How do container ETA changes turn into demurrage and detention costs?

How big is detention and demurrage exposure?

The Federal Maritime Commission reports that nine ocean carriers collected roughly $15.4 billion in detention and demurrage charges from April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2025. The same FMC series says billed amounts rose about ninefold and collected amounts about tenfold from Q2 2020 to Q1 2022. Aggregate charges are not a prediction for one importer, but they establish that free-time failures are a material operating category.

Where does an ETA change become a charge?

A tracking update does not reserve a pickup, answer a broker, clear a document, or return an empty. Exposure grows when the latest ETA has no source or timestamp, when a change remains buried in email, or when the next action has no named owner and deadline. The control question is not merely “where is the container?” but “what changed, who must act, and by when?”

What should a decision-ready ETA record show?

A useful operating view keeps the latest movement and ETA context beside the shipment, highlights material changes, and connects each change to the pickup, broker, warehouse, or empty-return action it may affect.

• Keep the ETA source and observed time visible.
• Assign the next action and due time before the handoff disappears.
• Separate arrival, availability, pickup, and empty-return milestones.
• Keep supporting messages and files connected to the same shipment context.

How Tyllus helps

Tyllus brings shipment movement, ETA context, partner follow-up, documents, and owner-visible exceptions into one operational view. Teams can see which signal changed and which decision is still waiting, instead of rebuilding the story across inboxes and files. That supports earlier action; it does not alter carrier terms or guarantee that a charge will be avoided.