US FMC recommends new demurrage and detention billing requests

The US FMC (Federal Maritime Commission) is recommending a new rule that will bring more clarity, and structure to the detention and demurrage billing practices of VOCCs, NVOCCs, and marine terminal operators. In case the proposal is adopted, then the three parties mentioned will be authorized to issue bills for demurrage and detention only to those parties which have a contractual relationship with them and will have to be clear on the nature of the charges. They can share invoices within 30 days after the charges stop accruing, and offer 30 days’ time to discuss the charges with clear information about how charges should be disputed.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) is mandated to include the demurrage or detention with a list of minimum information of common liners if the proposal is adopted. A billing process to be established that the billing parties must follow when filing the demurrage and detention costs.

The Commission is particularly interested in receiving remarks on whether it would be suitable to include the consignee’s name in the BOL as another party who may receive a demurrage or detention invoice.

Interested parties have 60 days to submit comments to the FMC after the notice of proposed rulemaking is published in the Federal Register.