Demurrage and detention billing gets most of the attention, and this publication covers the general mechanics of those charges elsewhere. The specific problem covered here is narrower and, for a lot of shippers, more frustrating: the container has been emptied, you are ready to return it, and the terminal will not take it. What happens next is governed by a real rule, and that rule has now been tested through a real court case.
The rule, stated plainly by the regulator itself
The Federal Maritime Commission's 2020 interpretive guidance on demurrage and detention addresses this scenario directly, in language worth quoting exactly: "Absent extenuating circumstances, practices and regulations that provide for imposition of detention when it does not serve its incentivizing purposes, such as when empty containers cannot be returned, are likely to be found unreasonable." The Commission's own preamble spells out the logic behind it: if a carrier directs a return to a particular terminal and that terminal refuses to accept the container, no amount of detention charged for the delay can actually incentivise anything, because the delay was never within the shipper's control to fix.
That guidance is not a binding rule in the way a regulation with fixed penalties is, but it sets the standard the Commission applies when a dispute reaches it, and a separate, later, genuinely binding rule on invoice content explicitly cross-references it: every detention or demurrage invoice must now certify that the charge is consistent with the Commission's rules, "including, but not limited to" the 2020 empty-return standard specifically.
A real case that tested this exact scenario
This is not a theoretical protection. In a dispute between a trucking company, TCW, and the carrier Evergreen, the Port of Savannah was physically closed for three days in May 2020, during which TCW could not return an empty container it had picked up. Evergreen billed detention covering those closure days regardless. The Commission found the charges for the closed days unreasonable and awarded reparations, reaffirming on a later remand that charging detention while a terminal is physically closed and cannot accept equipment cannot serve any incentive function, because the trucker could not have returned the box any earlier no matter what it did.
Evergreen appealed. In April 2026, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Commission's decision, rejecting Evergreen's argument that a contractual free-time clause could override the reasonableness requirement on its own. This is now a tested legal principle, not just guidance sitting on a regulator's website, and it is the strongest evidence available that a genuinely refused or physically impossible return is a real, winnable dispute.
What a return refusal actually looks like in practice
Carrier documentation from real operations shows how granular this gets. One major carrier's own published Los Angeles empty-return policy sets a day-by-shift matrix of which terminals will accept which container sizes on a given day, and states plainly that if a driver cannot secure an appointment or the designated location will not accept the carrier's empties, the driver must immediately request an on-hire to an alternate accepting terminal, and that per diem detention will not be waived if the equipment is not returned once that alternate on-hire has been granted. In other words, the obligation does not stop at the first refusal. It shifts to documenting the refusal and acting on the alternative you are given.
The same policy specifies exactly what proof the carrier expects if a dispute follows: a screenshot of the terminal's appointment system showing an attempted booking within 48 hours of the last free day and the attempted return date, and a copy of the on-hire request sent to the carrier when the original location would not accept the box. This is a genuine, current operational pattern, not a relic of the 2021 to 2022 congestion crisis: carriers are still publishing return-location matrices that change terminal by terminal because the underlying capacity problem has not gone away.
When free time actually starts, and why it is not the same everywhere
Do not assume a single universal free-time rule applies. One major carrier's own published terms define its detention clock as running from the moment the container is discharged from the vessel through to the empty container's return, which is a different structure from the more commonly assumed model where detention only starts once the container is picked up. The same carrier has also moved, on some trades, to charging demurrage and detention on a calendar-day basis once free time expires, including days when the pickup or return location is closed, while free time itself is calculated on a working-day basis tied to that location's own operating schedule. Check the specific carrier's current tariff or terms for your shipment rather than assuming a generic free-time figure applies; representative numbers circulating online are approximations, not a published Commission standard.
Street turns: reusing the box instead of returning it
A street turn uses an already-released empty import container directly against an export booking, or the reverse, without a wasted round trip to the terminal in between. Because the container remains the carrier's asset under the bill of lading, this requires the carrier's authorisation, not something a trucker or shipper can simply decide to do. Some carriers have automated this approval process to the point where most requests clear within minutes, and at least one major carrier's own published terms state that the free time clock resets to begin only once the street turn is approved and the carrier's equipment team has linked the container to the new booking, a materially different timing than a standard return.
Chassis availability is a separate dependency worth watching
A container cannot move without a chassis, and chassis interchange in North America runs almost entirely under one standard industry contract, the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement, administered by the Intermodal Association of North America. The FMC itself has acknowledged that chassis scarcity is a real factor in return delays, but treats it case by case rather than as an automatic excuse, and has been explicit that it does not have direct jurisdiction over independent chassis-leasing pools the way it does over ocean carriers. If a chassis shortage, rather than a terminal refusal, is what is actually preventing timely return, document that separately, since it sits in a genuinely greyer area of the reasonableness standard than a straightforward terminal closure.
What to actually do
- Confirm the designated return location's current status before dispatch, not the day the container was picked up, since acceptance changes terminal by terminal and shift by shift.
- Book a return appointment with lead time where one is required, and keep the confirmation.
- If the designated terminal refuses the empty, request an alternate return location from the carrier immediately and keep a timestamped record of the refusal, an appointment screenshot is the standard the carrier documentation above demands.
- Retain the equipment interchange receipt from both pickup and return, the standard record of equipment condition and timing at each interchange point.
- Check your specific carrier's free-time definition rather than assuming a generic figure, since the clock's start and end points genuinely differ by carrier and trade.
A detention invoice you believe was charged unfairly for a refused return is not something you have to simply pay. The Commission's own rules put the burden of proof on the party disputing the charge, but the TCW case shows that a documented, genuine refusal is a claim that can succeed, all the way through appellate review. Our guides to container damage, detention and per diem billing and FCL versus LCL shipping cover the surrounding mechanics, and US drayage and chassis covers the equipment side of the return leg in more depth.
A forwarder who actively manages the return leg, not just the pickup, is the difference between a shipment that closes cleanly and one that generates a dispute weeks later. You can search more than 29,300 logistics companies by country and service in the CargoLinked directory, or post your shipment and let forwarders come to you.
This article describes general regulatory principles and one illustrative case, not legal advice on a specific dispute. Carrier terms, free-time definitions and Federal Maritime Commission rules change; confirm current terms with your carrier and, for a specific dispute, seek advice on the facts.
