Playbook
Detention Charges: Proving and Claiming Them.
Trucks wait days at consignees, and transporters rarely recover detention because they cannot prove the wait.
The problem
Waiting time is known by the driver but not recorded.
The rule that catches it
AR-13 alerts operations and management to detention risk every 30 minutes, from geofence arrival and unloading milestones. Detention claims can be raised from WhatsApp.
The playbook
- Agree free time and detention rates in the contract.
- Record arrival at the consignee by geofence or POD photo time.
- Alert before free time runs out.
- Raise the detention claim with timestamps.
- Bill detention with the freight or separately.
How to measure it
Detention hours per trip by customer, and detention billed vs recovered.
In SCM for Transporter, alerts go to the right role group on WhatsApp, deduplicated per window and grouped into digests, and every automation starts switched off for each company. Related: detention calculator.
Questions
How are detention charges calculated?
Hours or days beyond the agreed free time, multiplied by the agreed detention rate. Try the detention calculator.
How do I prove detention?
With timestamps for arrival and release, from GPS geofences and POD photos, matched to the contract’s free time.
See it on your own data. SCM for Transporter runs the bilty, e-way bill, trips, billing and accounts in one system. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.