A drayage invoice for a single container move can carry eight or nine separate charges stacked under a base rate that looked simple on the quote. Some of those charges are standard and expected. Some only show up when something went wrong at the terminal or the warehouse. Knowing which is which is the difference between paying a fair bill and paying whatever the invoice says.
Base Rate: What It Does and Doesn't Cover
The base rate covers one thing: moving a loaded container from the terminal to your dock, or from your dock to the terminal for export. That's it. It assumes a standard chassis is available at the terminal, the truck can get in and out during a normal appointment window, and nobody has to wait around once they arrive.
Distance sets the base rate more than anything else. A move from PortMiami to a warehouse in Doral runs less than one to Fort Lauderdale or Boca Raton, because it's fewer miles and less driver time. Carriers price by zone or by mileage tier, and a legitimate quote should tell you which one applies to your delivery address before the container ever moves.
What the base rate does not include: waiting time, extra stops, chassis retrieval from a second location, or anything that happens because the terminal gate was backed up. Those show up as separate lines, and that's normal. The problem is when a carrier folds those costs into an inflated base rate instead of itemizing them, because then you can't tell what the charge covers.
Fuel Surcharge (FSC)
Fuel surcharge tracks diesel prices and adjusts the base rate up or down without renegotiating the whole contract every time diesel moves. Most carriers peg FSC to the U.S. Department of Energy's weekly diesel price index and update the percentage monthly or weekly, depending on the contract terms.
FSC should move down when diesel drops, not just up when it climbs. If your invoices show the same FSC percentage for eight straight months regardless of pump prices, ask why.
Chassis Fee and Chassis Split Fee
A chassis fee covers the cost of the wheeled frame the container sits on for the road trip. Most containers arrive without one attached, and the carrier either pulls from a gray pool (shared inventory from providers like DCLI or TRAC Intermodal) or uses a company-owned chassis. Either way, that's a real cost, and it belongs on the invoice as its own line rather than buried in the base rate.
A chassis split fee is a different charge, and it catches more shippers off guard. It applies when the chassis isn't sitting with the container at the same terminal, so the driver makes an extra trip to retrieve one from a different location before the real haul starts. We cover how to determine who should actually pay a split fee in our chassis split fees guide, since the answer depends on who caused the split, not just whose name is on the invoice.
Detention and Demurrage
These two get confused all the time, and the confusion costs shippers money because they sound like the same charge with different names.
Detention shows up on your drayage invoice. Demurrage shows up on a separate bill from the terminal or line, though some carriers pass it through if they're managing pickup timing on your behalf. If a single invoice lists both under one combined "storage" line without breaking out which is which, ask for the split. They have different causes and different ways to dispute them.
Pre-Pull and Storage
A pre-pull happens when the carrier grabs your container from the terminal before your warehouse is ready to receive it, usually to beat a demurrage deadline or a terminal congestion window. The container then sits at the carrier's yard until your dock has an open appointment.
Pre-pull avoids demurrage charges from the port, but it introduces a new cost: storage at the carrier's yard, usually $25-50 per day, plus the pre-pull move itself as its own line item separate from the delivery leg. Whether pre-pull saves you money depends on how many days of port demurrage it avoids versus how many days of yard storage it creates. Run the math before authorizing a pre-pull instead of assuming it's the cheaper option by default.
Other Accessorials You'll See Less Often
These don't appear on every invoice, but they're legitimate charges when the situation calls for them.
- TWIC/Security Fee — A small charge, usually $10-25, for drivers accessing secured port areas requiring a Transportation Worker Identification Credential.
- Layover — Applied when a driver has to stop mid-route due to hours-of-service limits before completing your delivery, typically $150-250.
- Congestion Fee — Some carriers add a temporary surcharge during known terminal congestion periods, disclosed in advance rather than added after the fact.
- Hazmat Fee — Additional charge for containers carrying regulated hazardous materials, covering placarding and special handling requirements.
- Bobtail Fee — Charged for a truck running without a container attached, usually to reposition equipment or handle a return trip.
None of these should appear as a surprise if your rate confirmation set expectations up front. Our guide on what belongs in a rate confirmation covers how to get accessorial terms locked in before the container ever moves, so an invoice doesn't become the first place you learn what a charge means.
How to Read a Bill Before You Pay It
Four checks catch most invoice problems before payment goes out.
- Match every accessorial line against the rate confirmation. If a charge type wasn't disclosed in advance, it needs an explanation before it gets paid.
- Check that detention and demurrage are separated, not combined into one storage number you can't break down.
- Confirm FSC moved with diesel prices over the past few invoices instead of sitting flat regardless of the market.
- Ask for supporting documentation — dispatch logs, gate timestamps, terminal records — on any accessorial over $100. A carrier with a legitimate charge has no problem producing it.
If a line item doesn't match anything covered above and the carrier can't explain what it's for in one sentence, that's the one to hold until you get an answer. Our detention billing disputes guide covers the process for pushing back once you've identified a charge that doesn't check out.