Dwell Time
Dwell time is the total elapsed time a truck, trailer, or container spends at a facility from arrival (gate check-in) to departure (gate check-out), including waiting, dock processing, loading or unloading, and any idle time between activities.
Why It Matters
Dwell time is one of the largest hidden costs in supply chain operations. Every hour a truck sits at a facility is an hour it is not moving freight. For carriers, excess dwell means fewer loads per truck per week, driving up freight rates industry-wide. For shippers, it means detention charges ($25-$75 per hour after free time), strained carrier relationships, and lost capacity as carriers deprioritize high-dwell facilities.
The FourKites Perspective
The FourKites Facility Twin captures timestamped gate events, dock assignments, yard positions, and departure confirmations in real time. AutoGate eliminates manual check-in and creates a precise digital record. The Graph provides cross-network benchmarks: the median for food and beverage DCs is 2.8 hours, for dry goods 2.4 hours, for cold chain 3.5 hours. Facilities that adjusted receiving labor to match live ETAs (rather than planned appointments) reduced dwell by an average of 31% across the network.