The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is proposing a new rule that seeks to bring more clarity, structure and punctuality to the demurrage and detention billing practices of vessel operating common carriers (VOCCs), non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) and marine terminal operators (MTOs).
If the proposed rule is adopted, VOCCs, NVOCCs and MTOs will be permitted to issue bills for demurrage or detention only to parties with which they have a contractual relationship, and will be required to be clear regarding the nature of the charges, issue invoices within 30 days after the charges stop accruing, and provide 30 days to dispute the charges with clear information about how charges should be disputed.
The FMC proposes adopting the list of minimum information that common carriers must include in demurrage or detention invoices as mandated in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA); further defining prohibited practices by clarifying which parties may be billed for demurrage or detention charges; and establishing billing practices that billing parties must follow when invoicing for demurrage or detention charges.
The Commission is specifically interested in receiving comments on whether it would be appropriate to include the consignee named on the bill of lading as another party who may receive a demurrage or detention invoice.
Interested parties will have 60 days to submit comments to the FMC once the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published in the Federal Register.
