Overview
The Container Demurrage module (accessible via Business Process → Shipment Management → Demurrage Charges) allows you to monitor demurrage days for each container across your shipments and generate selling invoices directly from the demurrage records — without navigating to the Invoices module separately.
Container demurrage records are automatically created for each container within your Customer Shipments and Shipping Orders. The module centralizes all demurrage data in a single, filterable grid, and provides a one-click invoicing workflow for billing your customers.
Accessing the Container Demurrage Module
Navigate to Business Process → Shipment Management → (DC) Demurrage Charges from the top navigation bar. This opens the Container Demurrage grid, which displays all container-level demurrage records across your shipments.
Understanding the Container Demurrage Grid
The grid presents each container as a row with the following key data columns:
Shipment & Container Info: Customer Shipment Code, Shipping Order Code, Container Number, Freight Unit Type (e.g., Container 20' Box, Container 40' HC).
Dates & Demurrage Calculations: Actual Arrival, Gate In, Good Demurrage Days, CS Demurrage Origin Days, CS Demurrage Destination Days, Agreement Destination Free Days, and No. of Open Days.
Parties & Routing: From Details (Origin, Master From port, Shipper), To Details (Destination, Master To port, Consignee), Receiver Customer, SO Carrier, CS Sales Agent, Destination Customs Agent, CS Consignee, and SO MBL.
Invoice Tracking: Invoice Code, Order Value, and Invoice Status — these fields are automatically populated once an invoice is created.
You can customize which columns are visible using the Column Picker button (grid icon next to the search bar).
Filtering and Searching
The module provides multiple filters at the top of the page to help you locate specific demurrage records:
Search Bar — Free-text search across all records
Service Mix — Filter by service type
Receiver Customer — Filter by the customer being billed
SO Master From / SO Master To — Filter by origin and destination ports
Country From / Country To — Filter by origin and destination countries
Active — Filter by active or inactive demurrage records
Actual Arrival — Filter by a date range for vessel arrival
Gate In — Filter by a date range for container gate-in at destination
Use the Refresh button (circular arrow icon) to reload the grid with updated data.
Editing a Container Demurrage Record
Click the Edit icon (pencil) on any row to open the Edit Container Demurrage dialog. This form displays both read-only and editable fields:
Editable fields that you can update:
Active — Toggle the record on/off
Actual Arrival — Date the vessel arrived at the destination port
Gate In — Date the container entered the destination gate/terminal
Agreement Destination Free Days — The number of free days allowed per the carrier/terminal agreement before demurrage charges begin
Demurrage Comment — Free-text notes related to the demurrage
Auto-populated read-only fields (pulled from the linked Customer Shipment and Shipping Order):
Receiver Customer, CS Demurrage Origin Days, CS Demurrage Destination Days, Good Demurrage Days, Invoice Status, Invoice Code, CS Code, SO MBL, CS HBL, SO Carrier, CS Consignee, CS Shipper, PO Number, CS Transaction Number, SO Master From, SO Master To, Destination Customs Agent, and SO Manifest.
The Good Demurrage Days field is calculated by the system based on the difference between the Gate In date and the Actual Arrival date (adjusted for any free days from the agreement).
Viewing Related Containers
Inside the Edit dialog, click the View Shipment Related Containers button to filter the grid and display only the containers that belong to the same Customer Shipment. This is useful when a single shipment contains multiple containers and you need to review or invoice them together.
Prerequisites for Auto Invoicing
Before you can create a demurrage invoice, the following must be in place:
1. A Demurrage Activity must be configured. In your system configuration under Configuration → Service Management → Activities, the relevant Activity used for demurrage billing must have the "Is Demurrage" flag enabled. This tells the system that this Activity is designated for demurrage charge calculations and invoicing.
2. A valid Selling Agreement must exist for the customer. The Receiver Customer on the demurrage record must have an active Selling Agreement (accessible via Business Process → Agreements → Selling Agreements) that includes the demurrage Activity (the one marked as "Is Demurrage"). This agreement defines the pricing terms — such as the rate per demurrage day — that the system uses to calculate the invoice amount.
Without both of these in place, the system will not be able to generate a selling invoice from the demurrage records.
Creating an Invoice from Demurrage Records
This is the core of the auto-invoicing feature. To generate a selling invoice for demurrage charges:
Select the containers — Use the checkboxes on the left side of the grid to select one or more container demurrage records you want to invoice. You can select containers from the same or different shipments.
Click "Create Invoice" — Press the Create Invoice button (top-right corner of the page).
Confirm the action — A confirmation dialog will appear asking you to confirm the invoice creation. Click YES to proceed or NO to cancel.
Invoice is generated — The system automatically creates a Selling Invoice for the selected containers. The system uses the pricing terms defined in the customer's Selling Agreement (on the "Is Demurrage" Activity) to calculate the demurrage charges. The invoice is accessible from Business Process → Invoices → Selling Invoices.
Once the invoice is created, the following fields are automatically updated on the demurrage records: the Invoice Code is populated with the generated invoice reference, the Invoice Status is updated to reflect the current state of the invoice, and the Order Value reflects the calculated demurrage amount.
Exporting Demurrage Data
Click the Export to Excel button (the download icon next to the Column Picker) to export the current grid view to an Excel file. The export respects any active filters, so you can narrow down the data before exporting.
Tips and Best Practices
Always ensure the Actual Arrival and Gate In dates are filled in before creating an invoice, as these dates are used to calculate the Good Demurrage Days.
Set the Agreement Destination Free Days value to accurately reflect your carrier/terminal agreement so that the system can calculate billable demurrage days correctly.
Verify that the Receiver Customer has an active Selling Agreement with a demurrage Activity before attempting to create an invoice.
Use the Receiver Customer filter to quickly find all demurrage records for a specific customer and create invoices in batch.
Use the View Shipment Related Containers button to review all containers under the same shipment before deciding which to include in the invoice.
The grid supports pagination — you can display 50, 100, 500, or 2,500 records per page using the dropdown at the bottom of the grid.