American Commercial Lines Inc. (ACL) announced new demurrage terms for its portfolio of dry products. Beginning April 1, 2011, the company will standardize demurrage charges for non-grain bulk and non-bulk dry product shipments. Shippers of these product lines will receive five free days (Sundays and holidays excluded) for loading or unloading, after which they will be charged $300 demurrage per day for the next ten days and $400 per day for the following twenty days. After thirty billable demurrage days, a $500 charge will be assessed daily until the barge is released to ACL. These new charges will apply to all contracts executed on or after April 1, 2011.
Beginning June 1, 2011, ACL will also standardize demurrage charges for grain shipments at these same rates, except grain barges will receive three free days at origin and three free days at destination, with $300 per day demurrage charges for the next ten days and $400 per day for the following twenty days. After a grain barge exceeds thirty billable demurrage days, a $500 per day charge will be assessed for each day thereafter. These new charges will apply to all contracts executed on or after June 1, 2011.
ACL has begun notifying customers of these impending changes. Mike Ryan, ACL's President and CEO, commented, "The new, standardized charges should have minimal impact on shippers who work with ACL to load and unload barges in a timely fashion. For those shippers who are unable to execute operating programs within the window of free days at origin and destination, we are eager to help them develop process and infrastructure solutions which reduce the time required to load/unload barges. In April 2011, we will launch a new Scheduled Service Operating Model designed for customers who benefit most from timely loading and unloading of ACL barges. "