Data pending licence review. This table is generated from our database, and we publish a source only after its terms have been reviewed. Until then we show the primary sources below instead of our own table.
Official site: COSCO Shipping.
Where the tariff is
COSCO Shipping Lines lists its US rules on its North America site under Detention and Demurrage Policy, Detention and Demurrage Tariff Rules . When we read it, two import rules were in force: import demurrage, effective 2026-08-14 (port by port) and import detention, effective 2026-07-15 (by region).
How COSCO counts free time
- Demurrage: the rule says “All Free Time listed below are working days”, and a working day is “any day a terminal or facility is open and accepting the pick-up or return of containers”. The start time is printed port by port: at some ports free time starts at 12:01 A.M. after the container is discharged, at others at a later hour of the morning.
- Detention: “Detention counting shall start with the day of full container release to Consignee at Carrier’s last CY facility”.
- Our calculator counts working days as Monday to Friday. Where a terminal is open on a weekend, COSCO’s last free day can come earlier than ours.
Some terminals print their own tables (for example Maher and APM/Port Liberty in New York, SSA in Oakland and Seattle, Port America Chesapeake in Baltimore). We hold one table per port, so at those terminals check the rule itself.
COSCO Shipping publishes its own US demurrage and detention tariff and its dispute and payment instructions on its site: https://lines.coscoshipping.com/. We link to it and do not copy it.
How to pay
COSCO’s North America site links import demurrage payment, under E-Business, to its Real Time Release portal for terminals outside Los Angeles and Long Beach (an account is needed), and to eModal for Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals. It publishes no detention payment page.
Before you pay
Compare the invoice with the tariff and with the contract. If the free time or the daily rate does not match, or the invoice leaves out what the FMC requires, see what a US invoice must show and how to dispute it , and draft your reply with the dispute letter tool . Other tools: last free day, any carrier .
Sources
- COSCO Shipping Lines North America: Detention and Demurrage Tariff Rules
- COSCO US import demurrage tariff rule, effective 2026-08-14 (PDF)
- COSCO US import detention tariff rule, effective 2026-07-15 (PDF)
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