$15.4B in D&D Fees and the New LA/LB Rules: Why Centralized Freight Audits Are Now Critical
At the end of August, the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) hosted a members's webinar on Trade Supply Chain Resiliency, emphasizing that compliance and cost control are now inseparable from each other. That message landed just after the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced a major change at the nation’s busiest ports (Los Angeles / Long Beach, aka LA/LB).
On August 14, 2025, CBP confirmed that starting August 25, all Full-Container Load (FCL) shipments flagged for Merchandise Enforcement Team (MET) or Agriculture (AQI) inspections at LA/LB must be handled only by CES-contracted truckers.
Brokers and importers will no longer be able to select their own drayage providers. The policy, designed to curb inspection evasion, also applies to FCL re-exports.
For shippers, the rule is both a compliance requirement and a direct threat to cost control.
U.S. CBP Bulletin: TIN, Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport
$15.4 Billion: The Cost of Inaction
Between April 2020 and March 2025, carriers collected $15.4 billion in detention and demurrage (D&D) fees across U.S. trade lanes, according to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). These charges, once considered “extraordinary”, are now embedded in the cost of doing business.
A single container held just three extra days can generate $500+ in penalties. That may sound manageable, but scale it up and the costs become alarming:
- 20 containers a week facing a three-days delay = $10,000 in weekly fees.
- Over 12 months, that adds up to $520,000 annually.
- Larger shippers moving hundreds of containers weekly could see exposure climb into the millions each year.
Unseen exceptions such as customs holds, eModal outages, or terminal delays frequently trigger these charges.
To counter this, the FMC’s final billing rule (effective May 28, 2024) requires invoices to include 20 mandatory data elements and enforces a 30/30/30 timeline (30 days to issue, 30 to dispute, 30 to resolve). Any invoice missing required data is invalid. For shippers, this creates both risk and opportunity: without centralized auditing, overpayments can slip through; with auditing, disputes can be resolved.
Why Centralized Freight Audits Are Now Critical
For importers and exporters, every additional day a container sits idle becomes a cost center. Detention, demurrage, and per diem charges can escalate in just hours; And without systematic review, they erode margins at scale. Centralized freight audits impose the financial discipline needed to keep costs under control, creating alignment between operations and finance by transforming complex invoices reviews into actionable financial data.
Here's a fact memo:
- Invoice Validation: Confirm accuracy against FMC’s 20 required elements.
- Dwell Time Visibility: Track containers in real time to ensure free-time clocks are correct.
- Cost Verification: Validate detention, demurrage, and per diem charges against actual milestone data.
- Exception Management: Capture system outages, Smart Per Diem discrepancies, and inspection-related holds.
- Budget Alignment: Deliver weekly, monthly, and quarterly spend reviews to prepare for the annual contract season.
- Audit Trail: Maintain timestamped evidence to dispute invalid charges.
For exporters, centralized audits help prevent outbound penalties when shipments are delayed or redirected under inspection rules.
For importers, they protect against runaway D&D bills by aligning invoices with actual events, rather than relying on inaccurate invoiced data.
BlueCargo specializes in AI-driven, complex freight audits for international shippers, helping trade professionals validate invoices, monitor detention & demurrage, and centralize cost control. By combining proprietary shipping data with automated auditing, BlueCargo empowers importers and exporters with tools to reduce hidden costs, ensure compliance, and build more resilient supply chains.
In other words, BlueCargo makes Freight Audits a core supply chain function and a proactive safeguard against escalating detention and demurrage.
BlueCargo Quick Audit Checklist for Detention & Demurrage
Before paying any D&D invoice, ask:
1) Invoice Accuracy: Was it issued within 30 days? Does it include all 20 FMC-required data elements?
2) Correct Party: Was it billed to the contracting party responsible?
3) Free Time & Milestones: Are ETA, discharge, release, and return dates accurate? Were delays truly in the shipper's control?
4) Dispute Rights: Did you act within the 30-day dispute window? Do you have timestamped evidence?
5) Centralized Audit Support: BlueCargo’s platform automates these checks with alerts on free-time expiry, charge validation, costs mitigation-ready evidence, and continuous budget reporting.
Make Audits Your First Line of Defense to Secure Lasting Resilience
With CBP’s LA/LB new rules now in effect, and billions already lost to detention and demurrage, doing nothing is not an option.
Centralized freight audits are the only way to protect budgets, ensure compliance, and build resilience that lasts; beyond the next disruption.
👉 Take Action: Schedule a consultation with BlueCargo and align your audit processes before the next round of invoices arrives.
---
More educational posts on our Blog.
