Freight Glossary
Detention (Freight)
Detention is a fee carriers charge when their truck and driver are held at a shipper or receiver location beyond the agreed-upon free time, typically two hours, waiting to load or unload. It compensates the carrier for lost productivity. For instance, a driver waiting three hours at a grocery DC for an unload appointment would trigger one hour of billable detention.
Why it matters
Detention adds unplanned cost to every shipment it touches and damages carrier relationships, making it harder to secure capacity when you need it most. Chronic detention at a facility is a signal of deeper operational inefficiencies. Average detention fees of $50 to $100 per hour can add thousands per month for a facility running 20+ loads per week.
When to use it
Track detention exposure any time you are scheduling pickups or deliveries at facilities with limited dock doors, slow unload processes, or appointment backlogs. If your facility averages more than 30 minutes of wait time per truck, a dock scheduling overhaul should be a priority.
How Warp thinks about it
Warp's cross-dock network and per-pallet pricing model keep truck time tight by design. Freight moves through cross-docks on predictable windows, reducing the dwell time that triggers detention fees. Our AI backbone, Orbit, schedules cross-dock appointments to minimize wait time for every inbound and outbound move.