Insights - March/April 2017 - 11

The lines haven't been able contractually to get rid of their
obligations to furnish chassis. Many of them are sitting on the
fence. Some lines do allow motor carriers to choose chassis, but
they are in the minority."
Whalen said he hoped that the costly operational
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terms that upset motor carriers will diminish in the future.
Vaughan said that the contract issue will change over time
before long because contract periods in sales to IEPs are several
years old already. As the original agreements expire, he believes
"there will be lots of rebidding activity in the next couple of years.
There could be major shifts in that approach. That's the nature of
competition."
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consequences of the chassis transition. He labeled today's
market "a land of make believe" as participants struggle with the
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six lines' boxes on a single ship.

Chassis Pools Are Evolving
One area where the chassis provisioning process now works
smoothly is Southern California, Vaughan said.
Lovetro offered a somewhat different view, saying that the
region's "pool of pools" among TRAC, Flexi and DCLI could work
better. It needs a single pool manager that doesn't exist today.
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standardization among IEPs for practices such as maintenance

TRAC, DCLI Enhance Chassis Programs
Two of the industry's largest intermodal equipment
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capabilities to provide chassis as the latest enhancements
to supply and equipment quality.
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approximately 11,000 chassis from NYK Line (North
America) Inc. That equipment is provided through four
Consolidated Chassis Management pools and the Hampton
Roads Chassis Pool. TRAC Intermodal introduced "TRAC
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and market needs, as part of its latest initiative to target its
services to the dynamic chassis market.
The DCLI-NYK transaction marks the latest in a series
of ocean carrier divestitures to leasing companies.
and repair procedures and commercial terms for those services.
On the East Coast, attention continues to be focused on the
long-running effort to establish a so-called gray pool in the Port of
New York and New Jersey. Lovetro and Vaughan both expressed
some optimism that pool will begin operating this year.
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help the process to move forward.
"There was an issue with the International Longshoremen's
Association," Vaughan said, regarding maintenance. "We were on
the one-yard line" but couldn't quite complete the pool creation
process.

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March/April 2017 | Intermodal Insights

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