LFD
Last free day (LFD): the day demurrage starts
The last free day, LFD, is the final day a container or piece of equipment may stay at a port, terminal or rail ramp before demurrage charges begin. It is a date, not a duration: free time is granted in days from a start event (discharge, availability), and the LFD is what that count lands on. Missing it by one day usually bills a full day at the daily rate.
How the date is calculated
- Find the start event the terminal counts from: discharge, availability, or gate-in, depending on its tariff.
- Add the free days the tariff grants, counting the terminal's business days or calendar days exactly as it defines them.
- Check the terminal's own published schedule for holidays it does not count.
- Record the resulting date where dispatch and the customer can both see it, with the tariff it came from.
Why it slips
The free-time clock runs whether or not anyone is ready: a shipper waiting on a pickup appointment, a chassis shortage, or a warehouse that cannot receive that day spends the free days anyway. The side with the terminal's rule, its dates and a record of every pickup attempt and refused appointment is the side that wins. In the US, Federal Maritime Commission rules say these charges exist to get cargo moving, so days the container could not be collected can be disputed.
Port rules change and are published by the terminal itself: cite the terminal's own page and its date wherever a port clock is involved.