For your consideration, I raise the question: should there be a limit to the practice of charging demurrage and detention? Or perhaps more appropriately: is an unlimited right to charge demurrage and detention ethically and morally acceptable?
One case I dealt with recently involved an ocean transport from the EU to India, where the consignee failed to pick up the cargo from the port. The consignee was in financial difficulties and unable to pay for clearance of the goods. Logically, any increase in cost would only add to the consignee’s troubles. However, only about two years later, the carrier moved to dispose of the goods, at which time demurrage charges in excess of EUR 100,000 had accrued. In another case, the consignee went into bankruptcy while a large number of containers were at the destination port and several shipments were still to arrive. Having heard of the bankruptcy, some of the shippers held on to their original documents, making it impossible for BDP or the administrator of the consignee to take possession of the goods. This caused cargo to sit at the port for several months and in some cases more than a year. In neither case did BDP hold title to the goods or possession, so we had to rely on the disposition and ability of the other parties involved to accomplish a solution.
