When Container Timestamps Conflict: What DCSA Track & Trace 3.0 Changes

When a container’s discharge time differs between the carrier’s site, the terminal and your forwarder’s portal, someone has to decide which one to trust. The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) names that problem directly in its September 30, 2026 release of Track & Trace 3.0.0. Without a common standard, the same shipment event can be described differently by every party that reports it, and users are left reconciling those differences one counterparty at a time.

Those timestamps carry money. Demurrage & Detention invoices and free time calculations can depend on them. Version 3.0 adds new event types for smart and refrigerated containers, but for shippers the more consequential change may be clearer handling of events that are corrected or withdrawn after they are first reported. Public release is planned for the second half of 2027.

What the Standard Covers Today

Track & Trace 2.2.0, the current public version, standardizes three kinds of events. Shipment events cover booking and document status. Transport events cover arrivals and departures across transport modes, including vessels, barges, trucks and rail. Equipment events cover what happens to the container itself.

Each event carries a code, along with a classifier showing whether it is planned, estimated or actual. The point of a shared code list is that two parties reporting the same gate-in describe it the same way.

Milestone	Event type	Code
Gate-in full at origin terminal	Equipment	GTIN
Loaded on vessel	Equipment	LOAD
Vessel departure	Transport	DEPA
Vessel arrival	Transport	ARRI
Discharged from vessel	Equipment	DISC
Gate-out full from destination terminal	Equipment	GTOT
Empty container returned	Equipment	GTIN (empty)

Selected milestones under the DCSA Track & Trace 2.2 event naming convention. Each event is also classified as PLN (planned), EST (estimated) or ACT (actual).

What Track & Trace 3.0 Adds

The headline addition is two new event types. IoT events cover conditions detected by connected containers and devices, such as geolocation, geofence crossing and door status. Reefer events cover measurements and control actions on refrigerated containers, including temperature, setpoint adjustments, power status and alarms.

IoT events depend on device-fitted equipment, while reefer events apply to refrigerated equipment where the relevant telemetry and control data are available. The less visible changes reach further. Version 3.0 introduces clearer ways to represent changes to shipments and related documents, improves how corrected or withdrawn events are communicated, and supports exchanging events through carriers, platforms and other intermediaries.

Why Corrected Events Matter for Free Time and D&D

The events that cause operational trouble are often the ones that change after they are reported. An actual discharge timestamp can later need correction, while an event published in error may subsequently need to be withdrawn. If those changes arrive as separate, unlinked records, a tracking view can show conflicting milestones for the same move, and someone has to decide by hand which one stands.

For import containers, demurrage and free-time calculations are commonly tied to discharge and/or container availability under the applicable tariff or contract, while detention typically covers the period after the container leaves the terminal until the empty equipment is returned. The exact trigger varies by carrier, contract and jurisdiction, so a corrected operational timestamp can affect the calculation. When a D&D charge is disputed, the container-level event record, including what changed and when, can become important evidence. Our post on how far back demurrage charges can be challenged explains why keeping that record matters.

If your team is reconciling container events from several carriers by hand, see how ops teams track multi-carrier container events and their changes in one view.

When Shippers Will See Version 3.0

Track & Trace 3.0.0 is available first to DCSA members and DCSA+ partners, with public release planned for the second half of 2027. Organizations on 2.2.0 will need to migrate because the changes affect both the information exchanged and how it is shared. DCSA has published migration resources with version comparisons, value mappings and implementation guidance for participating organizations.

For shippers, the timing depends on when the carriers, terminals and platforms they rely on implement it. DCSA has not published adoption dates by carrier, so a mixed-version transition is likely as individual counterparties move to 3.0 on their own schedules.

What to Check in Your Own Event Data

Estimated and actual kept apart. For discharge, gate-out and empty return, confirm your system stores estimated and actual timestamps separately.
Corrections kept with history. When a milestone changes, keep the original value, the new value and when each was received.
The event that starts your clock. Confirm, carrier by carrier, which event starts free time and detention under your contract or tariff.
Reefer and IoT coverage. If you ship refrigerated or device-fitted equipment, ask whether temperature, alarm or door-status events are available for your containers today.
The version your providers use. Ask carriers, forwarders and visibility providers which DCSA Track & Trace version they publish or consume, and how they flag corrected events now.

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