National trucking company Schneider completed its conversion to a company-owned and managed chassis fleet by buying over 15,000 intermodal container chassis over the last four years.
“We began investing in chassis [four years ago] because we realized we could deliver a better experience to our customers and dray drivers by controlling our own assets,” said Jim Filter, senior vice president and general manager of Schneider’s Intermodal division, in a statement.
Filter said the move follows problems related to the timely access of chassis from the pool operators by its drivers. “When there isn’t an available chassis, the container is grounded. When one becomes available from the pool, they are often older, heavier and fraught with mechanical problems,” he said.
Other benefits to the Schneider-owned chassis fleet is that the weight of all its new chassis are the same, so shippers know how much weight they can haul in their containerloads. Due the lightweight design of the new Schneider chassis, shippers realize a capacity increase of up to 5 percent, the company said.
The company also said it has complete control over the maintenance of its chassis, which allows it to “identify issues and make repairs before they turn into critical breakdowns and costly delays.”
In addition, it noted that “available and reliable chassis have already led to increased productivity, which has improved driver retention and dray capacity availability.”
The trucking company has developed tracking technology to monitor its chassis fleet and operation.
“With the Schneider chassis, shippers can expect fewer delays and greater efficiency, as we’ve supplied plenty of chassis at each ramp location,” Filter said.