diff --git a/swh/loader/mercurial/cli.py b/swh/loader/mercurial/cli.py
--- a/swh/loader/mercurial/cli.py
+++ b/swh/loader/mercurial/cli.py
@@ -3,11 +3,13 @@
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
-import datetime
 from itertools import chain
 import logging
 
 import click
+from deprecated import deprecated
+
+from swh.loader.mercurial.utils import parse_visit_date
 
 LOGLEVELS = list(
     chain.from_iterable(
@@ -31,6 +33,9 @@
 @click.option("--hg-archive", "-a", help=("Path to the hg archive file to load from."))
 @click.option("--visit-date", "-D", help="Visit date (defaults to now).")
 @click.option("--log-level", "-l", type=click.Choice(LOGLEVELS), help="Log level.")
+@deprecated(
+    version="0.4.0", reason="Use `swh loader run mercurial|mercurial_from_disk` instead"
+)
 def main(
     origin_url, hg_directory=None, hg_archive=None, visit_date=None, log_level=None
 ):
@@ -41,8 +46,8 @@
         format="%(asctime)s %(process)d %(message)s",
     )
 
-    if not visit_date:
-        visit_date = datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc)
+    visit_date = parse_visit_date(visit_date or "now")
+
     kwargs = {"visit_date": visit_date, "url": origin_url}
     if hg_archive:
         from .loader import HgArchiveBundle20Loader as HgLoader
diff --git a/swh/loader/mercurial/utils.py b/swh/loader/mercurial/utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/mercurial/utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/mercurial/utils.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from typing import Optional, Union
 
-import dateutil
+from dateutil.parser import parse
 
 
 def parse_visit_date(visit_date: Optional[Union[datetime, str]]) -> Optional[datetime]:
@@ -24,6 +24,6 @@
         return datetime.now(tz=timezone.utc)
 
     if isinstance(visit_date, str):
-        return dateutil.parser.parse(visit_date)
+        return parse(visit_date)
 
     raise ValueError(f"invalid visit date {visit_date!r}")