Equipment Interchange Receipt (EIR): Container Damage at the Gate

A drayage driver pulls a 40-foot high cube out of an empty yard at 06:40. The lane clerk ticks "sound" on the receipt, nobody photographs the roof, and the box comes back four days later with a 30 cm cut above the door header. Five months on, a repair invoice for $780 reaches the trucking company with a single image taken at the in-gate. The out-gate receipt says nothing either way, so the carrier pays.

That invoice was avoidable. An equipment interchange receipt (EIR) that records damage in coded form, carries time-stamped images and holds exact gate times lets a billing clerk answer two questions in minutes: was this damage already on the box when it left, and did the bill arrive inside the contract window? This guide shows how to capture, store and test those receipts for US motor carriers under the UIIA and for Indian exporters and transporters dealing with CFS, ICD and empty-yard EIRs.

• What you will find here: the fields an EIR must hold, how to note damage so it can be compared later, how recorded images change the rules, the repair-billing deadlines, the link to per diem, and Indian gate practice.
• What you can reuse: a worked dispute in dollars and rupees, a billing-window formula, a split of gate checks between fixed rules and inspectors, and a setup checklist.

What an equipment interchange receipt records at each gate crossing

An EIR is the handover record for a container, chassis or trailer: who gave it, who took it, when, and in what condition. Every later charge for damage, per diem or loss is tested against it, so a receipt with blank condition fields is close to worthless in a dispute.

The Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement (UIIA), administered by the Intermodal Association of North America, defines the EIR as a document confirming the interchange of equipment between the parties or their agents. Section D.2.a requires the parties to execute a receipt, or exchange an electronic equivalent, at the time of interchange, describing the equipment and any damage observable then, reasonable wear and tear excepted. Section D.2.c gives each party a free copy.

• Identity fields: container prefix, serial and check digit, ISO size-type code, chassis number and plate, and seal number for laden boxes.
• Movement fields: facility, lane, direction (in or out), date and time to the minute, full or empty status, and the booking or release reference.
• Party fields: provider, motor carrier SCAC or transporter name, driver name, tractor plate and the clerk or camera portal that captured the record.
• Condition fields: coded damage entries, or the recorded-images statement, plus refrigeration unit and tyre notes where they apply.

The container ID structure comes from ISO 6346: a three-letter owner code, an equipment category letter (U for freight containers, J for detachable related equipment, Z for trailers and chassis), a six-digit serial and a check digit. A gate system that validates the check digit stops most transposed numbers before they reach the billing file. Each field then has an owner, and the table below shows who keeps it and who approves corrections.

Damage notation: describing a dent so a repair invoice can be tested

A note such as "minor dents" protects nobody. Damage must be recorded by location, type and size so that the out-gate and in-gate entries for one container can be compared line by line, and so that a repair estimate can be matched to a specific panel, post or rail.

The UIIA separates three conditions. Damage, under Section B.10, is any condition that prevents the intended use of the equipment, including the Exhibit C items, when not caused by normal wear and tear. A defect, under B.11, covers dents, scrapes, cuts or missing items that do not prevent intended use. Wear and tear, under B.28, is loss from reasonable, anticipated use, including deterioration from time and weather.

Most terminal and depot systems code damage the way the container EDI messages do. The SMDG implementation guide for the CODECO gate message carries damage in a DAM segment whose damage-type code follows ISO 9897 (CEDEX), Annex D, with separate codes for the component and its location. When a lane clerk picks codes rather than typing text, the same container's out-gate and in-gate records can be compared by software instead of by reading.

• Location first: name the face (left side, right side, roof, front, door end, understructure) and the panel or member, counted from a fixed corner.
• Type second: cut, hole, bent, dented, broken, missing or contaminated, each mapped to one code.
• Size third: length and width in centimetres, or depth for dents, so a 4 cm scrape cannot later become a 40 cm tear.
• Threshold rule: UIIA Section D.3.e.2 bars repair invoices of $50 or less per unit per interchange period, unless the provider's addendum adopts a higher figure for both sides.

Exhibit B of the UIIA lists items that remain the provider's responsibility unless the damage happened during the interchange period, such as door locking bar handles, lights, roof bows, and tyres needing renewal. Exhibit C lists items the motor carrier answers for, such as cut or torn metal, bent members that impair function, a missing underride guard, and an interior left with dunnage or contamination.

Recorded images replace handwritten notes, under stricter conditions

Where a facility takes time-stamped images at the gate, the photographs become the condition record. The receipt itself then carries no damage notes, so the image archive must be complete and retrievable, or the evidence chain breaks.

