Can container demurrage and detention charges be waived?

Yes, but with conditions: the cause of the delay was not the importer’s (for example a port failure, force majeure, carrier fault, or an inspection occupying the period), and written evidence plus a complete timeline can be provided. Dwell caused by the importer’s own side — incomplete documents or delayed payment — essentially leaves no room to apply.

Whom should the waiver application go to?

To the party to whom the charge belongs: on-terminal and off-terminal detention go to the carrier, and port storage goes to the terminal or depot. Approaching the wrong party is a common reason an application fails — first separate the three charges and their owners.

When is the best time to apply?

As the free period is running out and the overrun is happening, when it is still a warning-stage negotiation and the carrier has room to schedule. Once the invoice is out it becomes a post-hoc haggle. Either way, submit in writing with the evidence attached.

What evidence does the application need?

One timeline plus its supporting documents: the Arrival Notice, the SPPB release time, the collection booking and operational records, third-party proof of the cause of delay (announcements, emails), and the container return receipt. Split the overrun days into a period within your control and a period of objective delay — the more precise the interval, the more likely it is accepted.

Is a partial reduction worth accepting?

Usually yes. The negotiation rests on evidence: bank the interval you can prove, and decide on the remainder according to the value of the ongoing relationship. Even after a partial reduction, ask for written confirmation and settle against the confirmed amount.

Can the free period be paused during an inspection?

Where the cargo cannot be collected because it is inside an official inspection procedure, the container usage charge for that period can be claimed from the carrier against a comparison of the inspection notice and the release time. This is one of the easier cases to establish, because the cause of occupation is clearly in an official channel.

Does a long-term relationship earn a reduction?

It can, as a commercial reduction: a steady volume and a good credit record are themselves negotiating chips. Beyond billing disputes, keep an annual summary of container volume and on-time return records as background material for ongoing communication.

How can overruns be reduced at the source?

Three things: agree the free-time clause before taking the container and write it into the confirmation; bring the declaration schedule forward so release lands inside the free period; and budget time on the least favourable case during peak season. One day saved at the source beats ten waiver applications afterwards.

Can Demurrage and Detention Be Waived? Conditions, Evidence and How to Apply

Key figures (free to quote)

Item	Reference figure
Free container days	7 days by default, counted from the discharge date; extension to 14 days can be applied for.
Detention, 20GP	IDR 400,000-1,050,000 per day (steps up after the free period; roughly USD 22-58).
Detention, 40HQ	IDR 700,000-1,575,000 per day (steps up after the free period; roughly USD 39-88).
LS survey (Laporan Surveyor)	3-7 working days including issuance.
FORM E issuance	1-3 working days (issued by China Customs / CCPIT).
Jakarta city delivery	Delivered within 1-3 days of release.
Java island delivery	2-4 days.
Outer island delivery	5-10 days including the second-leg transhipment.
Free port storage	3-5 days.

Reference values for standard cases (complete documents, no inspection, outside the red-line season). Actual figures follow current carrier and customs notices. Last reviewed 2026-09-27.

In short

Overrun charges are neither impossible to reduce nor reducible on request. A waiver rests on three things: the delay was not on your side, the cause can be evidenced in writing, and the application is made in good time and in good form.
The negotiation is really a negotiation about evidence: whether you can show, on a timeline, that the delay occurred in the other party’s or a third party’s part of the chain decides whether you have any cards on the table.
This page gives the situations that leave room, the evidence list and the wording of the application — and the cases where pursuing it is not worth the time.

1. Situations with room to apply

Three situations with no room. Documents not complete, payment delayed, or the address and consignee not cooperating — these fall within the importer’s own responsibility, and a waiver application is essentially futile. Effort is better spent improving the pace next time — see the hidden costs page.

