Bankrupt Retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond Files Sixth FMC Complaint on Carriers
The estate of former retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond continues its efforts to blame the shipping industry and the problems moving containers during and after the COVID pandemic as a contributing factor in its collapse. Last week, it filed a new complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission, its sixth action, and this time it is targeting HMM.
The company, today known as DK Butterfly-1, continues to seek reparations for injuries it says it suffered in the form of higher costs and the inability to get merchandise transported. The company went into a tailspin and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in April 2023. It has spent the past two and a half years complaining about the shipping industry and the large carriers, alleging there was a practice of “systematically failing to meet service commitments,” and taking advantage of the shortage of space and price inflation by “unfairly exploiting customers.”
The complaint filed against HMM on December 30, 2025, follows a similar pattern. The company filed its first complaints in 2023 against Orient Overseas Line and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company. Since then, it has expanded its efforts by filing complaints against Evergreen, BAL Container Line, and CMA CGM. It is the largest of the complainers, but the FMC has reported it was flooded with smaller complaints from many shippers who also alleged the carriers were failing to meet their contractual obligations.
Bed, Bath & Beyond highlights that it was a new customer to HMM and that it repeatedly advised the company of the problems it was having gaining space for its containers. In July 2020, it sent an email pleading with HMM, saying “We can’t afford any booking confirmation delays ever, but esp at this critical time. We desperately need space from all of our carriers right now….”
The company reports it had a contract for 2020-2021 for 1,000 40-foot containers at an average of 100 per month. In 2021-2022, it increased the commitment to 2,000 FEUs or approximately 166 per month. The complaint alleges a shortfall of more than 62 containers in 2020-2021 and 531 containers in 2021-2022.
The complaint alleges the shortfall and a practice of price coercing to pay extracontractual prices, and surcharges cost the company more than $440,000 under the 2020-2021 contract and more than $8.9 million for the 2021-2022 period.
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They are also seeking relief for a substantial majority of the demurrage and detention charges assessed by HMM. They cite more than $4 million in demurrage charges and a further $680,000 in detention charges between September 2021 and January 2023. They allege the costs were incurred, although circumstances outside its control made it impossible for the company to pick up containers or return empties promptly.
The carriers have spent years fighting the complaints of the shippers, saying the industry was overwhelmed by demand. They assert they were trying to work with all shippers to help manage the situation, and like the customers, they were left powerless as ports became backlogged and congestion built around the world.