Importers, exporters and shippers billed by ocean carriers, terminals and trucking companies
Stop paying detention and demurrage you do not owe
Reads demurrage, detention, per diem and truck detention invoices and checks every line against its own dates, free time, terminal closures, your contract rate and the FMC billing rule. It drafts the waiver or refund request for each carrier and terminal and tracks the 30-day dispute window on every invoice.
The problem
Ocean carriers and terminals bill detention and demurrage per container per day, often weeks after the box moved. Invoices arrive late, count free time wrongly or charge for days you could not get an appointment, and they get paid because nobody has time to rebuild each container's timeline.
How it works
- Step 1Upload the invoicesDetention and demurrage invoices from each carrier and terminal, as PDF or CSV.
- Step 2Add container milestonesDischarge, availability, gate-out and empty-return dates from your forwarder, broker or tracking platform.
- Step 3Rebuild the timelineFree time and chargeable days are recalculated for every container under the terms you provide.
- Step 4Flag what doesn't add upDays double-counted, free time short-counted, and invoices issued outside the billing rule's requirements.
- Step 5Dispute inside the windowERPSav drafts the dispute with the timeline, and records the deadline printed on each invoice.
Typical results
- Disputable share of D&D billed
- 5–15%
- No published benchmark; the real number comes from your invoices. estimate
What the engine checks
- Invoices issued more than 30 days after charges stopped (46 CFR 541.7)
- Invoices missing the information the FMC rule requires (46 CFR 541.6)
- Days billed above the container dates less free time
- Days charged during terminal closures or when no appointments were available
- Duplicate invoices for the same container and period, and rates above contract
- Truck detention billed inside the agreed free time
What you upload
A CSV export. Header names are matched automatically; these are the columns the engine reads.
| Column | Required | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice number | Yes | MAEU-DD-448812 |
| Billing party (carrier or terminal) | Yes | Maersk |
| Amount | Yes | 1,500.00 |
| Charge type | Demurrage | |
| Container or trailer number | MSKU1234565 | |
| Bill of lading | MAEU221845567 | |
| Port of discharge | USLAX | |
| Import or export | Import | |
| Free time (days) | 4 | |
| Free time start date | 2026-10-01 | |
| Last free day | 2026-10-04 | |
| Charge end date | 2026-10-09 | |
| Arrival / discharge / availability date | 2026-10-01 | |
| Gate-out date | 2026-10-06 | |
| Empty return date | 2026-10-12 | |
| Earliest return date (exports) | ||
| Days billed | 5 | |
| Daily (or hourly) rate | 150.00 | |
| Contract or tariff rate | 150.00 | |
| Tariff rule or service contract | Maersk US D&D Tariff Rule 2.1 | |
| Terminal closure dates | 2026-10-06; 2026-10-07 | |
| No appointment available dates | ||
| Invoice date | 2026-10-15 | |
| Invoice due date | 2026-11-14 | |
| Dispute deadline | 2026-11-14 | |
| Underlying carrier invoice date (NVOCC) | ||
| Dispute contact | dd-disputes@example.com | |
| Dispute instructions link | https://example.com/dnd | |
| Truck check-in time | 2026-10-14 07:00 | |
| Truck check-out time | 2026-10-14 11:30 | |
| Hours on site | ||
| Free time (hours) | 2 | |
| Hours billed | 4.5 |
What you need
- Detention and demurrage invoices
- Container milestone dates from your forwarder, broker or tracking platform
- Free-time terms from your contract or the carrier's tariff
Questions
- Are there rules for these invoices?
- Yes. Federal Maritime Commission rules set requirements for detention and demurrage invoices. ERPSav records the dispute deadline on each invoice; for how the rules apply to your shipment, ask your forwarder or lawyer.
- Who sends the dispute?
- You do, to the carrier or terminal, with the timeline ERPSav builds. On the managed plan we act under your signed letter of authority. ERPSav never books or arranges transport.
- What does it cost?
- Self-serve plans start at $299 a month and you keep 100%. The Recovery plan is $99 a month for this module plus 12% of money credited to you. Managed is 25% of what is recovered.
- Is our data safe?
- Your files go into your own workspace, and every row is scoped to it, so no other customer can see them. Imports, letters and status changes are written to an audit trail with who did what and when. ERPSav runs on its own servers in the EU behind Cloudflare, and most modules work from a CSV export, so nothing is installed.
ERPSav rebuilds the timeline and drafts the dispute you send; it never arranges transport and gives no legal opinion on maritime rules.