The detention charge usually applies to domestic trucking. The trucking or drayage company bills you for the so-called detention of their trucker or driver in cases. This happens when the loading or unloading of your shipment or containers takes too long. Detention fees are billed at an hourly rate. You can usually expect a free time or grace period of around one to two hours for loading or unloading a container. But this will depend on whether it is a domestic shipment or destined for import or export.
A second definition of detention can be a storage charge. A carrier may call it detention when you leave a container shipment beyond a certain amount of free time at the terminal.
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