Calculating costs and avoiding unpredictable penalties is not something you should constantly worry about. It is necessary to automate this process to carry out cargo transportation conveniently and distribute goods with maximum benefit for yourself.
By ignoring demurrage, detention, or storage charges, you will certainly miss out on costs, and they will quickly accumulate, making it difficult to forecast your logistics budget.
Using SeaRates' Demurrage & Storage Calculator, you can know your costs in advance in real time for sea containers, FTL/LTL trucking, rail freight, air freight, and even vessel downtime. Let’s explore how the tool assists you with this.
How does the tool work?
Are you a shipper planning imports/exports or a freight forwarder optimizing operations? With this tool, you get data directly from carriers around the world. Such accurate calculations help you avoid penalties and comply with requirements based on the current conditions of carriers worldwide.
The Demurrage & Storage Calculator is designed to quickly calculate and forecast costs for a single container or even an entire fleet. The functionality takes into account free days, unloading times, and carrier rates in real time. This way, you know the accurate costs and days of overrun exactly.
You can forget about searching for information directly from port or terminal operators around the world, as all the information is already collected in one place.
Manual mode
Let’s start this overview with the familiarization of terms and disclaimer. Proceed with tooltips located at the Regime, Discharge date/Empty pick up, Gate out full, and Gate in empty/Loading date fields, as well as at the Storage, Demurrage, and Detention fields on the right side.
At this step, we have to set the baseline for when free time begins ticking:
Choose Import or export mode and dates for the Discharge/Empty pick up.
Then, input the full out gate and get the empty dates: Specify when the full container leaves the terminal ("gate out full") and when the empty one returns ("get in empty" or “loading”). These mark the end of your handling window.
- Choose the fee type — demurrage (overtime at the terminal), detention (delays outside the terminal), or storage (extended holding fees). The tool adapts calculations accordingly.
- Set free days and currency: Define the grace period provided by the carrier (e.g., 7 days for demurrage) and select your preferred currency with applicable rates.
Finalize with the Calculate button to view the total cost breakdown by each fee:
As a result, you have your own customized calculations for key fees based on live major carrier data and no longer rely on outdated tariffs.
Automatic mode
Let’s proceed with easily filling out the form:
- Choose Import/Export in the Regime field
- Select Container Type from the drop-down list
- Enter the Port of discharge
- Find the available Shipping Line
- Specify Discharge date/Empty pick up
- Enter the Gate of Full date
- Select the Gate in Empty/Loading date
- and click on the Show tariffs button
Moving right, in the Storage section, adjust the Until day field and check the currency:
Press the Calculate button and get a full overview of storage, demurrage, and detention rates in the local currency converted to the one you have chosen before. You can change any entered data and compare results to find the most profitable option for your shipments.
Organize the storage of data by naming the result by container number or other identifiers and downloading it for further reports and analytics.
Looking for benefits details? Find a description and frequently asked questions about the Demurrage & Storage Calculator right under the tool.
White-label integration
The demurrage and storage calculator can be a branded widget on your website.
As a logistics expert, you can fully digitize logistics by first allowing leads to accurately calculate demurrage and storage rates based on their individual needs and then book shipments with you without even leaving your website.
This white label option is a perfect fit for you as a freight forwarder, 3PL, or e-commerce provider, as your customers and users get instant penalty estimates directly on your domain.
Connect to the API
The Demurrage & Storage Calculator API gives logistics providers and software developers automated, scalable access to penalty data that connects to your ERP or TMS. You can also create your own application based on our functionality to calculate multi-level rates and total costs in real time, set notifications, and integrate with booking systems — all for your customers’ convenience.
Our API supports all major carriers, modes of transport (sea/road/rail/air), and currencies, with authentication for high-volume operations.
Check out the API documentation, which also includes sample requests, and get your access key from the SeaRates team.
Customize Demurrage & Storage Calculator
Ready to integrate or scale up the usage? Drop us a line at [email protected], and we’ll ensure your logistics are penalty-proof.
