How many free days does MSC give at Shanghai?

Roughly 5 demurrage free days and 4 detention free days on a 40' dry import container at Shanghai. Reefer and special equipment are shorter, and your service contract overrides the tariff.

Do weekends count against free time at Shanghai?

Calendar days; Chinese public holidays are rarely excluded.

What makes MSC charges at Shanghai disputable?

Detention stops at the nominated depot only. A refused return still stops the clock if you keep the rejection note. Export detention starts at empty pick-up, and Golden Week routinely eats the entire free period.

Free-Time Matrix/MSC

MSC free time at Shanghai

CNSHA · China. Export detention starts at empty pick-up, and Golden Week routinely eats the entire free period.

Carrier

Port of discharge

Container type

Direction

MSC · Shanghai · 40' dry (GP) · import

Typical filing

Demurrage free days

Box inside the terminal

Detention free days

Equipment outside the terminal

Day counting

Calendar days

Weekends included

Demurrage clock starts: Vessel discharge.
Detention clock starts: Gate-out; stops only on return to a nominated depot.
Weekend & holiday policy: Calendar days; Chinese public holidays are rarely excluded.

Escalation after free time

Band	Chargeable days	Relative daily rate
Tier 1	1–5	1×
Tier 2	6–12	2×
Tier 3+	13+	3×

Bands are relative multipliers of the first chargeable day, not dollar rates — per-diem amounts are contract- and lane-specific. Use the carrier lookup below for the filed figure.

Last free day calculator

Enter the discharge / availability date and we count the free period the way this port counts it.

Before you quote — watch for

Detention stops at the nominated depot only. A refused return still stops the clock if you keep the rejection note.
Export detention starts at empty pick-up, and Golden Week routinely eats the entire free period.

Derived from the carrier’s published tariff structure plus the prevailing local norm for this port. Your service contract overrides it. MSC local demurrage & detention tariffs

CSV & API export — Matrix plan, $99/mo Charged anyway? Run a free invoice audit

Know the exact date, not just the free days

Enter your discharge date for MSC at Shanghai and get the dated last free day plus per-day exposure — and a free email reminder three days out, one day out and the day it expires.

Last Free Day calculator