Accessorial charge reference
Accessorial charges are everything billed on a load beyond the line-haul rate. They are where freight margin is won and lost, because each one has to be authorized, documented and then actually billed. Miss the documentation and you absorb the cost. Miss the billing step and you earned the money without collecting it.
This reference lists the accessorials that come up most often in North American freight, what each one is, who normally pays it, and the document that proves it. Who pays is a starting point, not a rule: the rate confirmation and the customer contract decide it on any given load.
Common accessorial charges
| Charge | What it is | Who typically pays | What proves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detention | Time the driver waits at a shipper or receiver beyond the free time allowed. | Shipper or receiver, whoever caused the delay | Arrival and departure times, gate or dock logs, driver check-in and check-out |
| Layover | An overnight caused by the facility, when the driver cannot load or unload the same day. | Shipper or receiver | Written authorization before the layover, plus the dispatch record |
| TONU (truck ordered not used) | A load cancelled after a truck was dispatched to it. | Shipper | The rate confirmation clause allowing it, and the cancellation record with a timestamp |
| Lumper fee | Third-party labor that unloads or reloads the trailer, common at grocery and food-service receivers. | Shipper, passed through from the carrier | The lumper receipt. Without it the passthrough usually cannot be billed |
| Driver assist | The driver helps load or unload rather than staying with the tractor. | Shipper or receiver | Prior authorization and the BOL notation |
| Extra stop | A pickup or delivery beyond the first and last stop on the load. | Shipper | The rate confirmation stop count, and proof each stop was made |
| Reconsignment | The delivery destination changes after the load is in transit. | Shipper | Written instruction to divert, and the mileage difference |
| Redelivery | A second delivery attempt after the first was refused or missed. | Whoever caused the failed attempt | The refusal record from the first attempt |
| Storage | The freight sits in a warehouse or on the trailer after delivery was due. | Shipper or consignee | Dates in and out, and the rate agreed before storage began |
| Fuel surcharge | A per-mile or percentage adjustment tied to a published diesel index. | Shipper | The index, the week used, and the base rate in the contract |
| Tarping | Covering open-deck freight with tarps. | Shipper | The rate confirmation line, and the type of tarp required |
| Permits and escorts | Legal authorization and pilot cars for oversize or overweight loads. | Shipper | Permit copies per jurisdiction, and escort invoices |
| Reweigh and reclass | The carrier reweighs or reclassifies LTL freight and rebills the difference. | Shipper, if the original bill of lading was wrong | Carrier inspection certificate, scale ticket, and the original BOL |
| Liftgate | A hydraulic gate used where there is no dock. | Shipper or consignee | The delivery site requirement noted before dispatch |
| Limited access | Delivery to a site with restricted access such as a school, military base or construction site. | Shipper | The carrier limited access list, and the delivery address type |
| Residential delivery | Delivery to a residential address rather than a commercial dock. | Shipper | The classification of the delivery address |
| Inside delivery | The carrier moves freight beyond the threshold or dock into the building. | Shipper or consignee | Prior authorization and the delivery receipt notation |
| Chassis rental | Daily rental on the chassis under an intermodal container. | Whoever holds the chassis, usually the drayage party | Chassis out and in dates, matched against the rental invoice |
| Chassis split | The chassis and container must be picked up at different locations. | Shipper | Terminal records showing the split, and the extra move |
| Pre-pull | Pulling a container from the terminal ahead of delivery to avoid demurrage or congestion. | Shipper, when authorized in advance | Advance authorization, and the terminal out date |
| Per diem | A daily charge from the ocean carrier for keeping the container beyond free time, outside the terminal. | Whoever held the container past free time | Container out and in dates, and the free time allowance in the tariff |
| Demurrage | A daily charge for leaving cargo inside the terminal beyond free time. Often confused with per diem, which applies outside it. | Whoever caused the delay in pulling the container | Terminal free time, last free day, and the pull date |
| Tank wash | Cleaning a tanker trailer between products. | Shipper | The wash receipt, the wash type, and whether the rate confirmation covers it |
| Reefer fuel | Fuel burned by the refrigeration unit, sometimes billed separately from tractor fuel. | Shipper | The rate confirmation clause and run hours or fuel receipts |
Why accessorials go unbilled
Almost never because someone decided not to bill them. The charge is earned in operations and billed in accounting, and the documentation has to survive the trip between the two. Detention times sit in dispatch notes. A lumper receipt sits in the driver paperwork. A layover gets authorized in a phone call. By the time billing builds the invoice, the evidence is somewhere else or gone, so the safe move is to leave the charge off. That is how a charge that was genuinely earned quietly becomes margin you gave away.
The fix is a review step before the invoice goes out, while the load file is still fresh. That is what a pre-billing revenue audit does, and what the pre-billing audit checklist walks through.
The other direction: accessorials on carrier invoices
The same charges show up on the invoices your carriers send you, and they need the same documentation before you pay. Detention billed with no in and out times, a lumper fee with no receipt, a TONU where the rate confirmation did not allow one: each is a payment you may not owe. The carrier invoice audit checklists cover the checks, by freight type.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between demurrage and per diem?
Demurrage is charged while the container sits inside the terminal past its free time. Per diem is charged once the container has left the terminal and is being held too long outside it. Same idea, different side of the gate, and they are billed by different parties. Mixing them up is one of the most common intermodal billing errors.
Who pays detention, the shipper or the receiver?
Whoever caused the delay, which usually means the facility where the driver waited. What actually governs it is the rate confirmation and the customer contract. Without documented arrival and departure times, the question is academic, because the charge will not be collectible either way.
What documentation do I need to bill an accessorial?
Enough for a stranger to verify it without calling anyone. For detention, in and out times. For a lumper, the receipt. For a layover, written authorization from before it happened. For permits and escorts, the permit copies and escort invoices. The test is whether the customer could audit the charge from the file alone.
Can accessorials be billed after the original invoice goes out?
Usually yes, as a supplemental invoice, but recovery rates drop sharply once the original invoice has been paid and closed. Many customer contracts also set a window for late charges. Billing it correctly the first time is worth more than a good rebill process.