Demurrage and detention charges for containers held beyond free time drive constant disputes because the underlying gate timestamps are contested. Cerulea anchors verified gate-in and gate-out times and calculates charges against agreed free periods, so disputes over the facts disappear.
Turn a contested timestamp into a self-calculating demurrage and detention record.
01.
Anchor the exact moments. The Provenance Notary seals each container gate-in and gate-out timestamp, so the clock that drives every charge is agreed by construction.
02.
Write the contract into code. Agreed free periods for demurrage and detention are encoded per container and customer, so the meter knows precisely when billable time begins.
03.
Compute fees from facts. The Invoices and Billing module derives demurrage and detention from the sealed timestamps and free time, removing manual and disputable calculation.
04.
Freeze the evidence. The Audit Logs module records every gate movement immutably, so neither line nor customer can revise a timestamp after the fact.
05.
Separate the two clocks. Time inside the terminal and time with the consignee are metered distinctly, so charges map to the right party and the right agreement.
06.
Argue terms, not timestamps. Because gate times are verified, any remaining dispute is about contract interpretation, not whose log is right, cutting resolution to minutes.
Follow a single container from gate-in through the free-time window to an automatically calculated charge.
06:20:33
[SYS] Initializing Container Gate Manifest...
06:20:33
[CMD] gateIn { container: "MSCU_7741208", terminal: "JNPT_T2" }
06:20:34
[AUTH] Verifying gate reader signature and seal...
06:20:34
[OK] Gate-in CNT_88120 anchored. Free time started.
Cerulea decomposes demurrage settlement into modular contracts. Each layer stamps gate events, meters free time, and calculates charges without either party controlling the timestamps.
Verified demurrage settlement is a horizontal capability. Here is how different container actors put the shared record to work.
Bill demurrage and detention from sealed gate times, cutting dispute volume and write-offs while giving customers a charge they can independently verify.
Key Asset Types
Pay only for time genuinely beyond free periods, resolving contested charges in minutes against a shared, tamper-evident movement log rather than the line's word.
Key Asset Types
Anchor neutral gate events both sides trust, removing the terminal from the middle of demurrage arguments and providing an auditable dwell record.
Key Asset Types
Whether you are bridging a terminal gate system or letting lines and consignees read charges from a portal, Cerulea routes both into one shared container record.
For terminals on legacy gate systems. Existing gate-in and gate-out events are translated into signed on-chain timestamps through the API gateway automatically.
Terminal Gate System
Container Gate Readers
Cerulea API Gateway
Timestamp Hashing & Signing
Cerulea Private Chain
Demurrage Settlement Ledger
For carriers and consignees on a settlement portal. The portal signs each charge review from a party wallet and reads verified gate data directly from the ledger.
Settlement Portal
Line & Consignee Devices
Consortium Validators
Charge Consensus
Cerulea Ledger
Shared Container Record
Building a demurrage settlement platform with verified gate timestamps, encoded free-time terms, and automatic charge calculation from scratch requires specialised engineers and long integration cycles. Calculate your exact deployment speed using Cerulea.
Traditional Deployment
Solidity Coding & Audits
~ 12 Months
Visual Compilation
WASM Logical Artifacts
~ 4 Weeks
The legacy timeline reflects container-billing integration benchmarks. Connecting each terminal gate system, building custom free-time metering and dual-clock charge logic, and shipping a dispute-resistant settlement flow for an average network takes a baseline of 8 months. Building the same architecture on Cerulea takes a baseline of 2 weeks, because Cerulea Studio visually translates your metering and charge rules into pre-audited WebAssembly binaries and provisions the shared demurrage ledger instantly.