Samsung Seeks $186m From CMA CGM Over Store Door Delivery Failures

Samsung Electronics America is seeking at least $186m in reparations from CMA CGM in one of the largest post-pandemic regulatory claims filed against a major container carrier.

The complaint, lodged at the Federal Maritime Commission, accuses the world's third-largest container line of widespread violations of the US Shipping Act, alleging unjust and unreasonable practices in inland transportation, demurrage and detention billing, and cargo release policies between 2020 and 2023. The claim comprises $148m in what Samsung calls unlawful demurrage, detention and rail storage costs, $8.1m in operational mitigation expenses and $30m in prejudgment interest.

The dispute turns on store door delivery, the arrangement under which an ocean carrier is contractually obliged to arrange and pay for the intermodal move by rail or truck from the discharge port to a warehouse or distribution centre. In store door delivery, Samsung's complaint explains, the carrier issues a through bill of lading or sea waybill naming both the marine port of discharge and an inland place of delivery to which it undertakes to carry the box.

From approximately 2020, Samsung alleges, CMA CGM repeatedly failed to perform those inland obligations properly, citing severe port congestion and shortages of rail chassis, and then shifted the financial burden of the shortfall onto the cargo owner despite its responsibility under the through bills. Samsung says it was subjected to more than 121,000 separate demurrage, detention and rail storage fees arising from delays entirely outside its control. In one example involving multiple containers arriving at an inland rail ramp in 2021, the carrier's alleged failure to perform produced more than $3.7m in accrued rail storage charges alone.

The complaint also alleges coercive finance holds and account suspensions applied to unrelated and unimpeded import shipments in order to force payment of disputed invoices. The staggering costs of demurrage and detention charges were unsustainable, presented a material threat to the company's ability to supply US consumers and made the complaint necessary, the filing says.

Samsung says it tried to settle first, through in-person meetings in 2025 and 2026, and that CMA CGM refused to engage meaningfully in efforts to address the claims and repay the charges. It has requested a formal hearing at FMC headquarters in Washington.

The filing references several other complaints brought at the commission against the same carrier by major retailers and others challenging the legality of its detention and demurrage practices. In 2024 CMA CGM paid $1.98m to resolve allegations that it improperly demanded payment from a third party who ought not to have been billed. The underlying concepts are set out in the definitions of demurrage and detention, and the case turns on which party carries the clock when the carrier controls the inland leg.