How dwell time is measured
Most facilities measure dwell time as the difference between gate-in and gate-out timestamps. Some break it into stages: gate-to-door, door-to-loaded, and loaded-to-gate. The breakdown reveals where time is actually lost.
Glossary
What is dwell time?
Dwell time is the elapsed time a truck spends at a warehouse or terminal from gate-in to gate-out. High dwell time compounds into late deliveries, driver hours-of-service violations, and detention exposure. Disciplined dock scheduling is the highest-leverage way to bring dwell time down.
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What drives high dwell time
Unscheduled arrivals, undersized door capacity, missing paperwork, inaccurate appointment data, and forklift bottlenecks. The most common single cause is multiple trucks arriving in the same hour with no scheduling discipline.
How dock scheduling lowers dwell time
Slots-per-hour caps spread arrivals across the day. Pre-arrival data capture eliminates paperwork delays at the dock. Buffer time between trucks gives forklifts and door staff a chance to reset. SMS reminders and pre-check-in keep arrivals on time.
See it in practice
What good dock scheduling actually looks like.
The SimpleDock booking flow your carriers would use — link-based, no account, under a minute.
simpledock.ai/book/acme-warehouseFrequently asked questions
- What's a good dwell-time target?
- Live loads under 90 minutes is a common benchmark. Drop-and-hook should be under 30 minutes. Numbers vary by industry and product handling complexity.
- Is dwell time the same as detention?
- They're related but different. Detention is the financial charge that accrues when dwell time exceeds the free window. Dwell time is the underlying operational metric.
- How is dwell time tracked in SimpleDock?
- SimpleDock captures booking, check-in, and appointment status timestamps. You can use those to calculate dwell time per appointment and per carrier.
Related terms and resources
Detention and demurrageDetention is a per-hour charge a carrier bills the shipper or receiver when a truck is delayed at a dock beyond a free time window…Read more →Dock schedulingDock scheduling is the practice of giving every inbound or outbound truck a specific arrival window at a warehouse or distribution…Read more →Carrier check-inCarrier check-in is the act of confirming a driver has arrived at a warehouse for a scheduled dock appointment. Modern check-in fl…Read more →Dock scheduling for 3pl warehousesThird-party logistics warehouses live and die on door turnover. Every minute a trailer waits is a minute another carrier can't unl…Read more →Dock scheduling for food & beverageFood and beverage distribution doesn't tolerate sloppy dock scheduling. A late truck means a temperature excursion, a spoiled load…Read more →Opendock alternativeOpendock is a long-established dock-scheduling tool aimed at large enterprise warehouses with extensive carrier networks. SimpleDo…Read more →
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