The receiver calls an unloaded box done. The carrier does not. Under Hapag-Lloyd’s US published rule, charges “shall continue to apply until the container is returned to the facility designated by Carrier”.
That sentence moves the finish line from the warehouse door to a gate you may never have seen: a port terminal, a rail ramp or a container depot. A shipper who watches only the delivery date misses the days that pile up after it. Navo24’s container tracking shows the carrier’s published free time and the clock running against it, so your team acts before the charges start.
Photos at the receiver’s dock, before anyone else writes the report
Mohawk Global, a forwarder, tells its customers to document the box at receipt and unloading: doors at seal cutting, the interior (holes in the roof or sides, debris, stains), the floor afterwards. Anything wrong goes to the trucker and the forwarder with photos, immediately. Yang Ming’s Canadian notice (May 2023) puts the gate report on the driver: “It is the driver’s responsibility to confirm and report accurate information during the ingate/outgate process”.
I would insist on this step. Hapag-Lloyd’s Singapore return checklist (a customer mailing forwarded in March 2024) asks for placards, labels and lettering to be removed and the nails pulled from the floor, and warns: “charges might apply if nails have not been removed and there are damages to the floor”. It also asks you not to repair the box first. Maersk lists removal of hazardous labels among the costs its Container Protect does not cover.
When the depot turns the truck away
The FMC’s 46 CFR 545.5 calls detention “likely to be found unreasonable” when it does not serve its incentivizing purposes, such as when empty containers cannot be returned, and no extenuating circumstances apply. The rule helps in an argument, and the argument needs evidence.
Hapag-Lloyd’s US waiver rule (valid from July 2022) wants credible evidence, for all days covered by the dispute and at all locations where its equipment could be returned, that a return-only appointment was required or that the empty was accepted only against the pickup of a loaded box, and that the trucker could not get an appointment or a dual transaction. The request should go in within 30 days after you receive the invoice. For a missing appointment it needs screenshots of each terminal’s appointment system, taken between 6:00 and 12:00 the day before the disputed day and between 6:00 and 9:00 on it, in the terminal’s time zone. A day without evidence is denied.
So the trucker’s screenshots matter more than the invoice. The first set is taken the day before.
The bill you did not order
Maersk says that without Container Protect, damage and cleaning costs are “charged separately a few days/weeks after the container is returned to the designated depot”. By then you are holding photos and, if you obtained one at the container depot, an in-gate EIR (equipment interchange report). Foresmart, a forwarder, warns that one photograph shows a dent without showing when it happened, and that a clean EIR does not close a later damage charge. Ask for the inspection time and images of the exact area.
The joint BIC, ICS and WSC criteria for steel general purpose containers (UCIRC, July 2023) call wear and tear unavoidable deterioration from routine use. Damage that is not to be repaired counts as acceptable. Anything non-acceptable must be repaired or addressed. UCIRC does not say who pays. Under Maersk’s Container Protect terms the merchant indemnifies the carrier for damage over the Container Protect Limit, while MSC’s advisory of 31 January 2025 (effective 8 February 2025) puts a mandatory Container Compliance Charge on each US import shipment and covers repairs up to USD 125 per container (USD 200 for a reefer). The merchant pays the balance. CMA CGM’s bookable Serenity Container Guarantee limits repair costs after accidental damage to USD 250 per container (maximum) on its Standard offer.
Hapag-Lloyd’s Singapore mailing accepts cleaning and repair appeals only through its Cleaning & Repair Form and says no other channel will be considered. Before the next return, ask the driver for the in-gate EIR and keep it with the dock photos.
Frequently asked questions
A detention invoice reached me six weeks after the box went back. Do I have to pay it?
On US trades, when the billing party is an ocean common carrier or marine terminal operator, 46 CFR 541.7(a) requires it to issue a detention or demurrage invoice within 30 calendar days from the date the charge was last incurred, and says the billed party is not required to pay if it does not. The billed party gets at least 30 calendar days from the invoice date to ask for mitigation, refund or waiver (541.8). The billing party must attempt to resolve that request within 30 calendar days of receiving it, or at a later date both sides agree.
Which fees does Yang Ming list in Canada when a driver reports a box wrongly at in-gate?
Yang Ming's Canadian notice (last updated May 2023) says that failure to report accurate information at in-gate and out-gate may result in a wrong return location fee of CAD 575 plus applicable storage, a container cleaning fee of CAD 300 and a container mis-use fee of USD 1,500.
On a leased container, who pays the first USD 100 of repair and cleaning?
Under the container-xChange standard lease agreement (clause 4(b)), the supplier pays repair and cleaning costs below the agreed Damage Protection Plan amount, and the DPP is USD 100 per piece of equipment if the lease terms name no other value. The user pays the costs above it, excluding wear and tear. xChange's help page says the user is invoiced only for the amount above the DPP.