SHIPPERS FACE UNREASONABLE RISING DEMURRAGE AND DETENTION CHARGES
FREIGHT FORWARDERS ARE RAISING THE ALARM ABOUT THE INCREASING DEMURRAGE AND DETENTION FEES CARRIERS ARE CHARGING TO MAXIMIZE THEIR PROFITS. Demurrage refers to a charge that a merchant pays for a container that sits at a terminal without being picked up by a trucker. In the case of demurrage, the terminal incurs extra costs from acting as a storage yard. In detention, however, ocean carriers lose the opportunity to return their containers for other shippers needing to move freight. ACCORDING TO FIATA (THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FREIGHT FORWARDERS ASSOCIATIONS), THE AMOUNT OF FREE-TIME AT TERMINALS AND FOR USE OF CARRIER EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN DECREASED, WHILE TARIFFS IMPOSED AFTER FREE-TIME ENDS HAVE BEEN INCREASED. Terminals and steamship lines oppose the continued use of detention and demurrage charges as a way to encourage pick up and return of containers to scale up cargo fluidity that has been challenged by discharge of large mega-ships. Additionally, FIATA does not be...