Cost of ownership
The real cost of drayage software is more than the license.
Two numbers decide what a TMS actually costs: the all-in software bill, and the demurrage and per diem it did or didn't prevent. This page gives you the checklist for the first and a calculator for the second. The short version: modern architecture deletes most of the enterprise cost lines outright — which is how Conterminal targets roughly a tenth of an enterprise stack's total cost of ownership. The structural argument is on the architecture page.
Part 1 — the software bill
Ten cost lines to price with every vendor.
Most drayage software is quote-priced, so published dollar comparisons don't exist. What you can do is make every vendor — including us — price the same list. Here is the list, why each line matters, and where Conterminal stands on it.
Base license
Per-seat, per-truck, per-module, or per-transaction — the structure decides how the bill grows as you grow.
ConterminalPriced on container work moving through the platform. Not per seat or per module.
Container tracking / visibility data
Some vendors sell tracking as a separate product or module on top of the TMS.
ConterminalThe core product, not an add-on.
Terminal appointment tooling
Frequently packaged separately from the base TMS.
ConterminalAppointment scheduling is part of the dispatch board.
EDI / integration setup
Per-trading-partner setup fees add up quickly for forwarder- and BCO-heavy books.
ConterminalEmail, mailbox add-in, and OCR intake are included. Integration scope is defined in the proposal.
Customer & partner access
If visibility costs a seat license, it gets rationed — and your customers call instead.
ConterminalShareable no-login tracking links and partner access without per-seat fees.
Implementation & data migration
Quoted timelines range from weeks to more than a year across this market.
ConterminalScoped onboarding to your terminals, lanes, and sources.
Training & certification
Bigger module catalogs need bigger training budgets.
ConterminalIncluded in onboarding.
Support
Ask whether support is in-house or outsourced, and whether it costs extra.
ConterminalIncluded; handled by the team that builds the product.
Annual renewal
Ask every vendor what their renewals did over the last two years.
ConterminalThe metering unit is defined in the proposal — before you sign.
Demurrage & per diem you didn't prevent
The invisible line item. Software that reports deadlines after they pass leaves this on your P&L. Use the calculator below.
ConterminalDeadlines computed in days and dollars per container, surfaced while there is still time to act.
Part 2 — the prevention line
Calculate your demurrage and per-diem exposure.
Every input below is yours: your volume, your overrun rate, your tariff rates. The output is what deadline overruns cost your operation today — the line a deadline-computing system exists to shrink.
Import and export moves your operation handles monthly.
Percent of containers that miss a last free day or empty-return deadline. Industry desks commonly estimate 1–5%.
How many billable days a typical overrun lasts before it is caught.
Your typical per-container daily demurrage rate. Check your steamship-line tariffs.
Your typical per-container daily per-diem (equipment) rate.
Your exposure, from your inputs
- Containers overrunning a deadline each month
- 12
- Typical cost per overrun
- $750
- Monthly exposure
- $9,000
- Annual exposure
- $108,000
Illustrative arithmetic on your own assumptions — not a quote, a guarantee, or any vendor's pricing. The point of computed deadlines is to move containers before they enter this math.
Next step
Get the same list, priced.
Ask us to price the ten lines above for your operation — container volume, sources, and support included, with every unit defined before you sign.