Demurrage & detention: China to Europe

Demurrage is charged while an import container is still inside the port or terminal past its free time after discharge. Detention is charged by the ocean carrier while the container has left the port but has not been returned to the depot past its free days after pickup. The trigger is the same — free time expired — but the location and the party charging you are different.

Yes, in sequence and sometimes in overlap. A container can exhaust terminal free time first, and then, once eventually collected, exhaust carrier free days before the empty box is returned. The practical prevention is to plan against the combined free-time clock, not just one of the two limits.

The ACL Hamburg import tariff gives 3 calendar days for non-HAZ 20ft and 40ft dry/high-cube equipment and open-top/flat-rack boxes. Reefers get 2 calendar days, and hazmat equipment gets 4 calendar days. These days count from the first calendar day after vessel discharge, and the tariff is Hamburg-specific rather than an EU-wide norm.

The verified ACL Hamburg schedule charges 70 EUR/day rising to 130 EUR/day for a 20ft dry box, and 115 EUR/day rising to 180 EUR/day for a 40ft dry/high cube after the 3 free days. Reefers run 110→150 EUR/day after 2 free days. For other European ports, per-day amounts were not published in the verified snapshot and must be requested from the terminal or carrier.

The verified snapshot does not publish a European carrier-detention tariff. The US/FMC benchmark — roughly $45/day for the first five days rising to $110+/day — is useful only as a global magnitude reference and is LOW confidence for Europe. Request your carrier free-time and per-day schedule before booking.

Normally the importer or consignee pays, because the charge arises after arrival and after the cargo has been made available for collection. The obligation can shift by Incoterm or service contract, so confirm which party controls pickup, clearance and empty return before booking. Do not assume the forwarder absorbs the clock.

Clear before arrival: have your EORI, T1 transit document where applicable, commercial invoice, packing list and customs declaration ready before the vessel arrives. Submit pre-arrival documents, book trucking early, and arrange the empty return before the container reaches the port. The goal is to complete clearance and pickup inside the free-time window rather than react after discharge.

Yes. The free-time countdown starts at discharge, so work completed before the vessel arrives does not consume terminal free days. Filing the declaration, confirming the TARIC/HS code, pre-booking the truck and having the EORI ready means the container can be released and collected soon after discharge instead of waiting on paperwork.

The verified ACL tariff counts calendar days from the first calendar day after discharge, so weekends and holidays run the clock. Always treat calendar days as the planning assumption unless the terminal tariff explicitly says otherwise. Ask for the start day and exclusions in writing, because conventions differ by terminal.

Some carriers use a combined free-time clock — sometimes called a combined or "DD2in1" tariff — under which one pool of days covers both terminal storage and equipment use. That can be easier to manage, but the terms differ by carrier. Confirm whether your quote uses separate demurrage and detention clocks or one combined allowance.

No. Standard marine cargo insurance covers physical loss or damage to the goods, not time-based terminal or carrier charges. Demurrage and detention are operational liabilities unless a specific extension or service agreement says otherwise. If delay coverage matters to your supply chain, ask for the exact policy wording.

Europe uses EU/UK customs, EORI/GB EORI, TARIC duty of 0–12% and destination-country VAT. The Saudi FASAH and SABER systems, the GCC 5% customs baseline, Saudi 15% VAT and UAE 5% VAT are Gulf-specific and do not apply to Europe. The core free-time principle is the same, but the documents and regulators are different.