Demurrage and detention, per container

One clock for each container

AVISA runs demurrage and detention for each container, from the times your team records for that box, so two boxes collected a week apart are billed a week apart. This part of AVISA does not depend on any country's customs or port systems; those come in country packs. The terms are explained in demurrage vs detention.

• Import: demurrage from discharge to gate-out, and detention from discharge to empty return, side by side.
• Export: detention from empty pickup to laden gate-in, then origin storage until the box is loaded.
• Transshipment: storage from yard-in until the box is loaded on the connecting vessel.

Gate-out, empty return, empty pickup and laden gate-in are held for each box. Discharge and loading are held once per booking, and a box with no time of its own uses the booking's. AVISA refuses a time that would end a window before it starts, and logs every moved time with the old and new time and who changed it.

Free time, and the tariffs you keep

Free days are set per clock and cargo class: general, reefer, dangerous goods or out of gauge. The line's detention free days come from the bill of lading, typed on the new import booking; without them AVISA uses the detention table. Issuing the delivery order freezes the free-time start, free days and expiry on it, so a later tariff change does not move them; on mixed cargo the D/O carries the strictest class. On an export, detention free days are fixed at the first release of empties.

Rates live in rate tables in AVISA's back office, one per clock and cargo class. Each has its free days and a ladder of day-rate tiers with a 20-foot and a 40-foot rate. A line with its own detention terms can have its own detention table, reached from its agency agreement. Detention, export origin storage and transshipment storage are not billed until the rates are marked confirmed, unless a manager overrides with a written reason, which stays on record.

When each window is billed

• Import detention is invoiced to the consignee for the days past free time when the empty return is recorded, one line per container. If a box has not reached the line's depot, staff tick "Keep counting detention" and nothing is billed until a manager uses "Stop detention & finalise".
• Export detention is billed to the shipper once the booking is loaded, with "Bill empty-container detention".
• Export origin storage and transshipment storage are invoiced when the booking is marked loaded, for the days past free time.
• AVISA treats import demurrage as the terminal's charge, so it issues a proforma for any days past free time once the last box is out. It is marked for information only and never counts as money owed to you.

Shipper-owned boxes, and shared LCL boxes on a booking that does not control them, carry no detention. AVISA does not bill the same days twice, and nothing is sent to the customer automatically.

Detention with the delivery order, if you switch it on

Some lines want detention paid before release. This is off until an administrator sets a start date in the company profile, then applies to import D/Os issued from that date. The D/O form first shows the detention it will bill to the D/O's validity, before VAT. Extending the validity bills only the extra days, and the empty return bills what is still owed for each box. Each instalment is the whole window from discharge less what was already billed for that box, so free days are never granted twice.

If a box billed this way comes back before the date it was billed to, AVISA records the gap on the booking (billed, earned, over-billed and unused days) and lists open cases on the dashboard for users who can see billing. Nothing is credited until someone on your team confirms it.

The working, printed with the charge

Storage charges priced by AVISA carry a page headed "How these charges were calculated" in the invoice or proforma PDF. Each container gets a card with its window, free days, chargeable days and each tier band with its days, day rate and subtotal. A later detention instalment shows what was already billed, and a box charged nothing says why. Amounts are before VAT. A line whose amount is changed by hand loses its card.

The storage calculator on the booking page answers "what if the box goes out on Thursday?" It prefills the recorded dates, adds "Detention until" for boxes not yet back, and prices each box on its own times, free days and cargo class; slots with no box yet are priced from the cargo lines. Saved, it becomes a "What-if estimate" proforma PDF listing every container, restated in extra currencies you tick at a rate frozen on the day.

Corrections, and the boxes still at the terminal

Only a manager can correct a recorded time, on the booking (discharge, loading, yard-in, the detention stop) or for one box. AVISA re-prices the clocks that time moves and revises the invoice into a new version; if nothing is owed any more, the charge stays as a 0.00 line and the invoice is not cancelled. On a booking billed with the D/O, a lower figure for a box already back goes to the over-billing record instead, and a clock kept counting is re-priced only once finalised. If the rates are not confirmed, a booking-time correction is refused, and a box's corrected time is saved while its invoice keeps the old figure; the screen says so.

The "Storage & Demurrage Watch" under Containers lists every discharged box with no gate-out or empty return, and every transshipment box not yet loaded, most billable days first. Each row shows the free-time end, billable days and the amount accrued so far, tagged "free time" or "accruing"; these are not invoices. It downloads as a CSV.

AVISA's screens and documents are in English.