Detention: site hours, €0 on the invoice
Detention is the “normal” loss the EU market has come to tolerate. Waiting beyond the appointment window at a customer site — $50–150/hr in North America, $1B+ annual profit loss across the EU (CCJ Magazine 2024).
The reason is simple: waiting is treated as “normal”, but the customer’s delay is a fleet cost. Since it isn’t measured, it doesn’t end up on an invoice.
Why manual measurement fails
Two structural reasons:
- Asking drivers is unreliable. “How long did you wait?” answers get rounded.
- Appointment time vs exit time live in different systems. TMS records the appointment; the driver texts their exit time via WhatsApp; reconciliation is manual and inconsistent.
Geofence + automatic logging
Lognari draws a geofence polygon for each customer site. Truck enters polygon = “site entry” timestamp logged; truck exits = “site exit”. The duration + appointment delta = detention minutes.
| Trip | Appointment | Site entry | Site exit | Expected | Actual | Detention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #5821 | 09:00 | 09:05 | 10:30 | 60 min | 85 min | 25 min |
| #5823 | 14:00 | 13:55 | 19:30 | 60 min | 335 min | 275 min |
When the threshold is breached (e.g. appointment + 120 min) a detention line is created automatically. The billing trigger fires.
Impact by fleet size
| Fleet | Trips/mo × detention | Annual rebillable | Driver-hour recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 trucks | 50 × 2 hr × €60 | €72,000 | ~1,200 hr/yr |
| 300 trucks | 150 × 2.5 hr × €60 | €270,000 | ~4,500 hr/yr |
| 1,000 trucks | 500 × 3 hr × €70 | €1.26M | ~18,000 hr/yr |
Today, 73% of EU fleets bill zero detention. These figures are entirely new revenue — no added operational cost.
Pilot — 120-truck distribution fleet
Customer with 4 distribution centres across the EU (DE, NL, AT, IT). Over a 6-month pilot:
- 14:00–17:00 at IT-Milano DC averaged 4.2 hr wait
- The other 3 DCs averaged 1.1 hr wait
Action:
- Billing was automated. Weekly customer report dispatched.
- Customer was invited to reschedule appointment slots.
- 2 DCs moved their slots from afternoon to morning.
Result:
- €38,700 recovered revenue by pilot end
- 2 DCs rescheduled → average wait dropped 4.2 hr → 1.8 hr
- 119 driver hours rescued from idle waiting
Contract template
After the pilot, Lognari ships a Contract Annex Template:
“The supplier (fleet operator) reserves the right to invoice detention waiting beyond the appointment window — first 120 minutes free, each subsequent hour €70 + VAT. Calculations are produced automatically via GPS geofence + timestamps; the data-sharing protocol is described in Annex B.”
Can be added to existing framework agreements with 30-day notice.
Side effect: driver satisfaction
Idle waiting is the single biggest driver-satisfaction killer (Bain & Co. EU Trucking Driver Survey 2025). Billing detention sends the message “your hours aren’t free”; pilot fleets saw driver retention rise by 12%.
What’s next
If your fleet doesn’t bill detention automatically, this is a concrete new revenue category. A 30-day pilot typically pays back in 4–6 weeks.
Reach out via the contact section — reply within one business day.
Statistics referenced from CCJ Magazine 2024 + Bain & Co. EU Trucking Driver Survey 2025 + Lognari pilot data. €/hr rates use the Q2 2026 intra-EU average.
