Driver detention is the time a truck driver spends waiting at a shipper’s or receiver’s dock beyond the agreed free time — typically two hours — before loading or unloading is complete. After free time expires, carriers bill detention charges, commonly $50 to $100 per hour. It is one of the most common accessorial charges in trucking and one of the easiest to avoid with good scheduling.
How detention works
The clock starts when the driver arrives at the appointed time (documented by arrival timestamps, ELD data, or check-in records) and free time begins. If the facility has not finished loading or unloading when free time ends, detention accrues in increments until the driver is released. The charge appears on the freight invoice as an accessorial charge, alongside items like liftgate or lumper fees.
Detention vs. demurrage vs. per diem
Don’t confuse truck detention with container charges. Demurrage is for containers sitting at a port terminal; per diem (also called detention in ocean shipping) is for keeping the ocean carrier’s container too long. Driver detention is purely about the truck and driver’s time at a dock. The full comparison is in our guide to demurrage vs detention vs per diem.
Why detention matters more than the fee
The hourly charge understates the real cost. Hours-of-service rules mean a driver who waits four hours may run out of legal driving time, missing the next pickup — so chronic detention shrinks capacity and pushes carriers to raise rates or decline the lane. Facilities known for fast turns get better pricing and better service. For time-critical freight like reefer loads, detention also creates temperature and appointment risk downstream in the cold chain.
How shippers can reduce detention
Book realistic appointment windows and honor them. Have paperwork and staged freight ready before the truck arrives. Use drop trailers where volume justifies it — a drop trailer program eliminates live-load waiting entirely. Measure dock turn times and hold warehouse teams to them. And share dock scheduling data with your carrier: dispatch systems like Go Freight’s DispatchAI use appointment and turn-time history to route trucks away from predictable bottlenecks.
Detention in South Florida operations
Miami’s mix of port traffic, congested urban docks, and hard delivery windows makes detention a daily variable. Go Freight runs 100+ owned trucks across drayage, LTL, and last-mile delivery, so our dispatchers plan around slow facilities instead of billing surprises after the fact — and our own warehouse docks turn trucks in under an hour.
Frequently asked questions
How much free time is standard before detention?
Two hours is the industry norm for live loads and unloads, though the exact window is set by the rate agreement or carrier tariff.
What does driver detention cost?
Most carriers bill roughly $50–$100 per hour after free time, with higher rates for specialized equipment like reefers or flatbeds.
Can detention be disputed?
Yes. Disputes usually turn on arrival and departure evidence — ELD logs, geofence timestamps, and signed in/out times on the delivery receipt — which is why carriers document every stop.
Tired of detention surprises on your Miami freight? Get a quote or call (786) 445-0150.