What is truck turnaround time at a port?
Truck turnaround time is how long an outside truck spends inside a container terminal on one visit. TIC 4.0, the terminal industry's data standard group, defines it as the time from the end of the gate-in process to the end of the gate-out process, and says it is also called truck service time. For a haulier the day is longer than that: the queue or staging area before the gate counts too, because the truck and driver are paid for every minute.
The calculator splits one visit into its stages, works out the turnaround inside the terminal and the total time at the port, then puts a monthly cost on the waiting, the saving at a target time, the cost of missed appointments and the port trips each truck can make in a shift.
Why does time at the port matter to a haulier?
- Waiting is paid time: a truck in a gate queue costs the same driver and truck hour as one on the road, but moves nothing.
- Idling burns fuel: in Gulf heat engines stay on for air conditioning; the U.S. Department of Energy puts a heavy truck idling at about 0.8 gallon an hour.
- Fewer trips a shift: every extra hour at the port is a trip you cannot sell, or a truck you have to add.
- Appointments are the rule: trucks entering Jeddah Islamic Port have needed a slot booked on the Fasah platform since 1 November 2021, and Sohar's container terminal launched its truck appointment system in January 2016. A missed slot costs a wasted trip or a long wait.
What inputs do you need?
| Input | Where to find it | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting before the gate | Tracking data with a geofence around the queue or staging area, driver logs | Average a full week: queues change by hour and day. |
| Gate-in and gate-out | Terminal gate receipts, tracking at the gate | Use the time to clear the gate, not only the lane wait. |
| Inside the terminal | Gate-in and gate-out times on the terminal's receipts, driver reports | Split waiting for the machine from driving if you can. |
| Truck-hour cost | Driver pay, truck and trailer costs | Use the cost of an hour of work, not the hire rate. |
| Idling fuel and diesel price | Engine data, fuel records, the official pump price | Enter 0 if drivers switch off while waiting. |
| Missed appointments | Booking records on the port's appointment platform | Count slots missed by late arrival and by early arrival. |
How is turnaround time calculated?
Turnaround and time at the port
The turnaround follows the TIC 4.0 definition: from the end of gate-in to the end of gate-out, in minutes or hours. Port authorities sometimes measure from the truck's arrival at the entrance gate instead, as in the Tanzania Ports Authority example presented at UNCTAD in 2012; the time at the port in this calculator covers that wider view.
Cost of waiting
The saving takes the minutes above your target out of the waiting, because gate checks, driving and the lift itself still have to happen.
Trips per shift
Sources
- TIC 4.0, Truck Turnaround Time KPI definition (start: end of gate-in; end: end of gate-out; also known as truck service time), page updated 4 June 2024. Source: TIC 4.0.
- H. Mwasenga, Tanzania Ports Authority, Port Performance Indicators: A case of Dar es Salaam port, UNCTAD Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Assessing Port Performance, 12 December 2012 (truck turnaround from the entrance gate to the exit gate). Source: UNCTAD.
- U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory, Long-Haul Truck Idling Burns Up Profits, August 2015 (about 0.8 gallon an hour for a heavy truck idling). Source: U.S. DOE.
- Al Watan, 29 October 2021: truck appointments on the Fasah platform mandatory for trucks entering Jeddah Islamic Port from 1 November 2021. Source: Al Watan.
- Middle East Construction News, 25 January 2016: Oman International Container Terminal launches its truck appointment system at Sohar. Source: ME Construction News. Last reviewed 21 October 2026.
Worked example: 40 port visits a day
The defaults are examples; replace them with your trucks' times and costs.
- A truck waits 45 min before the gate, clears gate-in in 10, drives 10 min in the terminal, waits 30 min for the machine, is served in 5 and clears gate-out in 10. The turnaround is 55 min and the time at the port 1 h 50 min, 68% of it waiting.
- 40 visits a day for 26 days is 1,040 visits a month, or 1,300 truck-hours of waiting.
- At $27 a truck-hour and 3 L of diesel an idling hour at $0.48 a liter, waiting costs $36,972 a month, about $35.55 a visit. Twenty missed slots, each losing two truck-hours, add $1,080.
- Cutting the time at the port to 75 minutes takes 35 minutes of waiting off each visit and saves about $17,250 a month.
- With 30 minutes of road each way and 45 minutes at the customer, a round trip takes 3 h 35 min: 3 trips per truck in a 12-hour shift. At the target it is 3 hours and 4 trips, so the 40 visits need 10 trucks instead of 14.
How to read your results
- Waiting share above half: most of the visit is queueing. Check arrival times against your appointment slots before anything else.
- Long wait before the gate: trucks arrive in waves. Spread departures from your yard across the booked slots.
- Long wait inside: the terminal's machines are the limit. Share your measured times with the terminal and ask for the times that move faster.
- Trips per shift: a shorter visit only adds a trip when it frees enough minutes for a full round trip; the table shows when it does.
How to cut waiting at the port
- Book and keep slots: plan departures from the appointment time back, with the road time from the Truck Journey Time Planner.
- Measure every visit: a geofence around the staging area and one around the terminal give each truck's entry and exit times.
- Prepare documents before arrival: errors at the gate send trucks back to the queue.
- Switch engines off in long queues when it is safe to do so, and track idling truck by truck.
- Price the hour right: work out the real cost of a truck-hour with the Truck Trip Cost Calculator.
Assumptions and limits
The calculator uses one average visit for all trucks, so busy hours and quiet hours are blended; enter the times of your worst shift to see the peak. It does not know your port's rules, fees or appointment windows: enter a fee only if your port or terminal charges one, and check its current tariff. The saving assumes the minutes above the target come out of waiting. All defaults are examples, not port data.