per diem disputes

Effective on May 28, 2024, the Federal Maritime Commission removed the onus of per diem and detention disputes from the drayage providers and placed it upon the shipper/consignee on the bill of lading. For more details on this rule change, please visit the FMC’s website: Learn More.

This is causing a strain on the relationships between Drayage Providers, steamship lines, brokers, and customers as there has been no training on how to dispute these invoices when the steamship line sends them out.

This is an unfortunate result because the people receiving these invoices don’t know how to dispute them properly. We at Supra have a very high success rate at disputing per diem invoices with the carriers, but when the customer is new to the process and doesn’t wish to spend days, weeks, or months disputing the invoice, the steamship lines take advantage of this and just deny claims.

The problem with this is that customers send an email for disputes and get declined. At that point, they place the onus back upon the drayage provider. The customer then claims that they had to pay per diem because of the drayage provider. In most instances, this is not true; there were no appointments available, but the customer just deducts the per diem invoice amount and washes their hands of it. This is not a solution because the customer still owes the funds for the services provided. This could end up with the customer in collections, small claims, or in court proceedings. This is not a desired result for any of us, and drayage companies are continuing to press the FMC for solutions to put more of the liability back on the steamship lines.

On June 16, 2022, after the Commission issued the ANPRM and received comments, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA 2022) was enacted into law. In OSRA 2022, Congress amended various statutory provisions contained in part A of subtitle IV of title 46, U.S. Code. Specifically, OSRA 2022 prohibits common carriers from issuing an invoice for demurrage or detention charges unless the invoice includes specific information to show that the charges comply with part 545 of title 46, Code of Federal Regulations and applicable provisions and regulations. OSRA 2022 then lists the minimum information that common carriers must include in a demurrage or detention invoice:

Date that the container is made available
The port of discharge
The container number or numbers
For exported shipments, the earliest return date
The allowed free time in days
The start date of free time
The end date of free time
The applicable detention or demurrage rule on which the daily rate is based
The applicable rate or rates per the applicable rule
The total amount due
The email, telephone number, or other appropriate contact information for questions or requests for mitigation of fees
A statement that the charges are consistent with any of the Federal Maritime Commission rules with respect to detention and demurrage
A statement that the common carrier’s performance did not cause or contribute to the underlying invoiced charges

Failure to include the required information on a demurrage or detention invoice eliminates any obligation of the billed party to pay the applicable charge. In addition, OSRA 2022 authorizes the Commission to revise the minimum information that common carriers must include on demurrage or detention invoices in future rulemakings.

SUPRA HELPS PROVIDE
PER DIEM SOLUTIONS iN 5 EASY STEPS

Auto Notifications: Supra sends auto notifications the day prior to the last free day.
Data Collection: Supra collects data showing when appointments were or weren’t available.
Invoice Review: Supra will assist in reviewing the invoices to ensure that all of the required details are on the invoice.
Dispute Assistance: Depending upon the carrier’s response, Supra can assist in getting the per diem waived, provided the dispute was filed by the customer within the allotted 30-day free time.
Continued Support: Supra will continue to help with disputes where the steamship line rejects the dispute. We have one that took over 8 months before the steamship line finally realized that they were in the wrong. We won’t stop until all avenues have been exhausted.