Solution
Demurrage and detention control for terminals
Last reviewed:
Outturn's Demurrage & Detention worker recomputes time-based charges — wagon hours, storage free time, clock stops and truck turnaround — from the terminal's own events, and shows every hour that is billed wrongly or not billed at all.
The problem in one sentence
Time-based charges are computed from someone's clock — the carrier's, the billing system's, the gate's — and a few hours' difference per wagon or a few days per lot adds up quietly every month.
What the worker checks
| Check | What it recomputes |
|---|---|
| RAIL-01 Wagon-hour recompute | Hours a carrier-owned wagon stayed beyond free time, from your arrival and removal events, vs the hours on the carrier's statement |
| RAIL-02 Clock-stop gap | Periods where the clock should have stopped (for example a notified wagon the carrier did not remove) |
| RAIL-07 Storage-organisation days | Days charged for organising wagon storage vs the days your events support |
| BIL-02 Storage free time | Storage billing that starts from the event the contract names (for example discharge completion), not a later date such as a lot split |
| GATE-10 Truck turnaround | Gate-in to gate-out time over the threshold you configure |
Example finding
Example — synthetic data, invented for illustration. Not a customer result. (The tariff figure is real and sourced.)
Wagon 59214088 on a demo terminal. The carrier statement bills 15 h of wagon use over free time. Recomputed from the wagon export events, the tariff gives 12 h. At the LTG Cargo rate of €2.16 per wagon-hour, the difference is 3 h × €2.16 = €6.48.
Small per wagon — but the same rule runs on every wagon, every month. The case goes to Commercial with the wagon export page, the carrier statement page and the tariff line. After the credit note arrives, the next check run no longer finds the difference and a person confirms it as recovered.
To size your own exposure, multiply: wagons per month × share of carrier-owned wagons × average disputed hours × tariff rate. Use your own numbers; Outturn does not publish averages it cannot source.
Data you need
- Rail: wagon arrival, placement, release and removal times (the carrier's wagon export or your rail desk sheet) and the carrier's wagon-use statement.
- Storage: discharge-completion event, stock movements (including lot splits), storage invoice history, the contract's free days and rate.
- Gate: gate-in and gate-out times; a turnaround threshold you set.
How fast you can start
Send one month of the carrier's wagon export and statement for the free rail billing check, or load them yourself in the free trial; RAIL-01 runs on the confirmed import. Storage and gate checks need the free days, rates or thresholds configured first.
Honest limits
- Vessel laytime/demurrage (statement of facts vs charter-party clauses) is not an automated check today.
- Container line detention (box outside the terminal) is outside the terminal's own records; Outturn does not compute it.
- Several checks give no result until you configure free days, rates or thresholds — Outturn never assumes them.
Related
See it on your own statements
Send up to 3 months of carrier statements and your wagon records: a written report in 5 working days, free and without obligation.
Frequently asked questions
- Which demurrage and detention charges does Outturn recompute?
- Time-based charges at the terminal: rail wagon hours over free time (RAIL-01), gaps where the clock should have stopped (RAIL-02), storage-organisation days (RAIL-07), storage days counted from the contractual event (BIL-02) and truck turnaround over a threshold you set (GATE-10).
- Does Outturn calculate vessel laytime and demurrage?
- Not as an automated check today. Vessel laytime calculation from the statement of facts is not among the 40 running checks. The Claims Recovery worker does check protest completeness before sailing (VES-11).
- Where do the times come from?
- From your own records: wagon arrival and removal events, the carrier's wagon export, discharge completion, stock movements, gate in and out times. Every recomputed hour links to the rows it came from.
- Is the tariff hard-coded?
- Tariffs are versioned rules with their source and effective date. The LTG Cargo wagon-use charge (EUR 2.16 per wagon-hour after 24 free hours, 2026 price list) is included; other tariffs are added as sourced rules.
Sources
- LTG Cargo, Papildomų paslaugų kainynas PP-LTG Cargo (effective 2026-01-01): https://doc.ltgcargo.lt/lt/dokumentai/kainodara/Papildomu_paslaugu_kainynas_LTG_CARGO_2026.pdf (accessed 2026-09-26)