Shipping Containers

You do not buy the container

The container belongs to the carrier or a leasing company. You pay for the use of it between the origin port and your warehouse, and you are expected to give it back empty, within a set number of days, in the condition you got it.

Almost every unexpected charge on an import invoice comes from that last sentence.

The container number

Every container carries a unique eleven-character code: four letters and seven digits, for example MSCU 123456 7. The first three letters identify the owner, the fourth is almost always U for freight container, and the last digit is a check digit calculated from the rest.

That number is what you track, what appears on the Bill of Lading, and what the terminal uses to release the box. If it is wrong on a document, the cargo does not move.

The seal

A numbered security seal is fitted at origin after loading and its number goes on the Bill of Lading. At destination the seal is checked before opening, usually in the presence of customs.

If the seal number does not match the document, or the seal is broken on arrival, that is a formal incident. Photograph it before anyone opens the doors — it is the only evidence that will matter later.

Free days, demurrage and detention

• Free days: the period you can use the container at destination without extra charge, typically 5 to 14 days
• Demurrage: charged when the full container stays in the terminal beyond the free days
• Detention: charged when you have taken the container out but have not returned it empty in time
• Storage: the terminal's own charge for occupying space, separate from the two above

How to not pay any of it

Know your free-day count before the vessel arrives, have the customs documentation complete while it is still sailing, and arrange the truck before the cargo lands rather than after.

We send an alert 48 hours before arrival for exactly this reason. Demurrage is almost always avoidable, and it is almost always avoided by someone acting two days earlier.