SheperD is the single service center for U.S. importers. We take D&D off your desk end to end — monitoring your invoices, paying the carrier to release your cargo fast, disputing what isn't owed, and recovering what you've overpaid. One team, one point of contact, the whole lifecycle.
"D&D" is the shorthand for the two time-based penalties ocean carriers charge when a container isn't moved within its allotted "free time." Both are billed by the day, per container — and both are where importers quietly lose the most money.
The charge for leaving a loaded import container inside the port terminal past its free days. The clock starts once your cargo is available and runs until you collect it — so delays clearing customs, arranging trucking, or paying fees all add up.
The charge for keeping the carrier's container or chassis outside the terminal past its free days — typically running until you return the empty equipment. Warehouse backlogs, chassis shortages, or a missed return date all trigger it.
In short: demurrage is the meter running while your box is still at the port; detention is the meter running while you're holding the carrier's equipment. SheperD manages both.
Carriers bill detention & demurrage on rigid calendar math and hold your cargo hostage until you pay. Most importers pay under pressure, through a broker, and never see the errors buried in the invoice.
The shipping line won't release your container until the invoice is paid — often the same day. AP isn't built for urgent payments, so brokers front the cash and bill it back with a fee.
Late-issued invoices, missing required content, duplicate billing, wrong per-diem rates. Under the FMC's rules, many of these charges simply aren't owed — but only if someone catches them.
Carriers, terminals, brokers, AP — and no single owner of the problem. Between chasing releases, fronting urgent payments and filing disputes, D&D becomes a full-time job no one on your team has time for.
SheperD isn't software you have to run. We're a dedicated service team that takes the entire D&D burden off your desk — from the moment an invoice lands to the day the money is back in your account.
Send us your D&D invoices in any format. We track every charge, deadline and last-free-day, so nothing slips through and no surprise bill catches you late.
When a carrier demands payment to release your box, we can settle it the moment it's due — so your cargo moves without waiting on AP or paying a broker's markup.
We build the case, cite the rules, and negotiate directly with the shipping lines in your name — so you never have to argue billing clocks with a carrier again.
We claw back what you've overpaid — going up to three years back — and the recovered funds land directly in your account, not a broker's.
As we work together, direct-payment and credit facilities can replace the broker fee entirely — freeing your cash and giving you better terms on D&D outlays.
A single team owns your D&D end to end, with a clear view of every case, release and dollar recovered — no juggling three vendors and a broker.
We turn the carrier's own rules against overbilling — so your money stays with you and your containers keep moving.
We review each invoice before you overpay and challenge charges that aren't compliant or that cover days your cargo was genuinely unreachable — cutting the amount actually owed.
We help you manage the pay-and-dispute process so a contested invoice doesn't strand your box at the terminal. Cargo moves; the fight over the charge happens in parallel.
Already paid? The FMC framework lets importers dispute charges up to three years back. We file the claims, negotiate with the carriers, and the recovered funds land with you.
No software to install, no integration, no change to how you operate. You send invoices; we do the rest.
Share your D&D invoices in whatever format you already have — PDF, email, spreadsheet. Nothing to set up on your end.
Our team vets every charge, pays the carrier to release your cargo when the clock is ticking, and builds the case against what isn't owed.
We build a regulator-grade dispute package with citations and evidence, and negotiate directly with the shipping lines in your name.
Recovered funds flow back to you. You only pay us a share of what we actually recover — nothing before that.
Recent federal reform shifted the burden onto the carriers to prove their D&D charges are reasonable. SheperD is built precisely on that framework.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act puts the burden on the billing party to show a D&D charge is reasonable — not on you to disprove it.
The FMC Final Rule (effective May 2024) sets minimum required content. Invoices missing it can eliminate your obligation to pay the charge.
Charges for days you had no reasonable opportunity to retrieve cargo or return equipment are presumptively unreasonable — an illegal penalty.
The framework lets importers dispute charges going back up to three years — so historical exposure is often far larger than the current quarter.
Grounded in OSRA 2022, 46 CFR Part 541, the FMC Interpretive Rule, TCW v. Evergreen, and the 2025 D.C. Circuit privity ruling.
There's no upfront cost, no technology to integrate, and no change to your workflow. We work on a success-fee basis — if we don't recover, you don't pay. Getting started takes two simple documents and a batch of invoices.
A recovery engagement built to be all upside for you.
Leave your details and we'll reach out — no obligation. Just the essentials; we'll take it from there.
Avi and the SheperD team will be in touch soon.