Detention on Brokered Loads: What Proof to Accept and What to Send the Shipper

Most detention fights are not about whether the truck waited. They are about whose clock counts and what proves it. The broker sits in the middle of two of those fights on the same load: one with the carrier, one with the shipper. This guide covers what to agree before pickup, which proof to accept when a carrier bills you, and what to send the shipper so the charge gets approved. Cutting the wait itself is a different job, covered in reducing dwell time at pickup and delivery.

Why does detention go wrong on brokered loads?

Because carriers bill it often and get paid for it far less often. ATRI’s 2024 detention research, which counts time at customer facilities beyond two hours, found that “In 2023, drivers reported being detained in 39.3 percent of all stops”, and that “While 94.5 percent of fleets charge detention fees, they are paid for fewer than 50 percent of those invoices.”

Part of the reason is that wait time is hard to prove after the fact. The DOT Inspector General’s report on driver detention notes that most stakeholders measure “only time spent at a shipper or receiver’s facility beyond the limit established in shipping contracts”, and that available electronic data “cannot readily discern detention time from legitimate loading and unloading tasks”. A location trace shows the truck was there. It does not show why it was there or whose fault the wait was.

For a broker this lands as two separate questions on every claim: is the carrier’s bill valid under my rate confirmation, and can I recover it under the shipper’s terms. If the answers differ, the gap comes out of your margin.

What should be agreed before pickup?

Four terms decide almost every dispute. Put them in the rate confirmation and check them against the shipper’s terms for the same lane. What else belongs in the rate confirmation is covered in setting tracking expectations with carriers at booking.

• Free time. How many hours at the stop before detention starts. If the shipper gives you less free time than you give the carrier, you will never recover the difference.
• When the clock starts. At the appointment time, or at arrival if the truck is early. A truck that arrives after its appointment usually has no detention claim until the facility can work it in, so say so in writing.
• Notice. The driver or dispatcher tells your desk when free time is about to run out, not after departure. You need that message to warn the shipper while the truck is still waiting.
• Proof required. Name it: in and out times on the signed bill of lading, or timestamped arrival and departure events, plus the notice message.

Some facilities make approval a condition of payment. National Beef’s carrier guidelines say: “Lumpers and/or late fees must be approved before payment is made.” When a shipper works this way, a charge that was not raised during the wait is a charge you will eat.

What proof should you accept from the carrier?

Ask what each piece proves on its own, and accept the bill when the pieces agree.

Scroll sideways on a phone to see all four columns.

Three things should stop you before you approve. The truck arrived after its appointment and the clock was started at arrival anyway. The arrival on the invoice is earlier than the arrival event or the BOL. The first notice reached your desk after the truck left. None of these means the claim is false, but each one is a question the shipper will ask you, so ask the carrier first.

When the record is clean, pay promptly. The carrier’s view of your desk is built on loads like this one, and under 49 CFR 371.3 your record of each brokered transaction shows “the amount of any freight charges collected by the broker and the date of payment to the carrier”, and “Each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of the transaction”. A carrier who believes you collected detention you did not pass on can ask to see that record.

What should you send the shipper?

Two messages, not one.

During the wait

When the driver’s notice arrives, tell the shipper’s contact that free time is running out at that stop, with the appointment time, the arrival time and the free time in their terms. This is the message that gives the shipper a chance to approve the charge before it exists. It is also the shipper’s cue to call their consignee, which is the only thing that shortens the wait.

After departure

Send the claim as a record, in this order:

1. Load and stop reference, appointment time.
2. Arrival and departure, with the source of each (signed BOL, timestamped tracking events).
3. Free time under the shipper’s terms and the billable hours that follow from it.
4. The rate under the shipper’s terms and the amount.
5. The notice you sent during the wait, with its time.
6. The signed BOL or POD attached.

Send it within days of delivery, while the receiving team still remembers the load. A detention line added at month end, with no times and no notice, is the kind of invoice that ATRI’s numbers describe.

Bill the shipper on their terms, not the carrier’s. If the shipper allows two free hours and your rate confirmation allows two, the numbers carry over. If they differ, the billable hours differ, and the claim you send the shipper should show their free time, not yours.

What if the shipper will not pay?

Your obligation to the carrier comes from your rate confirmation, not from whether the shipper pays. If the carrier’s claim meets the terms you set, you owe it. That is why the terms have to match before pickup: a mismatch is a cost you agreed to, not a dispute you can win later.

When a shipper refuses a claim with a clean record, ask for the reason in writing and keep it with the load. Patterns matter more than single loads: one facility that holds every truck past free time is a lane to reprice or a conversation for your next review with the shipper, and the stop by stop arrival and departure times are what that conversation needs.

If the record is not clean, settle with the carrier on what the record supports and tell them which piece was missing. They will send it next time.

Where does LBOARD fit?

LBOARD is load tracking built for independent brokers, and its part in detention is the record, not the billing. Drivers run the free carrier app, which sends automatic stop status updates for arrivals and departures when the driver crosses a 500-meter geo-fence around the stop, with location access set to “Always Allow”. All events are timestamped and access is role-controlled. Drivers can snap a POD or BOL from their phone, and PODs appear the moment drivers upload, which is the “Digital docs with a verifiable trail” side of the product. You enter a shipment and the driver’s phone number, with no TMS needed, and it works standalone or inside your TMS.

LBOARD does not calculate detention or bill it. It gives you the times to check a carrier’s claim against and the documents to attach when you send the shipper yours. The first 25 loads are free with all features and no contract.

Frequently asked questions

What proof of detention should a broker accept from a carrier?

In and out times on the bill of lading signed by the facility, or timestamped arrival and departure events from tracking, checked against the appointment time, plus the notice the driver or dispatcher sent your desk during the wait. Times written by the driver alone need a second source that matches.

Does a carrier get detention if the truck arrived late for the appointment?

Usually not until the facility can work the truck in, and your rate confirmation should say so. Start the clock at the appointment time, or at arrival if the truck was early, and agree the same rule with the shipper.

What should a detention claim to the shipper include?

The load and stop reference, appointment time, arrival and departure with the source of each, free time under the shipper’s terms, billable hours, rate and amount, the notice you sent during the wait and the signed BOL or POD.

Does a broker have to pay the carrier detention if the shipper refuses?

If the carrier’s claim meets the terms in your rate confirmation, yes. The obligation comes from your agreement with the carrier, which is why free time, clock start and notice should match the shipper’s terms before pickup.

How often are detention invoices paid?

ATRI’s 2024 research found that 94.5 percent of fleets charge detention fees but are paid for fewer than 50 percent of those invoices, with drivers detained at 39.3 percent of stops in 2023.