News / FMC complaint sees importer take aim at Hapag-Lloyd over Covid-era D&D fee

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The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is once again in the spotlight after meat importer Orleans International filed a fresh complaint against Hapag-Lloyd, accusing the carrier of levying unjust detention and demurrage (D&D) charges during the height of Covid-era port congestion.

Shocking no one at this stage, the issue surrounds the line imposing D&D charges against the complainant for containers at, among other places, the Port of Philadelphia during a moment described as a “fucking nightmare”, with other people’s boxes blocking access for retrieval.

In the filing, the complainant said: “Hapag containers were consistently buried under other cargo, with terminal operators stating, ‘this stack has to be picked up in order from top to bottom. They cannot give us any other container if the ones on top have not been picked up’.”

Orleans International’s complaint asserts that besides other boxes impeding access, a shortage in equipment and booking slots for drayage providers hobbled the ability of both its teams and the  agents to extricate containers, taking the issue beyond its control.

Furthermore, the filing appears to claim boxes obstructing retrieval may have been Hapag-Lloyd’s own; an extract from an email from the importer’s agent stated “you’ve one of your imports on top of our containers preventing it from us getting to the product we sold you!”.

Despite all of this, the claim being made is that the carrier slapped daily D&D charges onto the company of some $3,600 per teu, with the financial cost of the delays also resulting in spoilage of the cargoes.

“Respondent’s [Hapag-Lloyd] assessment of the charges has directly and proximately injured Complainant [Orleans International] by forcing Complainant to pay unjust and unreasonable Charges,” the filing added.

“Respondent’s conduct has caused Complainant to incur other injuries, including delays, failures to receive time-sensitive merchandise, reduced inventory for sale, unnecessary expenses, lost profits, as well as attorneys’ fees and expenses relating to litigation.”

All totted up, Orleans International is seeking more the $1.1m in damages, making it by no means the largest claim filed against a carrier through the FMC but the largest in a while following something of a quietening down in claims.

Having seen a surge in claims throughout 2023 and 2024, the downturn in further filings was predicted, with legal sources pointing out to The Loadstar that those who took the biggest hit in absolute dollar terms had already filed.

“But this does not mean there are not still millions in unfair D&D charges out there, but that these are likely comprised of thousands of shippers who coughed up in the region of $20,000 in extorted costs,” one source told The Loadstar.

“Given it costs similar amounts to bring a claim before the FMC, if you’re a small shipper are you going to risk doubling your losses if the Commission finds against you – which it could. It remains to be seen which way it will turn under the Trump administration.”

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