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The FMC Billing Rule, Plainly

This is not legal advice. It is a practitioner's summary of a federal rule, and anything with real money attached deserves counsel who handles Shipping Act matters. For a software-oriented reference on recorded work time and accountability, employee PC activity tracking.

The rule governs ocean demurrage and detention billing. It does not set rates and it does not apply to trucking companies as billing parties. What it does is make a non-compliant invoice unenforceable, which is the most useful thing in it. For broader freight and commercial context, see Federal Highway Administration.

Reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources: FMC, the Federal Register and the D.C. Circuit decision.

Where it came from

Congress directed the Federal Maritime Commission to regulate demurrage and detention practices under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022.

The Commission issued its Final Rule on Detention and Demurrage Billing Requirements on 23 February 2024, effective 28 May 2024, codified at 46 CFR Part 541.

What it requires

Invoice content. An invoice must contain accurate, complete and sufficient information — enough for the billed party to verify independently which container the charge applies to, what period it covers, and how the amount was calculated.

A 30-day issuance window. Billing parties must issue invoices within 30 days.

And the consequence that matters: failure to meet either requirement eliminates the billed party's obligation to pay.

That is the lever. A charge that arrives without the required elements is not merely disputable — under the rule as written, there is no obligation to pay it as issued until it is corrected.

A 30-day dispute window. If the invoice is compliant but you believe the charge is wrong on the merits, a written request for mitigation, refund or waiver goes in within 30 days rather than paying and hoping for a credit later.

What the court struck down

The World Shipping Council, representing vessel-operating carriers, petitioned for review in April 2024.

On 23 September 2025 the D.C. Circuit decided World Shipping Council v. Federal Maritime Commission, 152 F.4th 215, and set aside one section — 46 CFR 541.4, which had specified who may be invoiced.

The reasoning is worth knowing because it is not about fairness. The court held the section arbitrary and capricious because the Commission failed to explain an inconsistency in its own logic: the rule's organising principle was contractual privity with the ocean carrier, yet it permitted billing a consignee, who may have no privity at all, while barring motor carriers entirely.

The FMC subsequently removed 541.4 from the Code of Federal Regulations.

Everything else survived. Invoice content requirements, the 30-day issuance deadline, the loss of payment obligation for non-compliance, and the dispute timeframes all remain in force, and the Commission has said so explicitly.

What that changes in practice

Who can be billed is now a contract question, not a regulatory one.

Before the ruling, a motor carrier could not be billed under any circumstance — the Commission issued a correction in May 2024 saying exactly that. After it, the federal restriction is gone, and one law firm's assessment was blunt: the vacatur leaves a regulatory gap that invites aggressive and inconsistent billing practices.

So the protection moved into your agreements. Anyone renewing an ocean carrier, NVOCC or drayage contract should treat billing-party language as a required item: who is invoiced for demurrage, who for detention, and where responsibility hands off. What the regulation used to guarantee now has to be negotiated.

Using it

Audit the invoice before paying it. Container number tied to a bill of lading or booking, the specific period including when free time actually ended, the applicable per-diem rate tied to a tariff rule or service contract provision, and the arithmetic. A missing element is a basis for non-payment pending correction.

Diarise both 30-day clocks. Issuance and dispute. They work in your favour only if somebody is tracking them — the same discipline a defensible road claim needs.

Keep the evidence a dispute needs: terminal availability records, appointment confirmations, port congestion notices. These are what support a merits argument once the invoice itself is compliant.

And do not treat the truck side as covered. Road detention has no equivalent rule — the FMC's requirements are a useful precedent and a persuasive standard, not an obligation on a domestic carrier.

Free time, for context

Demurrage free time commonly runs three to seven calendar days after a container is discharged, depending on the carrier's tariff and the terminal. It is a term, not a standard, and like every other free-time allowance it is negotiable.

The short version