Again the container chassis issue creates controversy. Leasing companies created a ‘pool of pools’ in the LA/Long Beach area but are not paying port operators for services and storage performed on or by the port operators. The $5 fee on a loaded chassis (whether the container is empty or not) is supposed to cover this work.
It’s another example of how hard it is to get a pool to work well. Normal ways of compensating participants are not usually fair to all parties; nor do they usually act to keep the pool together. But here the issue is simply that the pool is skimming profits by benefiting from free work by a non-participant; or we could look at the terminals as a dummy participant that contributes no chassis but pays anyway.
We have a talk on a related aspect at the IAME 2016 annual conference in Hamburg later this month.
LONG BEACH, Calif.–The West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA) has extended the implementation date of a new tariff rule for chassis services by one month.
Source: Terminals in Ports of L.A., Long Beach move chassis rule to September 1 – Canadian Shipper
Supply Chain and Logistics 