Do I have to pay a US demurrage invoice that is missing required information?

Under 46 CFR 541.5, omission of applicable required minimum information eliminates the billed party's obligation to pay the applicable charge. Put the defect in writing, cite the missing field, and use the dispute process or an FMC Charge Complaint if the billing party insists.

How long does a carrier have to issue a demurrage or detention invoice?

Thirty calendar days from the date the charge was last incurred, or 30 days from the issuance date of the received invoice for an NVOCC passing a charge through. A late charge is not payable under the FMC rule.

Did the court strike down the FMC's D&D billing rule?

No. On September 23, 2025, the D.C. Circuit set aside only section 541.4, which limited who could be invoiced. The required invoice contents, the 30-day issuance deadline, and the dispute windows all remain in force.

A Practical Guide to Challenging US Demurrage and Detention Invoices

A demurrage or detention bill used to be a document you argued with after paying. For containers moving through US foreign ocean commerce, the FMC’s billing rule reversed that order: the invoice itself must include every applicable item in the agency’s five-category disclosure standard, and failure to include required minimum information eliminates the billed party’s obligation to pay the applicable charge. A federal court struck one provision of the rule in September 2025, and it is worth being precise about which one, because everything that makes the invoice contestable survived. Here is the check to run before paying a US D&D bill.

One scope note up front. The rule (46 CFR Part 541) governs demurrage and detention invoices issued by ocean common carriers, marine terminal operators, and NVOCCs within the FMC’s Shipping Act jurisdiction. It does not govern billing relationships among and between ocean common carriers and marine terminal operators. For cargo outside US foreign ocean commerce, this specific rule generally does not apply, though the documentation discipline below still helps in disputes elsewhere.

The invoice-content check: up to 20 required fields

Section 541.6 sets out five categories of required content, comprising up to 20 numbered items depending on whether the shipment is an import or export and which fields apply. Under section 541.5, failing to include any applicable required minimum information eliminates the billed party’s obligation to pay the applicable charge. That is the rule’s own language, and it makes the first move in any dispute a line-by-line read of the invoice.

Category	Required at minimum
Identifying information	B/L number(s); container number(s); port(s) of discharge for imports; the basis for why the billed party is the proper party of interest and thus liable
Timing information	Invoice date; invoice due date; allowed free time in days; free time start date; free time end date; container availability date for imports; earliest return date for exports; the specific date(s) charged
Rate information	Total amount due; the applicable rule the daily rate is based on (tariff name and rule number, terminal schedule, or service contract number and section); the specific rate(s) per that rule
Dispute information	Contact details for mitigation, refund, or waiver requests; a digital pointer such as a URL or QR code to the documentation requirements for those requests; the defined timeframes for requesting and resolving them
Certifications	A statement that the charges are consistent with FMC rules, including 46 CFR 545.5; a statement that the billing party’s performance did not cause or contribute to the charges

Required invoice contents under 46 CFR § 541.6, in force since May 28, 2024. Some items apply only to imports or exports. Current as of July 2026.

The certification row deserves more attention than it usually gets. Every compliant US D&D invoice now carries the billing party’s own statement that its performance did not cause or contribute to the charge. When cargo was not actually available, a terminal gate was closed, appointments were unavailable, or an empty container could not be returned, that certification is directly testable against the operational record. Free time mechanics set the stage here, and if you need a refresher on where the clock starts, our guides on finding your free time and last free day before the container lands and carrier LFD vs terminal LFD cover the two deadlines that decide when charges begin.

The two 30-day clocks

The issuance clock runs against the carrier. A billing party must issue a D&D invoice within 30 calendar days from the date the charge was last incurred. Miss the window, and the billed party is not required to pay the applicable charge. An NVOCC passing through a charge gets 30 calendar days from the issuance date of the invoice it received. Late invoices are one of the most mechanical defects to check, since a compliant invoice must show both its issuance date and the specific dates for which charges were assessed.

