One arrival and departure time are not enough

The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s detention research description identifies the difficulty of separating normal loading/unloading from additional delay using incomplete data. That measurement issue is relevant to planning; it does not establish a Canadian tariff or WTM charging rule.

Define whether your facility measure begins at the gate, check-in or appointment time. Keep that definition separate from the contract’s billing clock.

A fictional loading timeline

Assume one site visit on one day:

Gate-to-gate dwell is 120 minutes. Active loading is 45 minutes. The remaining 75 minutes occurred in other stages. That does not mean all 75 were avoidable or chargeable; the table identifies where to ask further questions.

For example, 20 minutes elapsed between loading completion and paperwork completion. A team trying to improve departures can investigate that stage without claiming the forklift operation caused the entire two-hour visit.

Apply the agreed terms separately

A billing rule may define a start event, included time, increments and conditions. Obtain those terms for the actual booking. Do not assume that every carrier allows two free hours or starts counting from an early arrival.

Purely for illustration, if a particular agreement counted the entire 120 minutes and included 90, the excess would be 30 minutes. That arithmetic does not establish any rate or entitlement. A different defined start event could produce a different result.

Capture evidence without creating another delay

Record milestone times using the same date and time-zone convention. Where a time is unknown, mark it unknown rather than reconstructing a convenient sequence afterwards. Preserve gate records, appointment references and relevant messages when a discrepancy needs review.

For recurring shipments, summarise where time accumulates across several visits. Compare like-for-like loads and site conditions. One complex unload should not be treated as representative of every delivery.

Plan the whole receiving interface

Tell WTM about appointment requirements, loading assistance, access and receiving hours when arranging the shipment. A suitable vehicle cannot remove a missing release approval or a receiver who is unavailable at the planned handoff.

Is all time outside active loading wasted?

No. Some stages are necessary. Measure them first, then investigate which can be shortened without compromising the work.

Can a GPS arrival automatically settle a detention invoice?

It may provide useful evidence, but the relevant event and terms still matter. A location timestamp is not automatically the same as the contract’s charge-start event.