As a result of talks aimed at relieving congestion at the
Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, two truck chassis leasing companies, DCLI
and TRAC, say they’ll add more than 3,000 chassis to their local fleet over the
next few weeks to match supply and demand.
“We need to increase the utilization of the more than
100,000 chassis in the San Pedro Bay port complex,” Long Beach Harbor
Commission Vice President Rich Dines said. “Mega container ships with 10,000-plus
total moves per call have added pressure on our chassis pools and far too many
chassis sit idle on a daily basis. Interoperability of equipment through a
‘gray’ chassis pool will help relieve port congestion and improve the balance
of supply and demand throughout our terminals.”
As a landlord port, Long Beach doesn’t control issues such
as chassis management, but does take a leadership role as a facilitator when
needed. Dines currently chairs a harbor board subcommittee charged with
improving port efficiency. In addition to chassis-related issues, he and
Commissioner Lori Ann Farrell are discussing a range of productivity issues
including rail, truck turn times and terminal productivity and guiding
policy-level solutions.
“Increasing inbound rail movement of export cargo and
developing ‘short haul rail’ will help ensure an ample amount of chassis return
to port for import delivery,” Dines said. “It is time we take a systems
approach to moving cargo and we will start by building a better chassis model.”
On Oct. 7, the Port of Long Beach announced a congestion
relief team headed by Chief Executive Jon Slangerup to facilitate solutions to
port-related congestion. One of the issues the team identified was the
container chassis imbalance.
