Sitting along the bottom of the thumbnail is the ConNote logo in the bottom left, sitting inside a white oval, the ConNote logo is the stylised outline of a box truck made to look like a check mark that resembles a luggage dolly. This sits in front of the truck's box. Next to the ConNote logo is the title of the article, it reads: "Time is Money: Adding Demurrage to ConNote". In the top left corner is the Logical Developments logo which is a diamond with the letters L and D inside of it. The letters are offset from each other vertically while also overlapping horizontally. The each sit inside of their own rectangle. Sitting above the title in the middle of the thumbnail is a yellow stop watch and three large yellow dollar signs.

Time is Money: Adding Demurrage to ConNote

Paul Mulroney - Nov 3, 2021

Time is money – it takes time to pickup a consignment, transport it and then deliver it.  Anything that delays that process has knock-on impact to the rest of your business. It's acceptable business practice in the transport industry to charge 'Demurrage', which is a fee based on an hourly rate, charged when a truck is kept waiting beyond an allowed time limit for pickup or delivery. For example, unloading a trailer at a mine site, and the unloading equipment (e.g. forklift, crane, operators etc) are not ready to receive the load and as a result the truck and driver are kept waiting. Each transport company will have it's own policy regarding allocated time for loading and unloading based on the size of the load. Typically, the arrival and departure times are recorded on the consignment, so when the paperwork is returned back to the operations centre for the transport company, demurrage can be calculated and applied to the customer's account.

Tracking demurrage is difficult, mainly because the consignment has already been entered into the system prior to it being transported, so demurrage is usually added afterwards. If the consignment has been manifested and invoiced, then demurrage needs to be added onto the invoice. Each transport company needs to have processes in place to ensure that demurrage is entered into the system prior to invoicing so that customers can see all the charges related to a particular consignment in one place, rather than have a separate adjustment invoice for demurrage at a later date. Depending on the systems being used, this isn't always easy or straightforward.

With this release of ConNote (v5.01), demurrage has been incorporated into the system. The demurrage rate and time allowances for part- and full- trailer loads can be set per price list, so that when a consignment is entered for a customer, the rates are already pre-loaded. The consignment entry window now has fields for 'Time In/Out' for pickup and delivery, and the demurrage fee is calculated using these figures. The fee is carried through the system to invoicing, where it appears as an itemised charge along with other fees such as Dangerous Goods and Controlled Waste charges.

ConNote also allows for demurrage to be entered after a consignment has been manifested, so the demurrage can be entered after a manifest has been created and before the invoice has been issued. This removes the need for 'adjustment invoices' for demurrage that are separate from the consignment's invoice making the billing process easier, creating a more streamlined experience for you and your customers, so you can spend less time in the paperwork and more time delivering the goods!