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Freight charges / Article 4

The 2022 lookback.

Why demurrage and detention you already paid may not be closed.

Most importers treat a paid invoice as finished. A rule the Federal Maritime Commission published on September 1, 2026 is a reason to look at that again, for any charge assessed on or after June 16, 2022.

Where June 16, 2022 comes from

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 took effect on June 16, 2022. It created the charge complaint, a way to bring a carrier's charges to the FMC. For demurrage and detention, it put the burden on the carrier to show that its charge was reasonable, rather than on you to show it was not.

What the September 2026 rule confirmed

  • There is no statute of limitations for a charge complaint, as long as the charge was assessed on or after June 16, 2022.
  • A charge complaint does not have to go through the FMC's interim procedure only. It can also go through the FMC's formal or small claims complaint processes.
  • Whichever route is used, the carrier still carries the burden of proving its demurrage or detention charge was reasonable.

Traditional reparation claims under the Shipping Act have a three year limit. Charge complaints do not, which is why older charges may still be open.

What a charge complaint needs

Under the formal or small claims route, the FMC says a charge complaint must concern charges assessed by a common carrier, include the relevant bill of lading numbers and invoices, and allege a violation of 46 U.S.C. 41104(a), 41102, or both.

What to do with this

  • Pull the demurrage and detention invoices you paid since June 16, 2022.
  • Find the matching gate dates, availability notices and contract or tariff terms.
  • Check each charge the same way you would check a new one. How to check a demurrage invoice
  • Sort the results into worth raising and not worth raising.

An honest limit

No deadline does not mean every old charge is worth raising. Some were billed correctly. Others are too small to justify the effort, or the records to prove them are gone. Older records get harder to find each year, so the sorting is worth doing sooner rather than later.

Zenmul's lookback audit goes through the detention and demurrage you have already paid since June 16, 2022 and sorts each charge by whether it is worth raising. You decide what to file, and you file it yourself.

Learn about the lookback audit All articles

This article is a plain summary of published rules, not legal advice.