Free days and per diem in container leasing: how to count them
Updated 27 October 2026 · 7 min read
Short answer. In a container lease, each container is on hire from its pickup (gate-out) to its return (gate-in). The lease gives a number of free days per container; every day beyond them is billed at the per diem rate. Most lessors count both the pickup day and the return day. The allowance belongs to each container, not to the whole deal, and partial invoices must use the free days first.
The vocabulary
- On-hire / pickup: the day the container leaves the depot for the lessee (gate-out). It is the first rental day.
- Off-hire / drop-off: the day the container is returned to the agreed depot (gate-in). It is the last rental day.
- Free days: rental days included in the lease, per container, before per diem starts.
- Per diem: the daily rental rate per container, often in USD.
- Pickup charge: a fixed amount per container charged when it is picked up (sometimes called lift-out or handout fee).
- Drop-off charge: a fixed amount per container returned, often higher for return locations where the lessor has too many boxes.
Common lease types: one-way leases (pick up in one place, return in another, often with free days to move a box where it is needed), trip leases, long-term leases (years, fixed per diem) and master leases (a frame agreement under which the lessee picks up and returns boxes as needed).
How to count the days
Rental days = return date − pickup date + 1 (both days count). Billable days = rental days − free days (never below zero). Per diem amount = billable days × per diem rate.
Example 1. 60 free days, per diem 2 USD. A container is picked up on 1 March and returned on 9 May.
| Days | |
|---|---|
| March (1 to 31) | 31 |
| April | 30 |
| May (1 to 9) | 9 |
| Rental days | 70 |
| Free days | 60 |
| Billable days | 10 |
| Per diem | 10 × 2 = 20 USD |
Example 2: the allowance is per container. Two containers on the same lease with 30 free days: one picked up on 1 April, the other on 20 April. The first starts paying per diem on 1 May, the second on 20 May. A single "deal-level" free-time date would bill the second container 19 days too early.
Partial invoices: carry the free days over
Long rentals are usually invoiced monthly. The free days must be used up first:
- Invoice 1, 1 to 31 March: 31 rental days, all free. 29 free days remain.
- Invoice 2, 1 April to 9 May: 39 rental days, 29 free and 10 billable: 20 USD.
The total (20 USD) is the same as one invoice for the whole period. Restarting the free days on each invoice, or billing them twice, are the most common billing errors.
Per diem is not depot storage
Before the pickup, a released container may wait at the depot. That time is storage, billed by the depot to the owner (and sometimes re-billed to the lessee after a free storage period), at a daily storage rate, plus handling in and out. It is a separate charge from per diem, which only runs while the container is on hire.
| Per diem | Depot storage | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Between pickup and return | While the container sits at the depot |
| Who bills | Lessor to lessee | Depot to container owner (possibly re-billed) |
| Rate | Daily rental rate in the lease | Daily storage rate in the depot tariff |
| Free time | Free days of the lease | Free days of the depot tariff |
Mistakes that cause disputes
- Using planned dates instead of real gate-out and gate-in dates. Always bill from the depot's interchange records (EIR, gate-in report).
- Counting one end only when the contract counts both, or the reverse.
- Applying free days to the deal instead of each container.
- Restarting free days on each partial invoice.
- Forgetting containers still out at the end of a period: they must be billed up to the end of the period, then continued next time.
- Billing a container returned to the wrong depot without the drop-off charge or repositioning cost agreed in the lease.
How Krak Stack counts per diem
In Krak Stack, each container of a lease gets the free days of the lease. The pickup day is day one, the drop-off day counts too, and the free days are used container by container, invoice after invoice. The per diem invoice shows, for each container, the number of days, the period and the amount, and the next invoice starts the day after the last period invoiced. Containers still within their free days are listed separately with the date they stay free until. See Leasing and per diem and the Help Centre article How are free days and per diems counted?.
Frequently asked questions
Does the pickup day count as a rental day?
In most leases, yes: the pickup day is day one and the return day is the last day. Check the lease terms, as some contracts exclude one end.
Can unused free days of one container be used by another?
Usually not. Free days are an allowance per container.
What happens if a container is returned within its free days?
It has no billable day: no per diem is due for it.
Is per diem the same as detention?
In leasing, per diem is the rental rate. In US shipping and trucking, "per diem" is often used for the detention a carrier charges for keeping its container too long. See Demurrage vs detention vs per diem.
When should per diem be invoiced?
Most lessors invoice monthly for containers still on hire, and close the account of each container when it is returned.
Sources
- Krak Stack Help Centre, How are free days and per diems counted?: https://krak-stack.com/support/leasing/free-days-and-per-diems
- Krak Stack Help Centre, Enter and export depot tariffs: https://krak-stack.com/support/companies/depot-tariffs