Furniture Importer Says Cosco Charged Unfair Demurrage, Detention Fees
PKDC LLC, a Colorado-based furniture distributor, accused China-based ocean carrier Cosco Shipping Lines Co. of charging “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in unfair demurrage and detention fees, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Maritime Commission this month.
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PKDC, which imports furniture from various countries, including China, India and Vietnam, said it used Cosco to ship hundreds of containers to the U.S. in 2022. The containers were then transported to rail terminals.
But for much of the year, the rail terminals experienced an influx of containers, which "resulted in a variety of issues affecting container unavailability including but not limited to the stacking of containers, in some cases, for months at a time," the complaint says. "The influx of containers also resulted in a systemic shortage of appointments for pick up and return and a shortage of chassis including chassis from the Respondent’s nominated chassis provider."
Although the container unavailability problems were beyond PKDC’s control, the company said it was charged demurrage and detention fees anyway, which it considers unreasonable. Cosco didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.