3. November 2026
Your container clears customs on Friday afternoon and Monday is a holiday. Here is what to do.
It happens all the time. The hold lifts at two on a Friday, the last free day is close, Monday is a port holiday and your warehouse will not open until Tuesday. If the box stays at the terminal, the charges can keep adding up all weekend. The fix is usually simple: pull it out the same afternoon, keep it safe in our yard over the weekend, and deliver it the morning your dock opens. The only thing that can stop it is time, so the most useful thing you can do is call the moment the release comes through.
What the problem actually is
Customs has released your container, which is good news. But it is Friday afternoon. The terminal closes for the weekend, Monday is a holiday, and your warehouse does not open until Tuesday.
If the box sits at the terminal until then, two things can happen. The last free day can pass, and once it does the terminal starts charging storage, called demurrage, for every day the box stays. And on Tuesday morning everyone in Miami who had a box released on Friday is trying to get an appointment at the same time.
What we do
We pull the container out of the terminal the same afternoon, before the gate closes. A chassis is already staged in our yard for this, so the truck does not have to hope one is available at the port.
The box comes to our yard in Hialeah Gardens, about 20 road miles from PortMiami and 25 from Port Everglades. It is five acres, fenced and secured. Your container waits there over the weekend and the holiday.
On Tuesday morning, or whenever your dock opens, we deliver it. You unload it, and we take the empty back to the terminal.
What you need to send us
The container number, the terminal, and your last free day. Confirmation that both customs and the shipping line have released it, because a box with a freight hold still on it cannot leave even if customs is done. And the delivery address with the day and time your dock can receive.
Send it the minute the release comes through, even if you are not sure yet. A call at 2 in the afternoon leaves room to work. A call at 4:45 usually does not.
If the timing does not work
Sometimes the gate is already closed or there is no appointment left. Then we book the first slot after the holiday and tell you straight away, so you are not waiting on a phone call that never comes.
If the last free day is going to pass anyway, ask your broker or the shipping line about extending free time. It is not owed to you, but it is sometimes given, and it is always worth asking before the charges start rather than after.
When it goes wrong · Pre-pull · Last free day · Holidays · Yard
Where to act on this
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Klare Antworten
Can a container still be picked up late on a Friday?
Often, yes, but it depends on the terminal. Most South Florida terminals close their gates around 5 in the afternoon on weekdays, and Seaboard Marine stays open until 7 and opens on Saturday until 2. SFCT also needs an appointment slot, so the earlier we hear from you, the better the chance one is still free. Send the container number the minute the hold lifts.
Does pulling the container early stop every charge?
It stops the terminal charges, because the box is no longer sitting at the terminal. It does not stop per diem, which is what the shipping line charges for using its container, and that keeps running until the empty goes back. Yard storage is a separate, smaller line. In most cases one quiet weekend in a yard costs far less than a weekend of terminal charges, but we will tell you plainly if yours is the exception.
Do weekends and holidays count against my free time?
It depends on the terminal and the shipping line, and it is written in their own rules, not ours. Some count only working days, some count every calendar day. Do not guess. Our guide to port holidays explains how to check, and we will check it with you when you call.
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Schicken Sie Strecke, Equipment, Containergröße und Hafen, dann kommt eine Zahl zurück. Angebote und Disposition laufen rund um die Uhr unter quotes@dariaslogistics.com.