in trucking?
Is truck detention the same as per diem?
When does waiting time start?
How do I check the waiting time on my invoice?
How do I avoid waiting time?
More answers for importers.
When does per diem stop?
The ocean line's detention clock after pickupLive unload or drop?
Which delivery fits your dockWhat goes into a drayage rate?
The lines on the rate confirmation, with no pricesDrayage terms in plain English
The words on the paperwork, definedAll answers
Every answer for importers and forwardersBooking a delivery to your dock? Tell us how you receive.
Live unload or drop, your receiving hours and the appointment window.