🇺🇸United States

Customer dissatisfaction and churn driven by unexpected D&D bills

4 verified sources

Definition

End customers often receive large, unexpected D&D invoices after their cargo has already been delivered, leading to intense dissatisfaction, disputes, and eventual switching of carriers or forwarders. High and rapidly escalating per‑day fees are viewed as ‘gotcha’ charges, damaging trust and driving shippers to competitors that promise better D&D management.

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: Loss of high‑value accounts plus write‑offs of disputed D&D can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime value for mid‑size logistics providers (inferred from typical shipment volumes and D&D fee levels)[2][5][6]
  • Frequency: Weekly
  • Root Cause: Demurrage at terminals and detention outside ports are often poorly explained to buyers; when containers exceed free time, fees can quickly climb from $75 to $300 per day or more, especially as many terminals use escalating rate tiers.[2][3][6] Because these charges are usually invoiced after the fact and not visible in real time to consignees, they experience bill shock and blame their carrier or forwarder for ‘hidden fees’ and poor exception management.[4][5]

Why This Matters

This pain point represents a significant opportunity for B2B solutions targeting Freight and Package Transportation.

Affected Stakeholders

BCO logistics and supply chain managers, Freight forwarder account managers, NVOCC customer success teams, Sales and commercial leadership, Customer service representatives

Deep Analysis (Premium)

Financial Impact

$100,000–$380,000 annually (write-offs on disputed D&D + agricultural shipper churn; time-sensitive crops increase urgency/frustration) • $100,000–$400,000 annually (preventable D&D fees + customer churn multiplier) • $100,000–$400,000 annually (preventable D&D fees + government contract compliance risk; potential audit implications)

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Current Workarounds

Manual drayage appointment coordination via phone/email, handwritten pickup schedules, WhatsApp group chats with drayage providers, spreadsheet tracking of pickup dates • Manual email chains with carriers, spreadsheet tracking of free days, WhatsApp with drayage providers, handwritten notes on Bill of Lading • Manual email coordination with carriers/terminals, Excel spreadsheet tracking of free days, handwritten calculations, PDF invoices sent via email, telephone disputes resolution

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Methodology & Sources

Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Systemic under‑billing and billing‑error write‑offs on detention & demurrage

$50,000–$500,000 per year for mid‑size shippers and NVOCCs (extrapolated from typical fee levels of $75–$300 per container per day and hundreds–thousands of annual containers)[2][3][6]

Runaway detention & demurrage fees from poor coordination

$150,000+ per incident for large shipments, with total annual D&D costs often reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars for active importers/exporters (illustrated by demurrage examples where a single shipment incurs $150,000 in charges)[5]

Disputed detention & demurrage charges and rework

$5,000–$50,000 per month in staff time and concessions for a mid‑size forwarder or carrier (inferred from FMC‑mandated 30‑day dispute/mitigation process windows and typical per‑day charge levels)[1][2][3]

Delayed cash collection due to contested D&D invoices

$20,000–$200,000 in outstanding D&D receivables at any given time for medium carriers/NVOCCs (scaled from high per‑day fees and the 30‑day mitigation window plus negotiation cycles)[1][2][3]

Loss of equipment and terminal capacity from prolonged container time

Opportunity cost equivalent to losing multiple container turns per year per unit; with daily detention fees often only $50–$100, lost revenue from missed trips can exceed fee income by thousands of dollars per container annually[3][5]

Regulatory exposure and penalties over non‑compliant D&D billing

Individual FMC enforcement actions can reach into the millions of dollars in refunds and penalties across billing categories; D&D is a specific focus post‑OSRA‑2022 (risk level inferred from the Act and rule‑making focus on billing fairness).[1]

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