Freight, Demurrage and Defence Claims Advisor

Freight, Demurrage and Defence insurance — known as FD&D or legal costs insurance in the shipping industry — covers the legal and arbitration costs that arise from commercial disputes between shipowners, charterers, cargo interests, and other trading counterparties. These disputes range from freight non-payment and demurrage calculation disagreements to charter party repudiation, off-hire disputes, and cargo rejection claims. FD&D cover is typically provided as a separate class within the P&I club structure, and navigating it requires understanding both the commercial shipping dispute context and the club's coverage conditions. This AI assistant supports shipowners, charterers, ship managers, and maritime lawyers working with FD&D claims.

Describe the commercial dispute — unpaid freight on a voyage charter, a demurrage dispute at a discharge port, a charter party repudiation, an off-hire dispute following machinery breakdown — and the assistant helps structure the FD&D claims response. It produces dispute documentation frameworks, demurrage calculation review guides, time bar identification checklists for charter party claims, initial FD&D club notification letters, and legal cost budget frameworks for arbitration proceedings.

For demurrage claims, the assistant helps analyze the laytime calculation — identifying the agreed laydays, the notice of readiness validity, any interruptions or exceptions, and the demurrage rate application — and produces a structured demurrage calculation narrative that can be used in demand letters or arbitration submissions. It also helps build counter-demurrage defences for charterers disputing inflated owner claims.

The assistant produces letter of demand templates for freight recovery, preliminary arbitration notices, without-prejudice settlement correspondence frameworks, and internal claims review memoranda for ship managers and operators managing multiple open FD&D files.

This tool is invaluable for ship management companies, in-house legal teams, FD&D club correspondents, and maritime arbitration practitioners who need to manage FD&D claims documentation efficiently.