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Demurrage Billing Compliance

Demurrage and detention billing that proves each container-day on a terminal's storage invoice from its own gate, hold and appointment records, and checks the FMC rule's required contents before anyone signs.

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The problem

A day nobody could book a pickup, billed under a statement that says otherwise

The terminal operating system drafts storage invoices from discharge and gate-out events and the rate in the published schedule. A revenue analyst works the exceptions by hand: a customer called, a hold looked odd. A day the terminal offered no import appointments gets found only if someone remembers the outage or the customer complains.

The invoice is now a regulated document. It must carry the contents the FMC lists, including a statement that the terminal's own performance did not cause the charges, and go out within the rule's window from the last charge. An exam hold waived for one customer gets billed to the next with no record of why, and each dispute means a week of digging through gate transactions and screenshots.

Built forRevenue analystsRevenue managersTerminal general managersCustomer service leads

The Problem Today

The billing system prices storage from gate events, and it cannot see a day the terminal offered no pickups.

30 days
to issue after the charge was last incurred, under the FMC rule published
$1M
a year at risk at a terminal billing $20M in storage our estimate

Rechecked by hand after billing

  • Gate log
  • Holds
  • Slots
  • Template
  • Statements dropped by a templateAn upgrade removes both required statements from each invoice
  • One line's clock runs out firstA consolidated invoice is already late for its first box

The Solution

  1. Each container-day typedGate, hold and appointment records set each day free, chargeable or off
  2. Required contents checkedEach required item marked with the agent that checked it, statements included
  3. The billed party's side arguedA challenger disputes the corrected draft, the agents' own errors included
  4. Prepared, opened, then signedAnalyst prepares it; the revenue manager opens both versions, then signs

Built-in controls

  • Statement wording copied only from approved text
  • The signer opens the invoice and its event log first
  • Holds, waivers and credits stay with named people

What You Get

Each storage invoice bills only the days the terminal's records prove, and goes out well inside its clock.

  • No-appointment days taken offReleased containers lose the days nobody could book
  • Required contents on each invoiceBoth statements present, in approved wording
  • Rulings kept as rulesA past ruling applied only after the general manager approves
Features

Demurrage and detention billing features, from billing run to issued invoice

Revenue analysts and revenue managers at a marine terminal use them to prove each storage invoice before it goes out. Each screen comes from one invoice for eight import containers.

demoThe terminal, the importer, the vessel, the containers, the people and the dollar figures shown are sample data; the FMC rule is real.

  1. 01Invoice check

    Storage invoice checked as it will print, the terminal's event log beside it

    • The invoice as the billed party will see it. Each required item is numbered where it sits on the paper, so the analyst checks the very document that goes out.
    • Gate, hold and slot events read row by row. Discharges, holds, the appointment slot release and out-gates sit beside the invoice, each one opening its record.
    • Steers that widen the check. A request to check every invoice off that vessel call for the same lost day adds a step to the plan, logged under the analyst's name.
  2. 02Required items

    FMC demurrage rule contents checked item by item on the billing run draft

    • Each required item marked by its checking agent. B/L and container numbers, free-time dates, dates charged, rate basis, dispute contact and both statements each carry a status and a source.
    • Days the terminal could not deliver taken off. A day with no import pickup slots comes off each container released that day, so the performance statement stays true.
    • Statements copied from approved wording. When a template drops them, both statements are restored word for word from the wording the general manager approved.
  3. 03Challenger

    Billed party's dispute desk played against the corrected draft before signing

    • Each point with what the billed party would say. The analyst reads the dispute the importer's desk would file, with the answer from the schedule and the events.
    • Errors in the corrected draft caught. Free-time dates copied from another line are found on the agents' own draft before the invoice can be signed.
    • Hold days sent to a person. Charges during a government exam hold are a decision, so the challenger hands them to the analyst and the revenue manager.
  4. 04Billing portal

    Billed party confirmed in fixed fields through the terminal's billing portal

    • Who is billed confirmed by the billed party. Party responsible, billing contact, reference and delivery order come back as fields that print on the invoice.
    • A wrong-party answer stops the case. If the importer names another party, the case blocks and shows the deadline for re-issuing to the right one.
    • Notes held for the analyst. The importer's typed note changes nothing on the invoice and waits for the analyst to open it.
  5. 05What-if

    Exam-hold days priced keep or waive, and what a later issue date would cost

    • Keep or waive with the money beside each. Invoice total, likely credit and dispute handling are shown with the assumptions the analyst confirms.
    • Precedent flagged before a waiver. A waiver shows how many other held invoices carry hold days, and that it needs the general manager as second signer.
    • What slipping the issue date costs. Each later date shows which container lines pass their thirtieth day and what they would no longer bring in.
  6. 06Hold-day proposal

    Keep-or-waive proposal on exam-hold days, with a reason code on record

    • The analyst proposes, the manager decides. Keep or waive is a proposal until the revenue manager signs the invoice.
    • Reason codes both ways. Keeping and waiving each carry a coded reason and the analyst's words, so the next invoice with hold days starts from a record.
    • Earlier waivers named for what they were. A credit given on a past invoice is recorded as a waiver, so it does not quietly become the rule.
  7. 07Corrections

    Corrected storage invoice with each correction accepted against its record

    • Each correction accepted or rejected by the analyst. No-appointment days, statements, free-time dates and the billed party's fields are applied one by one, with a reason to reject.
    • The issue clock on every line. The invoice shows which line's thirtieth day comes first, so a consolidated invoice is not late for its first container.
    • Prepared for a different signer. Preparation and signature belong to two different people, and the signer cannot be the preparer.
  8. 08Sign-off

