Federal Maritime Commission February 26, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, the Federal Maritime Commission (the Commission or FMC) is issuing regulations governing demurrage and detention billing requirements. This final rule requires common carriers and marine terminal operators to include specific minimum information on demurrage and detention invoices, outlines certain detention and demurrage billing practices, such as determination of which parties may appropriately be billed for demurrage or detention charges, and sets timeframes for issuing invoices, disputing charges with the billing party, and resolving such disputes. It adopts with changes the notice of proposed rulemaking published on October 14, 2022. Substantive changes allow consignees to be billed and clarify the timeframe for non-vessel-operating common carriers passing through demurrage and detention charges to issue their own invoices. Non-substantive changes improve clarity and remove drafting errors.