My name is AJ. I’m doing an electrical engineering degree, but a friend’s dad told me that I have a really solid skillset in communications and planning, and he said that I should look into Demurrage because one of his buddies had a lot of success in it.
To be completely honest, aside from the little bit that I have read, I have absolutely no understanding of what Demurrage Analysts do, or what a day in their job looks like, and until yesterday, I had never considered a career in maritime operations, but I really trust his recommendations, so I am trying to do some research. From what I do understand, they submit Notices of Readiness and record SOFs to document what a ship does so that if it exceeds the required laytime, demurrage will have to be paid.
As you can probably tell, I don’t know too much, but I would appreciate any sort of feedback or help to see if this is something I may be interested in. My primary questions are:
What does a day in the life of a Demurrage Analyst look like? (Any software tools or legal things I need to know/learn, and any tasks that happen often that I should be prepared for?)
What is the best part of being one? Or what have you enjoyed about your career?
What is the hardest part of being a Demurrage analyst, or is there anything that is really frustrating about the job?
What does the pathway into becoming one look like?
Again, thank you to anyone who answers, and I appreciate any feedback or advice.
Hello AJ… Hopefully, someone will chime in with points to ponder, but while we are waiting, I suggest you, and anyone looking to start a career do some research on when you position will be replaced by AI. You can ask AI… it’s very helpful and optimistic.
Be careful how much weight you put into any advice offered based upon past results…
Thank you! The consensus I got from Gemini and ChatGPT was that although AI will likely automate some of the more manual work, Demurrage Analysts will still need to be present, since the nature of the contracts can get complicated and will require humans to step in and make decisions. But I do think this was useful for seeing which scopes of the job I need to focus on mastering and which I should more or less let AI handle for me in the future. Thank you for the advice!
Understanding Demurage is important vessel or cargo side of the carriage contract
The demurage agreement sets equipment redelivery parameters. Ship, container, rail car, and others. It’s a penalty for late deliveries not linked to cost of the equipment. Generaly much higher than daily cost.
Carriage contracts, Charters, Bills of Lading, Rail Bills etc have demurage clauses that should be understood by the cargo and equipment operators on scene representatives. Relating to Ships, the Master and cargo Mate, Stevedore, Agent, shore based cargo superintendent, anyone who makes decisions relating to time and expense loading and unloading.
Cargo owners should understand demurage terms too, in my experience they are not well understood in container trades. I’ve seen some very large demurage bills on containers. Demurage terms are filed with the FMC a carrier risk fines if terms are not honored. I had commercial claims settlement authority working for an owner. Never waived a demurage charge. Often made a commercial decision to pay damage claims if it made good business sense.
Bulk cargos, fewer transactions far higher demurage terms generally well understood. Vessels always report availability’s with notice of readiness delivered as soon as possible
To the original post question. Have never seen a dedicate Demurage analysis position. It’s a basic skill for many positions in shipping.
. Good luck!