DemurrageCheck
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How it works.

From the invoice in your inbox to a letter you can send, and then to the carrier's answer.

The first 10 invoices are free.

  1. 01

    Sign in

    Enter your work email. The first time, we send a one-time link and you create a password.

  2. 02

    Add your company and send invoices

    You can add the company that pays the invoices, one or several. You then forward invoices to a private address or upload the PDFs. We never upload for you.

    EX-20413.pdf · 2 pages

  3. 03

    We read each invoice

    The file is stored, the items of section 541.6 are read from its pages, and every item keeps the line of the page it came from. A value that cannot be found in the text of the page is not used as found.

    A5.2 · not on the invoice

  4. 04

    You get a report

    A table of your invoices with a verdict for each, the amount that can be disputed, and the date the window to ask for a waiver closes. For each invoice with a formal defect that is billed to your company there is a letter with the defects and the paragraphs filled in. You add your name and send it.

    Request for waiver: invoice EX-20413, container EXLU2345630, B/L EXLU20413

  5. 05

    You send the letter and record the outcome

    The letter goes out from your company and your mailbox. You record the date you sent it and what the carrier answered: cancelled, reduced, refused or no answer.

  6. 06

    Reminders by email

    Before the window to ask for a waiver closes, 7 days and 2 days ahead. And when 30 days have passed since your request without an answer from the carrier.

Five verdicts.

Every invoice gets exactly one.

VerdictWhat it means
PayNo defect found by the checks that could be run. A check that needs something we do not have is skipped: for example, the check of an invoice passed on by an NVOCC needs the invoice the NVOCC received.
Dispute: formalA required item or a time limit of the rule is not met (checks A1 to A8). The letter cites the paragraphs and asks for the charges to be cancelled.
Dispute: meritsThe invoice is formally complete, but the arithmetic does not hold (check B5): the amount charged is more than days times the printed rate. The report shows the arithmetic; a letter is drafted for formal defects only.
Needs dataAn item was not found on the pages we have, or could not be read with certainty. We ask you; a defect is reported only after you, or our reviewer, confirm that the item is not on the invoice.
Out of the ruleThe invoice is not covered: not issued by an ocean carrier, a marine terminal or an NVOCC, not about demurrage or detention, or issued before 28 May 2024 (FMC, U.S. Court of Appeals issues decision in case on demurrage and detention billing practices).

What we check.

The checks of this version, with the paragraph of 46 CFR part 541 each rests on. The text of the rule: 46 CFR part 541 (eCFR). Section 541.5: failing to include any of the required information eliminates the obligation of the billed party to pay the applicable charge.

Required information

A2.146 CFR 541.6(a)(1) · Bill of Lading numberIt is not on the invoice.
A2.246 CFR 541.6(a)(2) · Container numberIt is not on the invoice.
A2.346 CFR 541.6(a)(3) · Port of discharge (imports)It is not on the invoice.
A2.446 CFR 541.6(a)(4) · Basis for billing this partyThe invoice does not say why the billed party is the proper party of interest. We check that a basis is stated, not whether it is right.
A3.146 CFR 541.6(b)(1) · Invoice dateIt is not on the invoice.
A3.246 CFR 541.6(b)(2) · Invoice due dateIt is not on the invoice.
A3.346 CFR 541.6(b)(3) · Free time in daysIt is not on the invoice.
A3.446 CFR 541.6(b)(4) · Start date of free timeIt is not on the invoice.
A3.546 CFR 541.6(b)(5) · End date of free timeIt is not on the invoice.
A3.646 CFR 541.6(b)(6) · Container availability date (imports)It is not on the invoice.
A3.746 CFR 541.6(b)(7) · Earliest return date (exports)It is not on the invoice.
A3.846 CFR 541.6(b)(8) · Specific dates chargedThe invoice gives no dates for which the charge was assessed.
A4.146 CFR 541.6(c)(1) · Total amount dueIt is not on the invoice.
A4.246 CFR 541.6(c)(2) · Tariff rule or contractThe invoice names no rule or contract on which the rate is based.
A4.346 CFR 541.6(c)(3) · Specific rateNo rate is stated.
A5.146 CFR 541.6(d)(1) · Contact for requestsThe invoice gives no email, telephone number or other contact for questions and for waiver requests.
A5.246 CFR 541.6(d)(2) · Web address for the requirements of a requestThe invoice has no URL, QR code or other digital means that points to them.
A5.346 CFR 541.6(d)(3) · Time limits for a request and for the answerAt least one of the two is missing.
A6.146 CFR 541.6(e)(1) · Statement of consistency with FMC rulesThe statement is not on the invoice.
A6.246 CFR 541.6(e)(2) · Statement about the carrier's own performanceThe statement is not on the invoice.

Time limits

A146 CFR 541.7(a) · Issued on timeThe invoice date is more than 30 calendar days after the last day charged. For an NVOCC passing a charge on, the 30 days run from the invoice it received (check A8).
A746 CFR 541.8(a) · Time allowed for a waiver requestThe invoice allows fewer than 30 calendar days from its date.
A846 CFR 541.7(b) · NVOCC reissueA non-vessel-operating common carrier issued its invoice more than 30 days after the invoice it received. We need that invoice from you.

Arithmetic

B546 CFR 541.6(c) · ArithmeticDays times rate come to less than the amount charged. Only an overcharge counts.

Also in this version: an invoice that repeats the container and dates of another one of yours is marked as a possible duplicate, so that the same amount is not counted twice.

What is not checked.

  • Who should have been billed. A court set aside section 541.4, the part of the rule about who may be billed; the FMC says the rest of part 541 remains in force (FMC, U.S. Court of Appeals issues decision in case on demurrage and detention billing practices). We check that the invoice states why the party is billed (541.6(a)(4)), not whether the reason is right.
  • Free time, rates and closures. Whether the free time was counted correctly, whether the rate is the one in your contract, whether a terminal was closed: these need documents from you and are not part of this version.
  • The outcome. We do not contact the carrier and cannot promise what it answers.

See the checks at work on a sample report