UIIA Section B.26 defines a recorded image as a date- and time-stamped electronic image depicting the physical condition of the equipment. Section D.2.d says that when recorded images are taken at interchange, damage is not reported on the in-gate or out-gate receipt; the receipt instead carries the words "Damage is captured on Recorded Images", and the images must be available to each party for one year from interchange without charge.

Under UIIA Section D.2.d, a gate using recorded images prints "Damage is captured on Recorded Images" on the equipment interchange receipt and must keep those images available free to each party for one year, so a motor carrier should download its out-gate set within 120 days, before the repair-billing window closes.

Section D.2.b adds a protection for the motor carrier: an electronic receipt system must let the carrier describe the condition of the equipment electronically, without a substantial burden, and that description becomes part of the electronic receipt. A driver who sees a cut the portal camera missed should enter it at the lane, not phone it in later.

• Six faces minimum: both sides, front, door end, roof and the visible understructure or chassis rails, each with the container number in frame or linked by gate transaction ID.
• Roof coverage: overhead portal cameras or an elevated lane camera, since roof cuts from forklift tines and low clearances are among the most disputed items.
• Time source: camera clock synchronised with the gate system, so image time and receipt time differ by seconds rather than minutes.
• Retention: the facility's one-year obligation is a floor; carriers that dispute late invoices keep their own copies for the life of the claim.

Repair invoice deadlines and the evidence a provider must attach

A repair bill is only collectable if it arrives inside the UIIA time window and carries the right proof. Checking those two points before anyone argues about the damage itself settles a large share of disputes.

Section E.3.c sets the billing limits, and a provider that misses them loses the right to recover. For a manned gate or an interchange between motor carriers, the repair invoice must be issued within 165 calendar days of the interchange at which the damage was documented. For gate transactions using recorded images, the limit is 120 calendar days. Repairs carried out during the interchange period must be invoiced within 90 days of the repair, or a shorter addendum period of at least 45 days.

Repair invoice screening (UIIA Section E.3, effective text dated 18 June 2026)

days_elapsed  = invoice_issue_date - documented_interchange_date   (calendar days)
window        = 165 if gate_type in {"manned", "carrier-to-carrier"}
                120 if gate_type == "recorded-images"
                 90 if repair_during_interchange_period (or addendum value, min 45)
time_ok       = days_elapsed <= window

new_damage    = damage_code_at_in_gate NOT IN damage_codes_at_out_gate
amount_ok     = invoice_amount_per_unit > 50          (USD, or the addendum threshold)
carrier_item  = component IN exhibit_C_list  OR  (component IN exhibit_B_list AND new_damage)

payable       = time_ok AND new_damage AND amount_ok AND carrier_item
                AND (gate_type != "recorded-images" OR images_attached)

Section E.3.a.2 governs content. The invoice or approved estimate must detail the repairs, attach the actual repair bill where the work was done, and include the facts supporting the provider's view that this carrier is responsible. For a recorded-image gate, that documentation must include images showing the equipment's condition at that interchange. Once the carrier pays, it is released from any further charge for that repair.

Two further timers sit nearby. If a provider holds equipment because an incident could lead to a claim, it must notify the interchanging carrier within 45 days of the hold, or lose the right to invoice the repair. For lost, stolen or destroyed equipment, absent addendum terms, the provider states the value within 30 days of the carrier's notice and the carrier pays within 30 days of that statement.

UIIA Section E.3.c gives a provider 165 calendar days from a manned-gate interchange, and 120 days from a recorded-image interchange, to invoice equipment repairs, so a carrier's claims desk should reject any repair bill dated outside that window before reviewing photographs, estimates or the damage codes on the receipt.

How out-gate and in-gate times feed per diem and detention bills

The same receipts that settle damage also settle time charges. The out-gate stamp opens the interchange period and the in-gate stamp closes it, so a provider's per diem invoice should be tested against the carrier's own EIR copies, not against the provider's summary.

The UIIA defines per diem in Section B.23 as the charge paid when equipment is not returned by the end of the allowable free time, whatever the provider calls it. Section E.6.c requires the provider to invoice per diem within 60 calendar days of the equipment's return, E.6.e requires it to supply supporting evidence such as EIRs, and E.6.f gives the motor carrier 30 days to dispute in writing with evidence.

• Clock opens: the out-gate receipt time, not the time the provider's system later posts the move.
• Clock closes: the in-gate receipt time at the provider's facility or an authorised satellite return location.
• Free time source: the provider's addendum, which also says whether weekends and holidays count.
• Invoice age: more than 60 days after return means the provider has lost the right to recover.

