🇺🇸United States

Mispriced Contracts and Network Plans Due to Poor Detention/Layover Data

3 verified sources

Definition

Wide variability in how detention and layover are calculated (flat vs hourly vs percentage; differing triggers and free‑time) combined with poor capture of actual dwell time leads to inaccurate forecasting of accessorial revenue and costs. Industry guidance stresses that a company’s detention rate is not random but should be based on how long shippers actually take to load; using generic norms instead of real data can misprice contracts.[2][3][4][8]

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: If a carrier underestimates average detention by even 0.5 hour per load at a true economic cost of ~$75–$80/hour across 10,000 annual loads, the resulting decision error in pricing equates to roughly $375,000–$400,000 in lost margin per year.[4][5]
  • Frequency: Monthly
  • Root Cause: Lack of integrated, historical detention and layover analytics means carriers and shippers often rely on rules of thumb (e.g., 2‑hour free time, $25–$100/hour) instead of lane‑ and facility‑specific data. This leads to underpricing chronic high‑detention accounts or overpricing efficient ones, distorting network design and carrier selection.[4][7][8]

Why This Matters

This pain point represents a significant opportunity for B2B solutions targeting Truck Transportation.

Affected Stakeholders

Carrier pricing and bid teams, Shipper transportation procurement, Network optimization and planning analysts, Executives setting accessorial policies

Deep Analysis (Premium)

Financial Impact

Data available with full access.

Unlock to reveal

Current Workarounds

Data available with full access.

Unlock to reveal

Get Solutions for This Problem

Full report with actionable solutions

$99$39
  • Solutions for this specific pain
  • Solutions for all 15 industry pains
  • Where to find first clients
  • Pricing & launch costs
Get Solutions Report

Methodology & Sources

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

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Unbilled or Under‑billed Detention and Layover Charges

Industry‑wide, DOT has estimated driver pay losses of about $1 billion or more each year from detention that is not fully compensated; individual fleets that under‑bill by even 1 unpaid hour per truck per week at ~$75/hour can easily lose $300,000+ per year on a 100‑truck fleet.[4][5][7]

Idle Equipment and Labor Cost from Poor Detention/Layover Recovery

For a carrier with 50 trucks losing 2 uncompensated detention hours per truck per week at ~$75/hour, the cost overrun is roughly $390,000 per year in unrecovered operating expense.[4][5]

Incorrect Accessorial Calculations Causing Disputes and Re‑work

For a mid‑sized carrier issuing thousands of loads per month, even a 5–10% rate of accessorial disputes that require 15–30 minutes of back‑office and sales time per dispute can easily equate to tens of thousands of dollars per year in labor and write‑offs (estimated based on typical dispute handling costs; exact amounts not given in sources).

Delayed Collections from Disputed or Unsupported Detention/Layover Charges

Carriers that wait 30–60 days longer to collect on a meaningful share of accessorial revenue tie up working capital; for fleets where accessorials represent several percent of revenue, this can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars carried in AR at any time (estimated based on typical receivables profiles; sources emphasize unpredictability and dispute‑proneness but do not quantify AR days).

Lost Trucking Capacity from Excessive, Poorly Compensated Detention

For a 100‑truck fleet experiencing an average of 1 extra hour of detention per truck per day at an $80/hour opportunity cost, the lost capacity value is roughly $2.4 million per year (300 days × 100 trucks × $80/hour × 1 hour).[4]

Regulatory Risk from Excessive Detention Impacting Hours‑of‑Service

HOS violations can result in fines and out‑of‑service orders; where detention routinely pushes drivers toward their duty limits, fleets risk recurring penalties and lost utilization when drivers are placed out of service (loss amounts depend on violation frequency; sources document the systemic nature of detention as an HOS‑related concern but do not quantify specific penalty totals).

Request Deep Analysis

🇺🇸 Be first to access this market's intelligence