李海峰1 于卉2
1.山东外贸职业学院 山东青岛 266000
摘要：Besides the normal freight costs, there are other unexpected expenses, such as Demurrage, Detention and Per Diem occurred at US ports. They can be costly and burdening for cargo owners. This article will mainly discuss these three expenses with the hope of providing some insiders’ information to Chinese exporters and importers.
关键词：Demurrage, detention, Per Diem, gate-out, gate-in, empty-return
正文：In considering the transportation expenses, besides the normal freight costs and possible warehousing charges, there are some unexpected expenses which cargo owners have to bear in mind or even undertake. Such expenses can be costly and burdening for exporters and importers. As such costs keep going high, in this article, we will discuss the Demurrage, Detention and Per Diem occurred at US ports with the hope of providing some insiders’ information to Chinese exporters and importers.
Let’s take a look at the import procedure in US ports and how the extra costs may occur first. Once vessels arrive at destination, all containers will be discharged at the terminal. Lorries will pick up the loaded containers from the terminal and deliver them to the named warehouse of consignee. This is full containers’ gate-out. Then the empty containers will be returned to the terminal. This is the process of empty containers’ gate-in. Before the full containers are gate-out from the terminal, the ports will charge demurrage fee after the free-time. These costs are increasing progressively. Normally the first 1-3 days is US$350.00 ~ US$400.00 per day at US ports which varies from ports to ports. Then from 4 ~ 7 days are US$425.00 ~ US$525.00 per day. From 8 ~ 10 days is even higher. This expense is accumulating so the final amount may be very high and costly. This cost is charged by port authorities for full containers over-staying at the terminal. Don’t forget your cargoes are occupying containers at the same time. So there is another cost called Detention fee.
The detention fee is charged by carriers before containers’ gate-out. But sometimes demurrage and detention fees are not explained or listed separately or clearly by the authorities. We take Houston Port for example. The port authorities simply informs there are excess costs occurred after the last free day, which is US$490.00 All-In per day both demurrage and detention fees included, no further details provided. At Maher Terminal of New York Port, they charge US$630.00 per day for exceeding free time.
Moreover there is another expense called Per Diem which is charged by the carriers only. The charging period for Per Diem is from full containers’ gate-out from the terminal till their empty-returns. Of course carriers will provide free time for containers occupation with 2, 3 or 4 days differently. After this free time carriers will charge. COSCO charges US$325.00 a day as Per Diem for the first 5 days after free time. Afterwards it is US$450.00 per day. MSC charges US$320.00 for Reefer Containers for the first 3 days after free time. From the 4th day and going-on, it is US$420.00 per day. So no time can be wasted between the full containers’ picking-up to empty returning. Under the circumstances of containers’ drop-off for discharging at warehouse, the time when the empty containers return may be exceeding the free time unconsciously. It is pretty much likely such excess use charge followed.
So from above description we can see herein the Demurrage and Detention take place within the terminals but Per Diem out of terminals.
They are charged for different excess items by different parties but they should all be counted as transportation costs. They are sometimes easily neglected by corresponding parties but the final payment can be very high.
参考文献:
1. 李凌，“国际货运代理实务” [M]，北京：对外经济贸易大学出版社，2015
2. CIFA编写组，“国际海上货运代理理论与实务” [M]，北京：中国对外经济贸易出版社，2015
3. CIFA编写组，“国际货运代理专业英语” [M]，北京：中国对外经济贸易出版社，2015
4. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, PANYNJ, www.panynj.gov
5. Tariff No.14, Port of Houston Authority, https://porthouston.com/wp-content/uploads/Tariff-14.-May-2021.pdf , 27/May/2021
6. Truckload Freight, https://www.joc.com/port-news/terminal-operators/maher-terminals, 30/May/2021
2.青岛海顺国际货运代理有限公司 山东青岛 266000
科研课题：该文系山东省高校科研计划项目（社科类自筹经费）“供应链整合视角下山东省保税物流区域建设研究（J13WF68）结项成果。