Detention damages

Detention damages are unliquidated damages for delay to the vessel that falls outside the agreed laytime and demurrage regime, payable when laytime and any demurrage period are exhausted or when no demurrage rate was fixed. They are assessed at the actual loss the owner can prove, often the vessel’s daily running cost plus lost earnings, rather than a fixed daily figure. Detention typically runs after demurrage ends (‘once on demurrage, always on demurrage’), for delay caused by the charterer’s breach beyond the laytime allowance, or in a CQD fixture where there is no demurrage clause at all.