The Federal Maritime Commission 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).
Along with this announcement, FMC also released their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) per the requirement in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) and continued work the Commission initiated in 2018 when it ordered an investigation (Fact Finding 28) led by Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye into conditions and practices of VOCCS and MTOs related to demurrage, detention, and per diem charges. That fact finding led to the Commission issuing a final rule in May 2020 addressing how the reasonableness of demurrage and detention practices of VOCCs and MTOs will be interpreted.
Most critically for motor carriers, the Commission states in the NPRM that “practically, the proposed rule would prohibit billing parties from invoicing motor carriers or customs brokers.” and proposes that “only the person who contracted with the common carrier for the carriage or storage of goods may be issued an invoice.”
Additionally, the Commission is proposing four specific actions within this NPRM:
- Adopting the list of minimum information that common carriers must include in demurrage or detention invoices as mandated in OSRA and codified at 46 U.S.C. 41104(d)(2).
- Adding to the list referenced immediately above additional information that must be included in or with a demurrage or detention invoice.
- Further defining prohibited practices by clarifying which parties may be billed for demurrage or detention charges.
- Establishing billing practices that billing parties must follow when invoicing for demurrage or detention charges.
We urge members to submit comments on the NPRM, which will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The Commission is using the Regulations.gov portal to receive filed comments. A link within the Federal Register notice will take commenters to a page established for this NPRM. You may submit comments identified by docket number FMC-2022-0066 at www.regulations.gov.
If you have any questions please contact Bernice Creager at bcreager@caltrux.org.