How the clock is counted from gate and status events is covered in our guides to the EDI 322 terminal operations message and the EDI 315 container status feed; this article stays with the receipt itself. For ocean carrier and marine terminal invoices to shippers, the Federal Maritime Commission's rule at 46 CFR 541.6 requires container numbers, free-time start and end dates and the charged dates on each invoice, which only a clean EIR trail can verify.

EIR practice at Indian CFS, ICD and empty container yards

India has no statutory EIR form. The receipt is a commercial record issued by the shipping line's empty yard, a container freight station or an inland container depot, and its weight in a dispute depends on how completely it was filled in at the gate.

For an export, the transporter collects an empty against the line's release order, and the empty yard issues an EIR noting container number, seal if any, and condition. The laden box later gates into a CFS or port terminal, which issues another receipt. For an import, the delivery out-gate from the terminal or CFS and the empty return to the line's yard bracket the line's detention clock. The difference between the two facility types is explained in our ICD versus CFS guide.

• Empty pickup receipt: often handwritten at smaller yards, so the exporter's own geo-tagged photographs at pickup carry most of the evidential weight.
• Terminal or CFS receipt: generated from the gate system and visible through PCS1x, giving an independent timestamp for detention checks.
• Damage survey at destuffing: some lines appoint surveyors at the CFS; insist on the survey report number appearing on the repair invoice.
• Contract terms: detention rates, free days and repair liability come from the line's tariff and the importer's or exporter's undertaking, not from a regulation.

Major ports exchange these events electronically through PCS1x, the national port community system run by the Indian Ports Association. A Visakhapatnam Port Authority annexure describing PCS1x modules lists an Equipment Interchange Report message (EICREP) that lets port users view and download a container's EIR copy, generated once an export container is received inside the terminal and once an import container is delivered at the out-gate. The same document lists COPARN for a vessel agent's empty container release order.

Indian port terminals publish equipment interchange report copies through PCS1x message EICREP once an export container is received or an import container is delivered at the out-gate, so a transporter disputing a line's container detention invoice can test the line's dates against an independent terminal record within one working day.

A roof cut disputed in dollars and a door panel in rupees

The two cases below use illustrative figures. Both disputes were settled by reading the receipts and dates, without debating whether the damage was real.

1. 02 Mar 2026, 06:40, out-gate lane 3: a line-owned 40-foot high cube leaves a US marine terminal on a pool chassis; manned gate, receipt notes "DT front left corner post 5 cm", no roof entry, driver signs.
2. 06 Mar 2026, 14:12, in-gate lane 7: box returns empty; in-gate receipt records a 30 cm roof cut and a broken door locking bar handle; the clerk photographs both.
3. 20 Aug 2026, 09:05, provider billing: repair invoice RPR-26-0418 for $875 issued to the carrier: roof patch $780 and handle $95, with one in-gate image attached.
4. 21 Aug 2026, 11:30, carrier claims desk: clerk computes 167 days from the 6 March interchange, beyond the 165-day manned-gate window, and notes that door handles sit on Exhibit B.
5. 21 Aug 2026, 11:48, dispute filed: written dispute with both receipts sent inside the 30-day response period; provider withdraws the invoice.

The Indian case shows the more common pattern: the damage was genuine but already present, and the detention clock had been counted to the wrong event. GST on the line's invoice follows the corrected base, so the credit note must reverse tax on the ₹20,500 removed. Both outcomes depended on the payer holding its own copy of each receipt, with the photograph taken at pickup.

Gate checks a rule can settle and ones that need an inspector

Most EIR disputes come down to a few comparisons a system can run without judgement: identity, time, and whether a damage code is new. Image review and responsibility for borderline damage still need a trained person, with software only ranking what to look at first.

Setting up EIR capture with a depot, terminal or trucker

The setup work is mostly agreement on format and retention, not technology. Settle how damage is coded, how images are linked to transactions and how each party retrieves its copies before the first box moves.

A trucking company signing the UIIA should read the provider addenda for free time, repair thresholds and dispute routes, since the addendum can raise the $50 threshold or shorten the 90-day repair window to no less than 45 days. An Indian exporter should ask its line or depot whether EIRs flow through PCS1x and whether pickup photographs can be uploaded against the release order.

Teams that want this capture, matching and invoice screening built into their dispatch and freight-audit tools can describe their gates, providers and current dispute volume through our request for proposal form. More container, terminal and drayage guides are collected on the Logistics and Supply Chain hub.