The dispute clock protects the billed party. You have at least 30 calendar days from the invoice date to request fee mitigation, refund, or waiver. Once a timely request is filed, the billing party must attempt to resolve it within 30 calendar days unless both sides agree to a longer period. The FMC presents direct resolution and a Charge Complaint as separate avenues; its published filing guidance does not state that the billing party’s internal mitigation process must be completed first.

What the court struck in September 2025 — and what it left standing

On September 23, 2025, the D.C. Circuit set aside exactly one section of the rule: 46 CFR 541.4, which had restricted who a D&D invoice could be sent to (the party that contracted for the transportation or storage, or the consignee, and never multiple parties at once). The FMC’s public position is unambiguous: apart from section 541.4, the rest of the rule remains in effect, and carriers and terminals that ignore the surviving requirements risk Shipping Act violations.

Two practical consequences follow. First, Part 541 no longer provides the specific restriction that limited invoices to a contracting party or consignee. Whether a recipient is otherwise liable may still depend on the governing contract, tariff, bill of lading, agency relationship, and other applicable law. The court also left the door open for a future rulemaking that reinstates a recipient restriction with fuller justification. Second, nothing about the invoice-contents check or either 30-day clock changed. If you built a dispute process on those provisions, it still works exactly as designed.

Why this lever has teeth right now

Enforcement is no longer theoretical. The FMC continues to investigate charge complaints, adjudicate Shipping Act claims, and require refunds or waivers where carrier charges are found noncompliant. Its Charge Complaint process allows the Commission to investigate charges assessed by common carriers and may result in a decision requiring the carrier to refund or waive the charge. The current posture rewards billed parties who preserve invoices, appointment records, gate closures, availability data, and correspondence rather than paying without review.

The FMC also maintains three formal channels when direct resolution fails: a Charge Complaint, informal assistance through its Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services, or a proceeding before the Commission, including formal complaints heard by administrative law judges and a separate small-claims process.

The playbook when a US D&D bill arrives

Run the invoice-content check. Read the invoice against the table above. Any missing applicable required field is your first line of refusal, and the rule’s own text says the payment obligation for the applicable charge is eliminated. Cite section 541.5 and the specific missing field in writing.
Check the issuance clock. Compare the invoice date against the last date charges were incurred. More than 30 calendar days between them means the bill was issued late.
Test the dates against your own records. The timing fields are where invoices lose. Free time start, container availability date, and the specific days charged are all facts your container event history can confirm or contradict. A box shown as available on a day it could not actually be retrieved gives you evidence for a mitigation, refund, waiver, or Charge Complaint.
Challenge the certification where facts support it. If the container was unavailable, the gate was closed, no appointments could be obtained, or an empty container could not be returned, test the billing party’s certification against those records.
File inside your 30-day window, in writing. Use the dispute contact and documentation requirements the invoice itself must provide. Escalate to an FMC channel if resolution stalls.

Notice what steps 3 and 4 depend on: your records, not the carrier’s. A dispute stands or falls on whether you can produce the container-level dates — discharge, availability, gate-out, return — that the invoice’s own required fields must reconcile with. If your team assembles that timeline by pulling screenshots from terminal and carrier portals after the bill lands, see how ops teams keep a container-level event record across carriers that’s ready before the invoice arrives.

For what the charges themselves look like when they do stick, our companion post on how US demurrage tiers vary by carrier breaks down the per-day rates a compliant invoice will reference.

FAQ

Do I have to pay a US demurrage invoice that is missing required information? Under 46 CFR 541.5, omission of applicable required minimum information eliminates the billed party’s obligation to pay the applicable charge. In practice, put the defect in writing, cite the missing field, and use the dispute process or an FMC Charge Complaint if the billing party insists.
How long does a carrier have to issue a demurrage or detention invoice? Thirty calendar days from the date the charge was last incurred (30 days from the issuance date of the received invoice for an NVOCC passing a charge through). A late charge is not payable under the rule.
Did the court strike down the FMC’s D&D billing rule? No. On September 23, 2025, the D.C. Circuit set aside only section 541.4, which limited who could be invoiced. The required invoice contents, the 30-day issuance deadline, and the dispute windows all remain in force.