If free time is tracked in WhatsApp threads and nobody's sure who pays the last invoice, software isn't the problem, it's the fix you're missing.

1. Free time lives in chat threads, not a job file

If the only record of when a container's free time started is a WhatsApp message, that clock is invisible until someone remembers to check it.

2. Carrier invoices arrive after the client's already been billed

By the time a demurrage charge shows up, the shipment file is closed and the cost has nowhere to go but absorbed margin.

3. Nobody's clear on who pays

Shipper, consignee, or forwarder, if that's not decided before free time starts, it gets argued about after the invoice lands.

4. No alerts before free time runs out

Without a system watching the clock, it runs out quietly, every time.

5. Nobody can tell you real profit per shipment

If margin per job is a guess until the books close weeks later, pricing the next quote is also a guess.

The fix

Put free time on the job file, match every carrier charge to it automatically, and see real profit per shipment before the file closes. That's what we built into our Odoo freight and NVOCC module.

Quick answer

How many of these signs mean we need new software? Even one, consistently, is enough. These aren't independent problems, they compound: a missed alert becomes an unbilled charge becomes a wrong margin number.