    Revenue manager opens both invoices and the event log before signing

    • Signing locked until both are opened. The corrected invoice and the checked invoice with its event log are opened first, and each open is logged.
    • What the signature means, in words. Each billed day checked against the events and the schedule, the hold-day proposal agreed, two statements approved.
    • A refusal recorded like an approval. Sending the invoice back carries its own code and the manager's words.
  9. 09Issued

    Storage invoice issued with every required item, inside its 30-day clock

    • Issued well inside the clock. The invoice goes out with time to spare on its earliest line, and the dispute window prints on it.
    • The draft and the issued invoice side by side. Billing run draft and corrected draft stay one click apart, each change traced to its agent and its record.
    • Event log kept with the invoice. The gate and yard events behind each billed day go with the invoice into the evidence binder.

Four people who stand behind a terminal's storage invoice

The analyst proves the days, the manager signs, the general manager owns the rules and customer service answers disputes.

Revenue analysts

Work the held invoices, steer the agents and prepare each corrected invoice

  • Every chargeable day typed from the terminal's records
  • Errors in the agents' draft caught before signing
  • Hold-day options priced with assumptions marked
Revenue managers

Open and sign corrected invoices and decide hold days

  • The checked invoice and event log opened first
  • Re-drafted batches signed after a few invoices are opened
  • Dispute answers as second person
Terminal general managers

Approve billing rules, invoice wording, settings and waivers

  • A rule in force only once approved
  • Statement wording copied exactly as approved
  • Waivers that need a second signature
Customer service leads

Answer disputes within the rule's window with the gate record attached

  • An agent draft built from events and history
  • Answer-by dates on each dispute
  • The billed party's fields in one place

A day with no pickup slots, two missing statements and a line 7 date error

What the check found on one invoice the billing run had ready to send.

A no-slot day billed on five released containers

The appointment system released 0 import pickup slots that day. Lines 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 lose it, 5 days and $875.00; lines 3 and 5 keep it because CBP held them.

Both required statements missing

The billing run draft had 16 of 19 items right. A newly installed template had dropped the statement block, restored from approved wording T-541-2.

Line 7's free-time dates copied from line 1

Line 7 was discharged after midnight, so its free time started a day later than the other lines; the days charged were already right, only the printed dates were wrong.

The earliest line's clock sets the deadline

Line 1 went out first, so its thirtieth day sets the deadline for the whole invoice. It was issued on day 15 of 30.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

More screens

Held invoices, disputes and the rules the agents learned at the terminal

What the revenue team works around one corrected invoice.

The held queueThe billing run held 118 invoices before issue, 117 still held; 97 need only the two statements and can be re-drafted together, then signed after samples are opened.
Disputes with answer-by datesEach request with its answer-by date; the agent drafts an answer from the appointment log and customer service proposes, the revenue manager approves.
Rules from rulingsDB-02 takes a no-appointment day off released containers; DB-03, from today's line 7 fix, is proposed and goes to the general manager for approval.
A month of billing qualityInvoices issued, held before issue, issued late and disputes answered on time, with why invoices were held and how each group was settled.
The billed party's answerEach field the importer answered and its effect on the invoice; the analyst opened its note, which changes nothing.
Each read, steer and signature loggedReads, steers, corrections, the hold-day proposal and both signatures, each with why, kept seven years.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Five records behind every chargeable day on the invoice

Billing run draftsStorage invoices drafted by the terminal operating system from discharge and gate-out events.
Discharge, hold and gate-out eventsEach container's days, from vessel discharge to out-gate, with CBP holds.
Gate appointment logsFull twenty-four-hour slot releases, import and export, for each day charged.
The terminal schedule and approved rulesFree time, rates and the days not charged, plus rules a person approved.
Billed parties' answersFields and files through the billing portal; a person opens any typed note.

What terminal revenue teams ask about demurrage and detention billing

What is demurrage and detention billing under the FMC rule?

Demurrage and detention billing is how a marine terminal, ocean carrier or NVOCC invoices charges for terminal space or containers. The FMC rule sets what each invoice must contain, including two statements, how soon after the last charge it must be issued, and how long the billed party has to dispute.

What happens if a storage invoice misses a required item or the deadline?

Under the rule the billed party is not required to pay it. That is why a missing statement holds the invoice here rather than being fixed later, and why the clock is read per container line.

Can a terminal bill storage while CBP holds a container for exam?

The terminal's own schedule decides; the schedule on these screens keeps storage running during a government hold. The challenger raises how the FMC looks at such charges, and a person decides whether to keep or waive the days.

How are days the terminal could not deliver handled?

The agents read the appointment system's full day. A day with no import pickup slots comes off each container released and available that day, under the schedule and an approved rule, so the performance statement stays true.

Who decides who is billed?

The schedule names the credit account holder, and the billed party confirms in fixed fields. If it names another party, the case stops and shows how long remains to re-issue to the right one.

Do the agents issue invoices or grant credits?

No. They read, type days, check contents and draft. Analysts prepare, the revenue manager signs and issues, waivers need the general manager, and customer service answers disputes with a second person.

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Bring an invoice your
customer disputed.

Bring one storage invoice and its gate, hold and appointment records, and we will prove its days with you.

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