Trucks May Once Again Face Demurrage Bills After Court Ruling

Truckers could once again face demurrage charges after a federal appeals court overturned
part of a Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) rule that had prohibited such fees.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, ruling in a case filed by the World
Shipping Council, found the FMC’s 2024 rule blocking demurrage assessments against motor
carriers “arbitrary and capricious.”

The court said the Commission failed to justify why motor carriers with direct contracts with
ocean carriers could not be billed, while some non-contracting parties could.
“While the Commission’s basic, stated rationale was to confine the parties against whom
demurrage and detention charges may be levied to entities who are in a contractual relationship
with the billing party, the Commission, without adequate explanation, left out entities who are in
such a contractual relationship while seemingly including others who are not,” the court wrote.
The overturned section was part of the FMC’s effort to clarify who can be charged demurrage
and detention fees.

In an online commentary, attorneys Julie Maurer and Benjamin Nashed of the law firm Husch
Blackwell noted that the court found this reasoning inconsistent, as the rule limited billing to
shippers who contracted directly with ocean carriers or non-vessel operating common carriers
(NVOCCs), excluding truckers even when a contractual relationship existed.