What is free time in shipping?

On an import there are two periods, one after the other. The first covers the full container sitting in the terminal: it commonly begins when the box is discharged from the ship and ends at gate-out. Overrun it and the charge is demurrage. The second covers the container while it is away being unloaded: it runs from gate-out to the empty return, and overrunning it is detention.

Exports have a clock too, between collecting the empty box and bringing it back loaded. Some lines merge the periods into a single combined allowance. In every version the clock is driven by the events you see on a tracking page, which is the practical reason to watch them.

There is no standard length. The shipping line sets it in its tariff, port by port and by type of equipment, and a contract with the line can change it. The terminal may run a storage allowance of its own, separate from the line’s, so two parties can be counting days on the same box.

Look for the figure on the freight quotation, the booking confirmation and the arrival notice, and in the tariff the line publishes for the port concerned. If none of them states it, ask in writing before the ship arrives. Ask also which event starts the count and whether the days are calendar days or working days.

The common error is to count from the day you were told the container had arrived, or from the day customs cleared it. The clock does not wait for either. It starts with the event the tariff names, and it keeps running while documents are corrected, duties are paid and a truck is found. Importers discover this on the invoice.

The second error is treating free time as fixed. It is negotiable, but mostly before the booking is made: a shipper who knows the warehouse is slow can ask for more days as part of the freight deal. After the box has landed, an extension is a favour the line is free to refuse, and the charges per day often rise the longer the container stays.