Detention and waiting-time charges are some of the most disputed lines on any logistics invoice. The carrier says the container wasn’t ready; the warehouse says the truck was late; the forklift was broken for forty minutes but nobody wrote it down. Without evidence, the cost usually lands on whoever cares least about arguing.
What counts as evidence
Good wait-time evidence has four parts: when the wait started, why, when it ended and who agreed it. A handwritten note at the end of a shift has none of them reliably. A time stamp taken on the dock, at the moment the problem is reported, with a photo and a reason, has all four.
Capture it where it happens
- Waiting for the container. The crew is on the dock but the container isn’t there yet. Start the clock when they report it; stop it when they confirm it has arrived.
- Waiting for a repair. A roller door or forklift fails the pre-check. The crew describes the problem and the chargeable wait starts.
- Breaks. Breaks pause the unloading clock, so unload time isn’t inflated and isn’t confused with waiting.
Sign it off
Before a wait is billed, a manager should approve it with their name and the time. That one step removes most disputes: the record shows the wait was checked by someone with authority, not just claimed.
Photos settle arguments
Container damage is the other big dispute. A photo at check-in, with an AI check for dents, holes and bent panels, and the container and seal numbers read from the photo and matched to the booking, shows exactly what arrived, and when.
How Dock Tempo does it
The Unloader crew app times container and repair waits from the moment they’re reported, pauses for breaks, records photos with AI damage checks and number reading, and puts every minute on the booking for a manager to sign off. The QR code that starts and resumes a job lives only on the dock door, so the record proves the crew was there.
