The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is to move forward with two initiatives related to detention and demurrage.
The first will see the shipping regulator publish a policy statement on issues affecting the ability of shippers, truckers and others to recoup losses from violations of the US Shipping Act, including those related to detention and demurrage.
The second will see the FMC move forward with a rule-making process on whether ocean carriers and terminal operators should have to include minimum information with detention and demurrage billings and whether they should have to adhere to certain practices related to the fees.
Detention and demurrage charges, or fees levied when containers are not picked up or returned to port within a certain period of time, have increasingly become an issue for US exporters amid widespread port congestion.
They feel they are losing market share abroad as liners want boxes back as soon as possible to fill with in-demand consumer goods produced in East Asia.
In July, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order that, in part, told the FMC to crack down on unjust and unreasonable fees.
Per the Shipping Act, passed in 1984, the FMC has the ability to enforce against "unreasonable" detention and demurrage fees.
A bill in Congress would allow the FMC to initiate its own investigations instead of waiting until a complaint is filed and would force liners to elaborate on why detention and demurrage fees are being charged.
In the weeks following Biden's executive order, the FMC announced an audit of liners newest congestion charges and came to an agreement with the Department of Justice's antitrust division on sharing information on competitiveness in shipping.
