LFD — Last Free Day
The last day cargo can sit at a port or terminal without incurring storage fees. Missing LFD triggers demurrage charges — typically $150–$350 per container per day.
What LFD actually means in practice
When a vessel arrives at a port, the carrier or terminal grants a set number of free days — usually 3 to 7 for ocean cargo, often shorter for air — during which cargo can be retrieved at no additional cost. The Last Free Day is the final day of that window.
After the Last Free Day, demurrage charges begin accruing. The clock doesn't pause for weekends, holidays, or operational delays. Every day the container sits past LFD adds to the invoice.
Why LFD is the number one preventable cost
JOC research puts U.S. import container demurrage at roughly a third of containers exceeding their LFD at least once. For a mid-size freight forwarder moving 500 containers a month, even a 5% miss rate stacks up to tens of thousands of dollars in avoidable fees.
The fix is almost always the same: centralized LFD visibility combined with proactive alerts before cargo hits the deadline — not reactive checks after.
How Logixa handles it
Every shipment in Logixa carries an LFD field that drives automatic alerts at 72, 48, and 24 hours before the deadline. Dispatchers see at-risk containers on the overview dashboard and can assign a driver from the shipment detail without switching tools — closing the loop from alert to dispatch in minutes.
See Logixa's LFD alertsSee how Logixa makes this part of your workflow concrete.
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