18 Mar FMC Confirms Demurrage and Detention Billing Practices
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has confirmed regulations concerning detention and demurrage billing, which are due to come into effect as of 28 May 2024.
These new rules centre on the demurrage fees charged by carriers and container terminals when full containers are not picked up within a certain number of days, as well as detention fees when empty containers are returned late.
These new rules shield truckers from being issued with these charges as they limit the ability to issue detention and demurrage invoices to the shipper as “the person for whose account the billing party provided ocean transportation or storage of cargo and who contracted with the billing party for the ocean transportation or storage of cargo”. In addition, an invoice can only be sent to either a shipper or consignee, but not both, per the FMC’s rules.
The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA’s) are reportedly pleased to see that motor carriers who do not contract with shipping liners will no longer receive these bills.
The regulations also outline that ocean carriers will need to adhere to a tighter timeframe during which they can send a bill to the correct party under the new rules, with the requirements that detention and demurrage invoices must be issued to the correct party within 30 days of when the charges last accrued and any invoice disputes must be done within 30 days.
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