Drayage is the short truck move between a marine terminal or rail ramp and a warehouse. It is measured in miles and priced in hours, and it is where an import that crossed an ocean without incident begins collecting daily charges. Nothing here is a price: container work is quoted by a person against a terminal schedule and a steamship line tariff.
The terminal charges for the box sitting there. The line charges for the box sitting at yours.
Free time is not a courtesy, it is a filed provision with a start, a unit and an expiry. Maher Terminals sets it out in the marine terminal schedule it issues under the authority of the Federal Maritime Commission and publishes on panynj.gov, revised 2 February 2026 and read 2026-07-28.
| Cargo | Free time allowed | Counted in |
|---|---|---|
| General cargo container | Four | Working days |
| Refrigerated container or special equipment | Two | Working days |
| Green coffee beans or cocoa beans in bags | Eight | Days |
| Breakbulk cargo | Four | Days |
The unit is doing the work here. The schedule defines a working day as any calendar day, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, on which the terminal gate is open for delivery, so a weekend can consume free time. The count starts at the opening of the gate on the first working day after the container reaches its first point of rest and the terminal system is updated, and where that update lands after the gate opened, the count begins on the next working day instead.
The Maher schedule defines demurrage as the charge assessed against cargo remaining at the terminal after free time expires, and its scale steps up in tiers as days accumulate. It also states that demurrage invoices are to be paid before, and as a condition of, delivery of the cargo, which is why a container can sit hostage to a billing dispute.
Once the box is off the terminal it is the ocean carrier equipment standing in your yard, and the daily charge for keeping it past the return window comes from the line rather than the terminal. Two clocks, two invoices, two sets of rules, frequently two different companies to argue with.
The same schedule names the failed attempt to pick up an import container because the container cannot be located. The truck went, the hours were spent, and nothing moved. It is the clearest illustration of why drayage is priced by the trip rather than by the mile.
The Maher schedule sets the time a motor carrier may spend inside the terminal before detention penalties become payable to it: 150 minutes for a single move processed between 0600 and 1200, 180 minutes for a double move in that window, and 150 and 210 minutes respectively between 1200 and 1900. Time runs from arrival at the first point of processing until the truck exits the outbound gate.
Those penalties are not paid for reefers processed after 1600, on the day after a holiday, on weekend and holiday gates, for over dimensional cargo, or where the motor carrier failed to confirm cargo availability before dispatching a driver. The schedule states the payment of detention penalties is not a matter of right but a matter of contract.
A drayage rate assumes a turn that goes to plan. The published allowances show how narrow the margin is: two and a half hours inside the gate, and the whole economics of the trip depend on staying inside it.
Maher requires mitigation, waiver or refund requests in writing as soon as possible and in no event later than thirty calendar days after the invoice date or issuance date. The request has to carry the container and bill of lading numbers, the vessel name and voyage, the carrier that issued the bill, confirmation that no holds remain, the dates contested, the amount sought, the reason, and the supporting documents. Its customer service undertakes to decide within two business days of a complete submission.
The Federal Maritime Commission billing rule took effect on May 28, 2024 and set a thirty calendar day deadline for issuing demurrage and detention invoices. The provision naming who may be billed did not survive: the D.C. Circuit set aside 46 CFR 541.4 in World Shipping Council v. FMC on September 23, 2025, and the Commission removed the section effective December 29, 2025. The invoicing deadlines stand; who may lawfully be invoiced is open again.
Under the same terminal schedule, cargo left on the terminal beyond thirty days may be treated as abandoned and sold against the charges owed, with notice sent to the carrier or the owner of record. Cargo subject to spoilage or rapid devaluation can be treated as abandoned from the expiry of free time.
Most imports break down into pallets and cartons at a warehouse, and that is the point where this site becomes useful. We sell US domestic parcel labels for what ships as parcels, and a person prices pallet and LTL moves against carrier tariffs. We do not run drayage, we do not own chassis, and we will not quote a container move from a web page.
Send a freight request Palletize what came out of the box Move it inland as LTL
It is the short truck move between a marine terminal or rail ramp and a nearby warehouse or transload facility. It is one leg of an import, usually well under a hundred miles, and it is priced by the trip rather than by the mile.
Demurrage is charged by the terminal for cargo still on the terminal after free time expires. Detention, often called per diem, is charged by the ocean carrier for holding its container past the return window.
It depends on the terminal and the line. At the Port of New York and New Jersey the Maher Terminals schedule allows four working days on a general cargo container and two on a refrigerated container or special equipment.
No. We sell US domestic parcel labels and route pallet and LTL requests to a person. Container work is priced against a terminal schedule and a steamship line tariff, so send the details and a person answers.