For an official signed copy, please contact the Antitrust Documents Group . CCS is a billing and collection company that is independent of the ocean carriers in the U.S.-Puerto Rico trade that CCS will target as customers. These carriers transport freight in uniform-size shipping containers that are placed on a chassis and pulled by a tractor. The container and chassis are then hauled to the port of shipment. At the port of discharge the process is reversed, and the containers are placed on chassis and driven to the consignee's place of business.
Consignees often use the containers for the temporary storage of the cargo.
It is in a carrier's financial and operating interest to have its equipment returned as soon as possible. To accomplish this objective, the carriers charge the consignee an extra fee if the equipment is not returned within a certain period. Each carrier has its own general policy with respect to when and how it calculates and assesses detention and demurrage charges. These general policies are usually set forth in the carrier's tariffs, but a carrier may enter into different detention and demurrage arrangements for different customers, by contract. Under the ICC Termination Act of 1995, the carriers are required to bill and collect all tariff charges.