Situation	Why there is room	Direction of evidence
Port or customs system failure, official operational delay	The delay sits in an official channel, not the importer’s fault	Official notices, system announcements, operational records
Force majeure (weather, port closure, strikes)	An industry-wide stoppage; carriers usually have a waiver practice	Official suspension notices, weather and port announcements
Carrier-caused (rolled cargo, document error, return depot closed)	The carrier’s own fault	Carrier emails, timeline records
Inspection occupying the free period	The cargo is inside an official inspection procedure	A comparison of the inspection notice against the release time
Commercial reduction for a long-term customer	The value of the relationship and the credit record	Cooperation history and volume data

2. Evidence: the timeline is the core

String the documents into one timeline: arrival → release → container collection → container return, with a date and a source at each node. With that line, responsibility is plain; without it, everything rests on assertion.
The habit of building a timeline file is set out on the clearance lead time page; checking the free-container-days clause itself is covered on the demurrage and detention page.

Evidence	What it proves	Source
Arrival Notice	The baseline date from which the free period runs	Carrier / carrier’s agent
SPPB release time	When the customs stage was completed	Declaration system / PPJK
Collection booking and operational records	Whether the container was collected promptly after release	Port authority / trucking company
Third-party proof of the cause of delay	That the delay sat in an official or carrier channel	Announcements, emails, notices
Container return receipt	The actual time of return	Depot

3. Whom to approach, and when

Whom: the party to whom the charge belongs. On-terminal detention and storage go to the carrier and the terminal respectively; off-terminal detention goes to the carrier. Approaching the wrong party is a common reason an application fails.
When: the earlier the better. Start the conversation as the free period runs out and the overrun is happening, not after the invoice arrives — one is a warning-stage negotiation, the other a post-hoc haggle.
How: in writing (email) as the main channel, with the timeline and evidence attached; confirm any phone discussion by email afterwards. A verbal agreement carries almost no weight in a charge dispute.
Follow-up: chase weekly after submission and ask for a written reply. A partial reduction is still a result — do not abandon the follow-up because it was not a full waiver.

4. A worked example: how to cost the application

The claim has to be costed down to the level of a day range: not a vague “we were delayed”, but “for the 5 days from D5 to D10 the cause was official; please waive, evidence attached”. The more precise the interval, the higher the acceptance rate.
If the carrier agrees to waive only 3 days (an illustrative outcome), whether the remaining 2 days is negotiating space or a cut-off point is a judgement on the value of the ongoing relationship — a commercial reduction is still part of a waiver.

Item	Basis	Result
Period within your control	D0-D5 (documents and payment completed on plan)	5 days, no responsibility
Delayed period	D5-D10 port system failure (official notice available)	5 days, the claimed interval
Normal collection and return period	D10 collection → D12 return (2 days)	Within the remaining free entitlement
Amount claimed	5 days overrun × the applicable rate; seeking a full waiver for the system-failure period	Recomputed by substituting the rate

Assumed conditions (illustrative): 7 free container days (on- and off-terminal combined), D0 arrival; a port system failure delays the SPPB until D10, collection at D10, return at D12. Actual occupation 12 days, overrun 5 days.

5. Reducing the need to apply at all

Agree the clause before taking the container: the number of free days, the start point, and whether on- and off-terminal periods combine should all be confirmed at booking and written into the confirmation — see the demurrage and detention page.
Bring the declaration schedule forward: complete documents, classification and pre-entry before arrival, and squeeze the release inside the free period — see the clearance lead time page.
Build in a peak-season buffer: operations generally slow in peak periods; budget time on the least favourable case.
Keep a timeline for every shipment: the evidence for a waiver is assembled beforehand, not reconstructed afterwards — reconstructed material is obvious to the other side at a glance.

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This page summarizes field practice and publicly available Indonesian import rules for general business reference only—it is not legal, customs, or pricing advice. Customs provisions, tariff rates, and licensing requirements keep changing, so the rules in force at the time and the official processing result always prevail. Wuhan Freedom International Logistics Co., Ltd. · Licensed PPJK in Indonesia · Jakarta / Semarang / Wuhan.

Can Demurrage and Detention Charges Be Waived? Conditions, Evidence and How to Apply