Trucking and container chassis again moves into the spotlight. But now it’s how much to pay for the ground the chassis get stored on at the port. The dislocation caused by ocean lines trying to foist off chassis ownership on truckers continues to hurt US ports.
Chassis provision has played a key role in the port container supply chains since ocean lines divested in 2013. The issue was a key factor in the West Coast labor dispute at ports, and now is headed eastward.
The whole problem with pools, of chassis or otherwise, is how to allocate the burden of maintaining them, or, put another way, allocate the gains of pooling among the participants. Again it seems, truckers will not be benefiting; these players will fight over fees and split them while truckers will wind up paying in lease rates for whatever adjustments there are. The ILA is at least bringing attention to the problem.
Increasingly high rents charged to chassis providers by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey could hurt the port’s overall competitiveness, says Dennis Daggett, executive vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association.
