How Freight Forwarders Count Transit Days vs Business Days

A shipment's journey runs on several clocks, and they do not count the same way. Customs deadlines are fixed by regulation in calendar days or in hours. A port can count the free days a container may sit on its wharf with Saturdays, Sundays and its own holidays left out. A customs office keeps business hours. And a carrier's transit quote counts whatever the quote says it counts. This guide takes one example of each from the United States: the customs regulations in title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Maritime Commission's billing rules, and the Port of Los Angeles tariff. Other countries and other ports publish their own rules. It gives no transit times, because those come from the carrier's schedule and not from any rule.

Ask which days a quote counts

A quote of "14 days" or "30 days" is not a date until three things are settled:

1. The unit. Calendar days or business days.
2. The two ends. From which event to which event: departure, arrival, discharge, release, delivery.
3. The calendar. If business days, which country's weekends and holidays, or which port's.

None of the rules quoted below fixes these for a commercial quote, so the quote or the contract has to. The rest of this guide shows the periods that are fixed, and how each one is counted.

What US customs counts in hours and calendar days

Before loading. For cargo arriving by vessel, the Importer Security Filing rule sets its deadline in hours. Under 19 CFR 149.2(b), which makes an exception for break bulk cargo, the importer must submit the seller, buyer, importer of record number and consignee number, and the manufacturer, ship-to party, country of origin and tariff number, no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port. The clock counts back from loading at the origin port, in hours.

After landing. Entry has a limit in calendar days. Under 19 CFR 141.5, merchandise for which entry is required "will be entered within 15 calendar days after landing from a vessel, aircraft or vehicle", or after arrival at the port of destination for merchandise transported in bond. Merchandise not entered in time is treated in accordance with other sections, among them 19 CFR 4.37, headed General order. Its paragraph (a) allows merchandise that has been landed but is not covered by a permit for its release to remain at the place of unlading until the fifteenth calendar day after landing, and requires the master or owner of the vessel, or the agent, to notify Customs no later than 20 calendar days after landing of merchandise for which entry has not been made.

For goods landed on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, the fifteenth calendar day is Thursday, June 18, 2026 and the twentieth is Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Every Saturday and Sunday in between is counted.

The office itself keeps business hours. Under 19 CFR 101.6, each CBP office is open for general CBP business between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on all days of the year except Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, subject to the local exceptions that section lists. So the limit runs in calendar days while the office that handles the entry works business days. The sections read for this guide do not say what happens when the fifteenth day is a Saturday or a holiday; that is a question for a customs broker.

Free time can leave weekends out

Free time is where business days turn up. The Port of Los Angeles Tariff No. 4 defines free time as the specified number of days during which merchandise may occupy space assigned to it without being assessed wharf demurrage, and wharf demurrage as the charge assessed against merchandise that remains on a municipal wharf after the free time allowed (Item 700).

Two details of that tariff decide the count:

• When it starts. For inbound containerized merchandise, free time commences for each container at 3:00 a.m. after the container is discharged from a vessel (Item 710).
• Which days count. Free time is allowed "Exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and the legal holidays named in Item No. 100(n)": for containerized cargo in foreign and offshore trade, 4 days inbound and 6 days outbound (Item 720). A note brings weekends back in: Saturdays, Sundays or both are included in the free time on inbound containerized merchandise if the terminal operator has announced or published that its gates will be open for container delivery on those days.

The holidays are the port's own. Item 100(n) lists days that are not federal holidays, among them Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, Cesar Chavez' Birthday on the last Monday in March and "Bloody Thursday, July 5th", and it moves a listed holiday that falls on a Sunday to the following Monday.

What the weekend rule does to a count is easy to show. Four days that leave out Saturdays and Sundays, with no holiday among them, run from Monday, June 8 to Thursday, June 11 when the first counted day is a Monday. When the first counted day is Thursday, June 11, the same four days end on Tuesday, June 16: two more calendar days for the same allowance.

