On September 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the Federal Maritime Commission’s restriction on who can be billed demurrage and detention, unraveling the piece of the FMC’s 2024 rule that had effectively kept motor carriers off the hook. While the rest of the billing framework remains intact, the judges set aside the provision that confined invoices to a contracting shipper or the consignee — a change that could reshape who gets the bill when containers sit or chassis run long.
For trucking companies, the immediate headline is nuance, not panic: the court left the bulk of the rule in place — including deadlines to issue invoices, required invoice data elements, and dispute timelines — but reopened the central question Congress asked the FMC to settle in the first place: which parties may be billed. In plain terms, the “who pays” decision is back on the table.
Two tensions drove the court’s ruling. First, the FMC said billing should track contractual privity, yet it categorically barred invoices to motor carriers even when they contract directly with ocean carriers (e.g., carrier haulage) — a contradiction the panel called arbitrary. Second, the rule expressly allowed invoices to consignees even when they might lack a carrier contract, raising further inconsistency with the agency’s own logic. Those inconsistencies were enough for the court to set aside the “who-can-be-billed” section of the rule.
Timing matters. As of October 6, 2025, the D.C. Circuit has withheld its mandate while the window for any rehearing request runs — agencies like the FMC typically have 45 days to seek rehearing. That means the vacatur isn’t procedurally final yet, and industry changes may phase in rather than flip overnight. Trucking and drayage fleets should prepare for a shift, even as they watch the docket.
What does this mean on the ground for motor carriers?
– Expect renewed attempts to push invoices to parties in contractual privity. In carrier-haulage moves where a motor carrier contracts directly with a vessel-operating carrier, ocean lines may test billing truckers once the court’s mandate issues. Review those contracts now, including any detention/demurrage pass-through and indemnity language.
– Keep using the tools that survived. The FMC’s timing rules and invoice-content requirements still apply. Carriers generally must issue demurrage/detention invoices within 30 days and include specified data elements; billed parties have at least 30 days to seek refunds or waivers. Create a triage workflow to capture every ticking deadline, and continue to dispute noncompliant bills aggressively.
– Prepare for gray areas while “who pays” is unsettled. With the categorical ban on billing truckers vacated and the court calling out inconsistencies around consignees, some carriers may recalibrate whom they invoice — or attempt multiple paths until new guardrails are in place. Trucking companies should insist on clear billing instructions in service agreements and tighten SOPs for documenting terminal closures, appointment availability, and chassis shortages to support disputes.
– Coordinate with customers on risk allocation. Where shippers or consignees are accustomed to getting the first bill, the post-ruling landscape could prompt carriers to seek payments from whichever party has the cleanest contractual tie. Carriers and drayage providers should align on who pays, who disputes, and how recoveries flow back, to avoid circular fights and cash-flow surprises.
What’s next: The court’s decision doesn’t stop the FMC from running a new rulemaking to satisfy Congress’s directive under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to define who can be billed — it just says the agency has to square its rationale with its results. Until then, expect contracts and case-by-case disputes to do more of the work that the vacated section used to do, with trucking companies squarely back in the conversation when they are in privity with ocean carriers.
Why it matters for trucking: Demurrage and detention charges have always been about incentives, but who gets the invoice shapes behavior at the pier and in the yard. If billing follows contractual relationships again, motor carriers with carrier-haulage ties may face direct exposure — and, with it, leverage to negotiate clearer free-time, appointment, and chassis provisions up front. The surviving invoice-quality and timing rules keep meaningful protections in place; the key is using them — and tightening contracts — before the next wave of bills hits.
Sources: FreightWaves, Holland & Knight, Jones Walker LLP
This article was prepared exclusively for TruckStopInsider.com. Republishing is permitted only with proper credit and a link back to the original source.
