Distant empty-return depot: agree the full route before delivery

Delivery to the warehouse does not finish the operation with a carrier's container. Empty return must follow current instructions. If the designated depot is far from the unloading point, establish that before confirming the complete truck route.

The nearest yard on a map may not be authorised for this unit. Seeing containers from the same shipping line there is not an acceptance instruction for your number.

Find the current unit-specific instruction

Match container, carrier, delivery point and return document. Obtain the depot's full name and address, any acceptance reference and instruction validity where applicable.

Hapag-Lloyd's local guidance points to release instructions or import information for depot details and provides a change-request route. This is a carrier-procedure example, not permission to choose any yard.

Keep the instruction given to the driver. If it changes during execution, record who confirmed the new location, when and for which container.

Confirm acceptance, not only an address

Establish whether the depot will accept that equipment type on the planned day, its hours and any appointment or access requirements. Opening hours alone do not prove acceptance of the unit.

Ask about required equipment condition and reporting damage or contamination. Do not order repairs, remove markings or alter equipment without appropriate agreement. Record its post-unloading condition through the relevant procedure.

Price the truck route to completion

The road quote should identify full-container collection, delivery, agreed unloading time and empty return to the designated point. A price only to the warehouse gate may omit the return leg.

Do not equate unloading completion with the end of every equipment charge. Check the applicable boundary event and retain evidence.

Request an alternative before rerouting

Include current and proposed depot, container number and type, planned return date and warehouse location. Explain the operational reason, such as route arrangement.

Request permission, any change fee and revised instructions. Separate the haulier's price from the equipment-controlling party's approval. “We normally return there” does not replace a valid instruction.

Where approval has conditions, meet them before travel. Submission of a request is not completion of a change. Update the truck order and cost after confirmation.

Fictional example: nearer is not yet confirmed

Depot A appears in the current instruction; the warehouse proposes a closer depot B. B would shorten the route, but equipment acceptance and change cost are unknown.

B remains an option. Obtain approval, timing and costs, then compare the whole route and ability to meet the return deadline. Do not record potential savings as already achieved.

Without approval, retain the current confirmed instruction or agree another feasible option. Do not send a container to an arbitrary yard to “stop the clock”.

If the depot refuses acceptance

Request the specific reason and evidence with date, location and container number. Connect the transport organiser with the instruction issuer. Obtain the next instruction and agree how costs will be recorded.

Leave equipment safeguarding and further handling to the authorised operator. Waiting outside the gate is not a completed return. Keep correspondence for any later charge enquiry.

Close the return

Obtain the EIR or other applicable acceptance record. Check container number, location, date and condition notes, then verify return is reflected by the responsible party.

Use confirmed events and the appropriate tariff for calculations. A calculator does not decide whether a distant depot or rejected return justifies correcting a particular invoice.

Alternative-depot request

Please assess an empty-return depot change for container [number, type], booking [reference]. Current instruction: [depot, version]. Unloading: [warehouse, planned time]. Proposed return: [depot, date]; reason: [route arrangement]. Confirm equipment acceptance, change costs and appointment requirements and issue updated instructions. Until received, we treat the alternative as unconfirmed.