Guides / Container demurrage and detention · Updated 19 October 2026

Container demurrage and detention in the UK: how customs delays drive the bill

Container demurrage and detention are charges from your shipping line or terminal, not from HMRC, but a slow customs clearance is one of the most common reasons importers pay them. This guide explains the two terms, the customs steps that keep a box on the quay, the 90-day temporary storage limit, and a routine for avoiding the bill.

This guide is also available in Polish.

Container demurrage and detention in the UK: what the two charges mean

Container demurrage and detention are not customs charges. HMRC does not set them, publish them or collect them. They come from your contract with the shipping line and, for storage on the quay, from the terminal operator's terms. The names are used in a fairly standard way across the industry, but the exact definitions, the number of free days and the daily rates are whatever your carrier's tariff and your booking say.

• Demurrage is normally charged when a full container stays in the port or terminal after discharge beyond the free time allowed for collection.
• Detention is normally charged when you keep the carrier's container outside the terminal beyond the free time, until the empty box is returned to the depot the carrier names.

Some carriers combine the two into one allowance; others count them separately. Before the vessel sails, ask for the free time in writing and check whether it is counted in calendar days or working days, and from which event the clock starts. That is a commercial question, so the answer is in your contract, not on GOV.UK.

Why customs is so often the cause

Customs does not charge demurrage, but it controls when a container can leave the port. For goods arriving from outside the UK, HMRC's guidance on a full import declaration says you need to pay duty before your goods can be released, and that HMRC may ask for supporting documents for a customs check before clearing them. You receive a message through the Customs Declaration Service (CDS, the system that replaced the older CHIEF system) once customs has cleared the goods. Until then, the box usually stays where it is and the free time keeps running down.

The usual reasons a container sits on the quay waiting for customs are predictable:

• the import declaration was not lodged until after the vessel arrived;
• the declaration was selected for a documentary check and the documents were slow to arrive or incomplete;
• the goods were selected for examination;
• duty and import VAT could not be paid or accounted for;
• details on the invoice, packing list and declaration did not match, so queries had to be answered.

HMRC's National Clearance Hub, which processes declarations selected for further checks, lists the documents it typically needs for a documentary check: evidence of value, packing lists, and any licences or certificates. For declarations with several invoices it asks for all of them or a one-page summary showing invoice number, goods description, number of pieces, currency and value. It also warns that not replying to queries in the secure messaging service can cause delays, and that if a declaration needs changing after a query you should send an amendment rather than wait.

For marine imports, the Hub states that it aims to clear goods within 3 hours of receiving the requested documents if they arrive between 8am and 3pm, and otherwise by 8am the next day. That makes the timing of your reply part of your demurrage exposure: documents sent late in the afternoon can cost a day.

Temporary storage: the customs clock behind the commercial one

Goods that arrive at a UK port and are not declared straight away usually sit in temporary storage. HMRC's guidance says temporary storage lets you delay the full customs declaration and payment of import VAT and duty for up to 90 days. After the goods are presented to customs and a temporary storage declaration is made, you have 90 days to declare them to a customs procedure or re-export them, and that declaration must cover the entire quantity on the temporary storage declaration. HMRC warns that if you exceed the 90-day limit you must pay the duty and import VAT and then enter the goods to a procedure, pay a penalty or re-export them, and that the goods may be seized.

Two points follow. First, at locations without temporary storage, HMRC says the deadline for the declaration is set by the location's operator, not by the 90-day rule. Second, the 90 days are a customs limit, not free time. A container can be well inside the customs deadline and still be running up demurrage under your carrier's tariff. Planning around the customs limit alone is the most expensive mistake in this area.

HMRC also restricts what can happen to goods in temporary storage: they must stay in the approved area, handling must be limited to keeping them unaltered, and packages may only be broken up for essential examination or preservation. You cannot strip the container in temporary storage just to free up the box while the paperwork catches up.

Practical prevention

Most demurrage and detention bills can be traced back to something that could have been done before the ship arrived. A workable routine:

• Get the free time, the counting method and the empty return depot confirmed before booking.
• Lodge the import declaration before arrival where possible. HMRC's guidance says it can be submitted early, but it is only formally accepted once the goods have arrived and been presented to customs.
• Have the commercial invoice, packing list and any licences or certificates ready to upload the moment a documentary check is requested.
• Make sure the commodity codes, values and quantities on the invoice, packing list and declaration agree.
• Arrange how duty and import VAT will be paid or accounted for before the vessel arrives.
• Book haulage for collection and for the empty return so that clearance and transport are not done one after the other.
• Watch your messages in CDS or from your agent and answer queries the same day.

If you already know the goods will not be needed for weeks, the answer is not to leave them on the quay. A customs warehouse, covered in our guide to customs warehousing in the UK, lets you store imported goods to delay paying duty and import VAT, including in a public warehouse run by someone else, which means the container can be unloaded and returned. For a step-by-step view of how a UK–EU container shipment flows through both customs systems, see our guide on shipping a container from the UK to Poland.

When charges are already running

Once the free time has gone, speed matters more than anything else. Find out exactly why the container is held: customs, a document query, an examination, unpaid charges, or simply no haulier booked. Answer customs queries through the channel they arrived in, send any amendment immediately, and arrange collection in parallel rather than waiting for release. Then speak to the carrier and the terminal: only they can confirm how many chargeable days have accrued and whether any extension of free time is possible. A summary of where the delays come from, and how importers usually stop them, is in Easy Clearance's article on avoiding demurrage and detention charges.

Finally, keep the paper trail. If a delay was caused by a third party, such as a supplier's incorrect invoice, the timeline of when documents were requested and supplied is what you will need when the bill is discussed.

Related guides

• Shipping a container from the UK to Poland: customs step by step

• Customs brokerage explained: what does a customs broker do in the UK?

• Direct vs indirect customs representation in the UK

Sources

• Making a full import declaration (GOV.UK)
• How to put goods into a temporary storage facility (GOV.UK)
• Clearing goods entering, leaving or transiting the UK: National Clearance Hub (GOV.UK)
• How to use a customs warehouse (GOV.UK)

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.