The tariff also marks its own limit. In its item on extended free time (Item 760) it states that equipment owned or leased by ocean carriers is subject to the demurrage (or detention) charges and free time provisions provided for in individual ocean carrier tariffs. A carrier's free time, and the days it counts, are in the carrier's tariff or your service contract.

Demurrage and detention: 30 calendar days to bill, 30 to dispute

The Federal Maritime Commission's billing rules define demurrage or detention as any charges, including "per diem" charges, assessed by ocean common carriers, marine terminal operators or non-vessel-operating common carriers related to the use of marine terminal space or shipping containers, not including freight charges (46 CFR 541.3).

The same rules set two periods, both in calendar days:

• A billing party must issue a demurrage or detention invoice within thirty calendar days from the date on which the charge was last incurred. If it does not, the billed party is not required to pay the charge (46 CFR 541.7).
• The billing party must allow the billed party at least thirty calendar days from the invoice issuance date to request mitigation, refund or waiver of fees, and must attempt to resolve such a request within thirty calendar days of receiving it, or at a later date both parties agree (46 CFR 541.8).

Incoterms say who is responsible, not how long it takes

The US International Trade Administration describes Incoterms as a set of 11 internationally recognized rules that define the responsibilities of sellers and buyers: who is responsible for paying for and managing the shipment, insurance, documentation, customs clearance and other logistical activities. Seven of the Incoterms 2020 rules are for any mode of transport and four for sea and inland waterway transport. Each rule, it says, also specifies when the risk of loss or damage passes from the seller to the buyer, by reference to the delivery provision.

Its list of what Incoterms do not cover includes the method and timing of payment and the moment title passes. The International Chamber of Commerce, which issues the rules and sells their full text, gives one example of how fine the allocation is: under DAP the seller does not unload the goods, under DPU the seller does. Neither page states a transit time for any rule. An Incoterm tells you whose job, cost and risk a leg is. The number of days still comes from the carrier's quote and the rules above.

Converting a business-day delivery term

A purchase order that promises "delivery within 30 business days of order" needs converting before it can be compared with a freight schedule in calendar days. Counted from Monday, June 1, 2026 on the US federal calendar, 30 business days end on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, which is 44 calendar days later, because the count leaves out the weekends and two holidays, Juneteenth and Independence Day (observed). Thirty calendar days from the same order date end on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

Use the Add Business Days calculator with the country whose calendar the contract names, and Calendar Days from Today for the calendar-day legs. The response deadline calculator, set to calendar days, counts a period such as the 15 days of 19 CFR 141.5 from the landing date. None of them carries a port's own holiday list. For the supplier's side of the schedule, see the guide to procurement lead times in business days.

FAQ

Are freight deadlines counted in calendar days or business days?

Both occur, depending on who set the deadline. US customs regulations count in calendar days and hours: entry within 15 calendar days after landing (19 CFR 141.5) and the Importer Security Filing no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel (19 CFR 149.2). The Port of Los Angeles tariff counts free time exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and its legal holidays. A carrier's transit quote counts whatever the quote says, so ask.

How long does an importer have to enter goods at US customs?

Under 19 CFR 141.5, merchandise for which entry is required will be entered within 15 calendar days after landing from a vessel, aircraft or vehicle, or after arrival at the port of destination for merchandise transported in bond. Weekends are counted. Under 19 CFR 4.37, the vessel's master, owner or agent must notify Customs no later than 20 calendar days after landing of merchandise for which entry has not been made.

What are demurrage and detention?

In the Federal Maritime Commission's billing rules, any charges, including per diem charges, assessed by ocean common carriers, marine terminal operators or non-vessel-operating common carriers related to the use of marine terminal space or shipping containers, not including freight charges (46 CFR 541.3). An invoice for them must be issued within thirty calendar days from the date the charge was last incurred, or the billed party is not required to pay it (46 CFR 541.7).

Do Incoterms set transit times?

The sources read for this guide state none. The US International Trade Administration describes Incoterms as 11 rules that define the responsibilities of sellers and buyers, including who pays for and manages the shipment and when the risk of loss or damage passes. Its list of what they do not cover includes the method and timing of payment and the passing of title.