Demurrage is the carrier’s charge for a full container inside the terminal beyond free time. Detention is the carrier’s charge for keeping its container outside the terminal too long. Storage is the terminal’s own charge for occupying yard space, billed separately from the carrier.
The clean way to separate the three: ask where the container is and who is billing. Inside the terminal and billed by the carrier: demurrage. Outside the terminal with the empty not yet returned, billed by the carrier: detention. Inside the terminal and billed by the terminal operator itself: storage, sometimes called quay rent.
Storage catches people out because it can run on a different free period than demurrage, so a box can be simultaneously accruing carrier demurrage and terminal storage. At some ports the carrier passes terminal storage through on its own invoice, which blurs the labels without changing who set the charge.
All three clocks hang off the same tracked events: discharge starts the terminal clocks, gate-out ends them and starts detention, and empty return ends detention. Watching those events per container in TrackingMCP, next to published free time, tells you which of the three invoices to expect and which to challenge.
Free days, daily rates, and billing rules vary by carrier, terminal, port, and contract. Treat this page as orientation and confirm specifics against your own agreement and the applicable tariff before acting on an invoice.
Demurrage is the carrier’s charge for a full container inside the terminal beyond free time. Detention is the carrier’s charge for keeping its container outside the terminal too long. Storage is the terminal’s own charge for occupying yard space, billed separately from the carrier.
Yes at some ports. Demurrage is the carrier’s tariff and storage is the terminal’s, and their free periods need not match, so both can accrue on the same container on the same day.
The terminal operator sets storage. Depending on the port it invoices the carrier, who passes it on, or bills the cargo interest directly through the release process.
Compare free time across carriers →
Track discharge, gate-out, and empty return →
More in Charges & free time: Demurrage · Detention · Demurrage & detention · Free time · Last free day (LFD) · Per diem · Terminal handling charge (THC) · General rate increase (GRI) · Peak season surcharge (PSS) · Bunker adjustment factor (BAF) · Currency adjustment factor (CAF) · War risk surcharge (WRS) · Browse all 106 terms →