Free time expires while the file moves.
Demurrage and detention accrue daily, and a claim is won or lost on whether the timeline can be evidenced from the bill of lading, the customs record, the terminal log and the contract of carriage. It is document work, it is deadline-bound, and it is nobody’s core job — which is exactly why it is worked last and recovered least.
Where the clock is missed.
Demurrage and detention claim packs — where we start
One charge in dispute. What comes back is a claim pack: the assembled timeline, the free-time entitlement read from the contract of carriage rather than assumed, the causation narrative naming which delay belongs to whom, and the recoverable amount calculated with the days we cannot evidence excluded rather than claimed and lost later.
HS classification review
The feeder queue. A mismatch means cargo held, reclassification penalties, and demurrage that then has to be disputed anyway — so reviewing the high-risk lines is the cheapest version of the same work.
One case, end to end.
Worked example · synthetic data · not a customer result
Freight operations · demurrage and detention claim pack
Incoming: A disputed detention charge on three containers: 11 days claimed by the carrier, free time contested, delivery order issued late by a party that is not you.
- The timeline is rebuilt from the bill of lading, the customs record, the terminal gate log and the carrier’s own milestones — with the free-time entitlement read from the contract of carriage rather than assumed.
- The causation narrative is written: which delay belongs to which party, on which date, with the document that shows it.
- The recoverable amount is calculated and the counterparty named. Days we cannot evidence are excluded rather than claimed and lost later.
Back to you: A complete claim pack with its costed position and supporting documents, in your operations system, waiting for the operations director to send or hold.
The same queue, two months apart.
Now
- Charges are paid because assembling the counter-position costs more hours than anyone has
- Three teams look for the same delivery order while the clock runs
- Claims go out with days nobody can evidence, and come back reduced
- Classification errors are found at the terminal rather than before the declaration
With the queue covered
- Every disputed charge gets a pack, not just the large ones
- The timeline is rebuilt from source documents, so the causation argument holds up
- Only evidenced days are claimed, which is why more of them are recovered
- Your operations director decides what to send and what to concede
A position you can hand to counsel without rebuilding it.
Every date in the pack cites the document it came from, and the gaps are named rather than smoothed over. If a dispute escalates, the file is already in the shape a lawyer would ask for.
Send us 30–50 disputed charges with their supporting documents.
3 working days, free, 2 a month. A signed data-processing agreement before anything moves.