🇺🇸United States

Regulatory exposure and penalties over non‑compliant D&D billing

2 verified sources

Definition

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 and FMC rules impose strict standards on who can be billed for D&D and what information must be in each invoice; non‑compliance can trigger investigations, ordered refunds, and civil penalties. Carriers and NVOCCs face systemic risk if their D&D assessment workflows and systems do not meet these requirements.

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: Individual FMC enforcement actions can reach into the millions of dollars in refunds and penalties across billing categories; D&D is a specific focus post‑OSRA‑2022 (risk level inferred from the Act and rule‑making focus on billing fairness).[1]
  • Frequency: Ongoing (recurring regulatory risk tied to all D&D invoices issued)
  • Root Cause: FMC’s 2024 rule mandates that D&D invoices be issued only to the contracting party or consignee, within 30 calendar days, and include specified data elements; billing outside these parameters is prohibited.[1] Many legacy workflows still bill truckers or other intermediaries and lack complete data capture, creating a pattern of non‑compliant invoices that may lead to ordered reversals or fines if challenged.

Why This Matters

This pain point represents a significant opportunity for B2B solutions targeting Freight and Package Transportation.

Affected Stakeholders

Regulatory compliance officers, Legal teams at carriers/NVOCCs, Billing operations managers, Executive leadership responsible for OSRA/FMC compliance

Deep Analysis (Premium)

Financial Impact

$1.5M-$5M: customer refunds, lost revenue, FMC investigation costs, legal fees, reputational damage, customer contract termination risk • $100K-$500K annual D&D exposure; delayed cargo holds due to unresolved disputes; seasonal revenue impact • $100K-$500K: delayed payments, relationship friction with carriers, legal consultation costs, potential penalties if they unknowingly pay non-compliant invoice (indemnification risk)

Unlock to reveal

Current Workarounds

Acceptance of invoices at face value; occasional phone call to carrier; no formal dispute process; manual Excel tracking of paid D&D • Accounting team manually reviews invoices against printed FMC guidance; disputes filed via carrier customer service portal or email; spreadsheet log of open disputes • Dispatch Coordinator manually cross-references invoices against a shared Excel 'compliance checklist' maintained by billing; calls billing/finance to confirm billed party eligibility; no real-time system alert if invoice fails FMC requirements

Unlock to reveal

Get Solutions for This Problem

Full report with actionable solutions

$99$39
  • Solutions for this specific pain
  • Solutions for all 15 industry pains
  • Where to find first clients
  • Pricing & launch costs
Get Solutions Report

Methodology & Sources

Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Systemic under‑billing and billing‑error write‑offs on detention & demurrage

$50,000–$500,000 per year for mid‑size shippers and NVOCCs (extrapolated from typical fee levels of $75–$300 per container per day and hundreds–thousands of annual containers)[2][3][6]

Runaway detention & demurrage fees from poor coordination

$150,000+ per incident for large shipments, with total annual D&D costs often reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars for active importers/exporters (illustrated by demurrage examples where a single shipment incurs $150,000 in charges)[5]

Disputed detention & demurrage charges and rework

$5,000–$50,000 per month in staff time and concessions for a mid‑size forwarder or carrier (inferred from FMC‑mandated 30‑day dispute/mitigation process windows and typical per‑day charge levels)[1][2][3]

Delayed cash collection due to contested D&D invoices

$20,000–$200,000 in outstanding D&D receivables at any given time for medium carriers/NVOCCs (scaled from high per‑day fees and the 30‑day mitigation window plus negotiation cycles)[1][2][3]

Loss of equipment and terminal capacity from prolonged container time

Opportunity cost equivalent to losing multiple container turns per year per unit; with daily detention fees often only $50–$100, lost revenue from missed trips can exceed fee income by thousands of dollars per container annually[3][5]

Opportunistic use of D&D as de‑facto storage or leverage

Tens of thousands of dollars per year in avoidable D&D per abusing shipper, plus significant opportunity cost for carriers whose equipment is tied up (estimated from fee ranges of $75–$300 per day and observed patterns of extended dwell)[2][3][6]

Request Deep Analysis

🇺🇸 Be first to access this market's intelligence