A San Francisco importer says it was billed detention on containers it could not move, and the schedule the Commission set gives it a final answer in February 2028
Eighteen months. That is roughly how long a container detention dispute takes once it becomes a formal complaint at the Federal Maritime Commission, and the notice filed on Tuesday says so in two sentences.
The India Connection LLC, a limited liability company headquartered in San Francisco, has complained to the Commission against three respondents: CMA CGM (America) LLC, whose United States headquarters is in Norfolk, Virginia, and which the complainant identifies as a common carrier; Pridel Private Limited, incorporated in India with a registered office in New Delhi; and Eagle Maritime of America Inc., of Hoboken, New Jersey. The complainant identifies the latter two as ocean transportation intermediaries and non-vessel-operating common carriers.
The docket is numbered 26-11 and was served on 7 August.
What is alleged, and by whom
The complainant alleges violations of two provisions of the Shipping Act.
According to the notice, it says the respondents continued to assess detention charges during periods in which it was unable to retrieve or return its containers for reasons beyond its control, and that requests for waiver or dispute resolution were not meaningfully considered. Those are the complainant's allegations. Nothing in them has been tested, no respondent has yet filed an answer, and the notice sets that deadline at 25 days after service.
The two sections cited are worth reading plainly. Section 41102(c) of title 46 says a common carrier, marine terminal operator or ocean transportation intermediary may not fail to establish, observe and enforce just and reasonable regulations and practices relating to receiving, handling, storing or delivering property. Section 41104(a)(14) says a common carrier may not assess any party for a charge that is inconsistent or does not comply with all applicable provisions and regulations, including section 41102(c) or part 545 of the regulations.
The second of those is the one that turns a billing dispute into a statutory claim.
The clock the Commission set
The case goes to the Office of Administrative Law Judges. An initial decision is due by 9 August 2027, and the Commission's final decision by 23 February 2028.
Those are deadlines in the notice, not estimates. A shipper that believes it was wrongly billed in 2026 has a date in early 2028 for the last word.
The full complaint sits in the Commission's electronic reading room under proceeding 26-11. The notice itself carries no dollar figure, no container count and no trade lane, and neither does this brief. It was filed for public inspection on Tuesday morning and publishes in the Federal Register on Wednesday.
