Maher Terminals: empty returns, gate documents and FIRMS codes

How the report is organised, and why a terminal name is not the answer

The document is grouped by steamship line, not by terminal. Under each line there are up to two blocks — Empty Dispatch Information (where you collect an empty against a booking) and Empty Return Information (where you put one back) — and inside those blocks the instruction splits again by equipment.

A single line’s entry can carry all of the following at once: 20ft dry to one berth, 40ft dry to the same berth, high-cube dry not received at Maher at all so contact the line, 45ft to a third location, no reefer returns under any circumstances, damaged 20ft and 40ft to one street address, and damaged 45s and reefer units to a different street address again. The locations named are not all Maher: Columbia Container Services on Polaris Street, Fleet Street Berth 64, Ironbound on Hyatt Avenue and neighbouring marine terminals all appear as return points, depending on the line.

Some lines do not publish through Maher at all. One directs truckers to the Intermodal Association of North America’s Empty Return Location Directory at ianaerld.com; others tell you to check the carrier’s own container tool before entering the gate. When the report says contact the steamship line, that is the instruction, not a gap.

What Maher requires at the gate

Maher states that all transactions require a valid TWIC, Sea Link card and RFID tag. Beyond the credentials, the data the gate needs depends on the move:

• Empty delivery (you are collecting an empty): steamship line, booking number, and the container length, height and type.
• Receive empty (you are returning one): steamship line, and the container length, height and type — note that the booking number is not what identifies the move here, the equipment specification is.
• Import delivery: container number and bill of lading number.
• Export receiving: the loaded-export extras — hazardous documentation, titles for vehicles, over-dimensional measurements, and reefer commodity and temperature.

What goes wrong

• Dispatching against yesterday’s file. The report is regenerated through the day and covers a forward window. A driver sent on a copy read the previous week is being sent on a guess.
• Assuming the return matches the pick-up. The file explicitly flags, for some lines, that its instructions apply only to containers that originated from Maher. A box collected elsewhere may have a different return point.
• Sending a reefer or a damaged unit to the pier. Several lines carry a flat prohibition on reefer returns at Maher, and damaged equipment is routed to named off-dock addresses. A truck arriving with the wrong equipment class is turned, and the slot is lost.
• Treating a double move as a single move. The file notes cases where a high-cube return is accepted only with a double move. Booked as one transaction, that is a wasted trip.
• Filing E416 when the cargo is at E430. The two codes look almost identical and sit at the same terminal. The entry is wrong even though the terminal is right.

Questions operators actually ask

Where is the Maher empty return list?

At portal.maherterminals.com/reports/EMPTY_DISPATCH_RETURNS.pdf, titled Daily Empty Dispatch – Return Information, organised by steamship line and regenerated through the day.

Can I find out where to return an empty tomorrow?

Often yes. The report’s footer carries a from-date and to-date selection, and a single run can print more than one effective date, so the next working day’s instruction may already be in the file you are looking at. Check the date heading above the line’s block rather than assuming the whole PDF is today.

Does Maher take reefer returns?

For several lines the file says plainly that reefers are not received at Maher and the steamship line must be contacted for the return location, while high-cube reefers for some other lines are directed to a specific Maher berth. It is line-specific and equipment-specific — read the block for your line on the day.

What is the Maher FIRMS code?

E430 for MAHER TERMINAL at 4010 Port Elizabeth. E416 is a separate Maher facility on Bay Avenue and E592 is the FCL wharfing record. All three sit in CBP port 4601.

What do I need to get a truck through the gate?

A valid TWIC, Sea Link card and RFID tag for any transaction, plus the move-specific data: booking number and equipment specification for an empty pick-up, equipment specification for an empty return, container and bill of lading number for an import delivery.

Our brokers already handle the codes — why would operations need this in one system?

Because the failure is rarely the code itself; it is that the code, the container, the cut-off and the free-time clock live in four places, so nobody sees the whole exposure until a storage invoice arrives. Putting them on one shipment record is the point, and it is a volume question rather than a features question. The numbers are on pricing: Startup is $150 a month including one user, Premium is $299 a month, Enterprise is quoted, and the free trial does not take a card.