This study aims to investigate allegations of abusive demurrage charges by shipowners or intermediary shipping agents. Faced with the need to make good any damage caused by the non-return of the container, and in the absence of specific legislation on the subject, the Judiciary and a large part of the legal profession have equated container demurrage with the rules of the Commercial Code applied to ship demurrage.

However, the unrepealed part of the Commercial Code was drawn up in 1850, a time when the use of containers in global maritime transportation did not even exist. This highlights the risk of unrestricted application of custom and usage to container demurrage.

This has created undesirable legal and economic consequences for the regulated market. In view of the reality of the market, to the detriment of the majority jurisprudential position, we believe that a hermeneutic investigation into the legal regime of container demurrage is opportune, especially to guide the start of technical and legal discussions on the correct application of this institute.

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