Demurrage and Detention in Maritime Law

Maritime trade runs on tight schedules, and delays in loading, discharging or returning containers can cause significant losses for carriers. Our Turkish article examines demurrage and detention, the two main mechanisms used to compensate for such delays, both for ships and for containers.

For ships, the article follows the sequence set out in the Turkish Commercial Code for voyage charters: the notice of readiness, the delivery of the cargo, the laytime available for loading and discharging, and the consequences when loading or discharging is not completed within that time. Demurrage is the agreed compensation payable for the additional waiting time, while detention concerns the damages arising when the delay goes beyond that period.

The article also addresses container demurrage and detention, which arise when containers are not collected or returned within the free time granted by the carrier, and discusses when that free time starts to run.

Disputes over demurrage and detention often turn on the wording of the charter party or bill of lading and on the correspondence exchanged at the port, so these documents should be kept carefully from the outset.

This is a short English summary of our article published in Turkish.