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Last week, the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) sent letters to 25 container lines and the World Shipping Council to call on ocean carriers to rapidly adopt three common best practices related to detention and demurrage that promote clarity and certainty about how and when fees will be assessed as well as how to challenge disputed charges.

The initiative follows an examination of the carriers' fees launched by FMC in July, and the work carried out by the Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (VOCC) Audit Team now leads to three recommendations for container carriers. As part of their work, the Team sought examples of model behaviour by individual carriers that should become industry standards:

• Display detention and demurrage charges clearly and prominently on their webpage or customer portal;
• Develop and document clear internal processes on all matters related to detention and demurrage where they have not already done so; and
• Clearly delineate dispute resolution procedures, contacts, and required documentation on their website and invoices.

In addition to the work of the VOCC Audit Team, the FMC is pursuing other actions to achieve compliance with its rule on detention and demurrage. It has been announced in September that the Commission will run consultation on detention and demurrage billing practices that will be published in the coming months. The FMC is also moving forward implementing five of eight Interim Recommendations Commissioner Rebecca Dye made to address detention and demurrage from her work on Fact Finding 29.

Source: FMC