Container Tracking
Container Tracking follows a single container through its physical journey — from the moment its vessel arrives to the moment it's delivered — and automatically flags when demurrage or detention charges start accumulating.
This is a beta feature, enabled per tenant by your service provider. If you don't see a Containers tab, ask your administrator to have it enabled — it requires the Logistics module.
Go to Operations → Containers (only visible once the feature is enabled). In the business-unit menu layout it can appear under Fleet → Containers; you can always reach it by typing "Container Tracking" in Search.
Milestone stages
Every container moves through up to 9 stages, in order:
| Stage | Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Vessel Arrival | 🚢 | The vessel carrying the container arrives at port |
| Discharged | ⚓ | Container is offloaded from the vessel — the demurrage clock starts here |
| ICD Transfer | 🚛 | Container transferred to an Inland Container Depot |
| Carry-IN | 🏭 | Container has entered the terminal or ICD |
| Released | 📋 | Customs and shipping line clearance obtained |
| Gate-OUT | 🚪 | Container has left the port gate — the demurrage clock stops here |
| Border Crossing | 🌍 | Cleared a border point (for transit cargo to landlocked neighbours) |
| Delivered | 🏁 | Reached its final destination |
| Empty Returned | 📦 | The empty container has been returned to the depot |
On the container's detail page, record the date each stage was completed. Only users with container.edit can enter or change these dates — everyone else sees them read-only. You can optionally add a note against any stage (e.g. a reason for a delay).
A container's current stage shows as a badge on its card — the icon and label of whichever stage was most recently completed, or "Not started" if none has been recorded yet. Once Delivered is recorded, the badge turns green and all demurrage/detention alerts stop.
Demurrage and detention
Each container has four settings, editable at any time:
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Free Port Days | 7 |
| Demurrage Rate / Day | 0 |
| Free Depot Days | 3 |
| Detention Rate / Day | 0 |
Demurrage (port storage charges) is calculated from the days between Discharged and Gate-OUT (or today, if the container hasn't gated out yet):
Days at Port = Discharged date → Gate-OUT date (or today)
Demurrage Days = max(0, Days at Port − Free Port Days)
Demurrage Charge = Demurrage Days × Demurrage Rate/Day
Detention (charges for holding the shipping line's container past its free period) is calculated from the days between Gate-OUT and today:
Days with Container = Gate-OUT date → today
Detention Days = max(0, Days with Container − Free Depot Days)
Detention Charge = Detention Days × Detention Rate/Day
Leave a rate at 0 if you don't want a cost estimate — the day counts still show, just without a charge figure ("Rate not set").
Alerts
- 🔴 Red banner — demurrage or detention days are already accumulating (
⚠ Demurrage: {N}d— with· Detention: {N}dappended only once detention has actually started). - 🟠 Amber banner — no charges yet, but the container is within 2 days of its free port period expiring (
⚠ Demurrage starts in {N} day(s)). - No banner once the container is marked Delivered.
The detail page's four summary tiles turn red once the corresponding charge has actually started — Days at Port and Demurrage Days both key off demurrage days > 0; Days with Container and Detention Days both key off detention days > 0. A container still inside its free port/depot allowance shows a day count but stays neutral, since no charge is accruing yet.
Adding a container
- Click + New Container
- Enter the Container Number (required — the only mandatory field; auto-uppercased, e.g.
MSCU1234567) - Optionally fill in: Container Size (20ft / 40ft / 40ft HC / 45ft / Other), Shipping Line, Bill of Lading Number, Vessel Name, Voyage Number, Port of Loading, Port of Discharge (defaults to Dar es Salaam), Destination, Linked Trip (see below), Free Port Days, Demurrage Rate, Free Depot Days, Detention Rate, and Notes
- Save
Milestone dates are not set here — record them afterward on the container's own detail page as each stage actually happens.
Finding a container
Search by container number, shipping line, destination, or Bill of Lading number. The Containers page itself has no date-range or status filter and no export — the list is a simple card grid with each container's current stage and a progress bar. For filtering and Excel export, use the Corridor Report.
Linking a container to a Trip
A container can optionally link to the exact Trip hauling it — pick one from the searchable Linked Trip field on the container's form (each option shows its job). Picking a trip also links the container to that trip's job and fills Destination from the trip's route. Linking to a Trip is what lets the Corridor / Container Tracking Report below resolve a truck and driver for the container.
Separately, each Trip has its own Checkpoint Log — a dated log of the checkpoints along its assigned Route (e.g. border posts, weighbridges), recorded from the trip's page in Logistics (see The trip page). This is what the Corridor Report's checkpoint columns are built from.
Corridor / Container Tracking Report
Operations → Corridor Report (classic menu layout) replaces a manually compiled daily tracking spreadsheet with a single live report: one row per container, joined to:
- Its linked Trip (truck, driver, and every dated checkpoint from that Trip's Checkpoint Log)
- The matching Clearing Declaration, when Clearing & Forwarding is licensed — matched automatically by container number, so you don't need to link the two by hand. Clearing is not required to view the report, only to populate its clearance columns; without it those columns are simply blank.
Each row also shows the date of every container milestone, the demurrage due date, demurrage and detention days, the truck, trailer and driver, and the consignee (the job's customer). If a container has no linked trip but is linked to a job, the job's first trip is used.
Filter by search (container, B/L, consignee, driver or truck), destination, status (In Progress / Delivered) and a vessel-arrival date range. The checkpoint columns are dynamic — they reflect whichever checkpoints actually appear in the current filter, not a fixed list, so the report stays useful whether you're looking at one corridor or several. Export the currently filtered view to Excel with the same ⇩ Export button used throughout the app.
Reaching the report requires the report.view permission (the Containers permissions above aren't needed), the Logistics module, and Container Tracking enabled for your company.
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
container.view | View the Containers tab and all container records |
container.create | Add new containers |
container.edit | Edit container details and record/change milestone dates |
container.delete | Remove a container record (soft delete) |
By default, Tenant Admin holds all four; Operations Staff holds view/create/edit (not delete).
Related
- Clearing & Forwarding → — the customs declaration lifecycle; matched automatically to a container by container number on the Corridor Report, not required to use container tracking itself
- Logistics → — job and trip management; a container's Trip link and Checkpoint Log both live here