Wagon demurrage: how the hours are calculated and where errors arise

Anyone who pays container demurrage roughly knows how it's calculated: free days, then a daily rate. Wagon demurrage works differently, and the difference isn't cosmetic.

Hours, not days

Wagon demurrage is calculated hourly. Free time starts with the wagon's placement at the loading or unloading point, or a separately agreed service window. Duration depends on the carrier and contract -- one European carrier's terms give seven hours, others 24 or 48, with special cases at four hours with their own rules. Once free time ends, every hour begun is billed as a full hour -- a wagon collected one hour and five minutes late costs two hours.

The rate can double

For certain high-demand wagon types, the daily rate doubles from a certain day. So an error at the tier boundary doesn't cost proportionally -- it costs double.

Wagon category changes the rate

The rate depends on wagon category -- tank wagons, covered wagons, low-loader wagons each have their own tariffs. If a wagon is miscategorized on the invoice, it's not one line that's wrong, but that wagon's entire period.

Demurrage and track usage are two different things

Alongside demurrage, track usage may be billed -- a separate daily charge for third-party wagons exceeding free time on railway tracks. That's a distinct charge with its own basis. If the same wagon and period are billed for both demurrage and track usage, that isn't necessarily wrong -- but it's always worth checking.

What's needed for the check

Three things: demurrage invoices with stated placement and release times, the carriage contract or tariff with free-time duration and rates, and, if a suspension is being checked, proof of the customs procedure's timing. Without placement and release times, recalculation is impossible -- the first step then is a request to the carrier, not a calculation.