Detention and demurrage (D&D) handled by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in the U.S. have tripled since the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to reach historical highs by the end of the year.
FMC Commissioner Carl Bentzel said that cases reaching the late-stage litigation had trebled, forcing the organisation to recruit two more administrative court judges, who now total three, to deal with the number of cases being handled.
“Even so only around 5% – 10% of cases reach the litigation stage with most disputes being settled before the point where litigation is needed,” Bentzel said.
Currently there around 56 formal cases being heard and another 31 small claims, but within that the number of incidents can be huge, as demonstrated by the recent case brought by Samsung Electronics America, which numbers 96,000 D&D charge incidents in its litigation with HMM.
Bentzel also said that the vast majority of cases never make it to the later stages, but are settled through the FMC’s dispute resolution process, and with cases involving $12 billion worth of billings since the pandemic, the organisation’s legal team remains “underpowered”, with recruitment of an administrator currently in process.
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