The South Carolina Ports Authority and Georgia Ports Authority will be able to establish a common chassis pool serving customers throughout the Southeast as the result of the Federal Maritime Commission voting Wednesday to take no action to prevent the Southern States Chassis Pool Agreement from becoming effective.
The two ports filed their agreement to create a joint pool for chassis for international containers on June 18. They said in a joint statement "Both South Carolina and Georgia are pleased to be moving forward with the proposed SSCP agreement in an effort to add chassis to the current pool."
While an existing pool in the region, Consolidated Chassis Management’s South Atlantic Chassis Pool, has about 53,000 chassis, the two ports said there is a need for an additional 10,000 chassis in the pool. They also want to improve the quality of chassis in the pool.
The North American Chassis Pool Cooperative (NACPC) said it has been chosen by the Georgia and South Carolina Port Authorities to operate the proposed new pool, which will operate at their facilities as well as at inland locations. NACPC said the North Carolina Ports Authority and Jacksonville Port Authority have been invited to join as well.
The two ports said "the pool will serve the Southeast region including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee."
NACPC said in a press release last month, “The new pool is expected to add 3,900 new chassis at startup and a total of 10,000 new chassis within the first six months to address the chassis shortage in this market. Over the first 18 months of operation, the existing fleet transferring from the current pool will continue to be upgraded with radials and LED lighting.”
Jeffrey Dudenhefer, NACPC’s executive vice president, said in a statement, “NACPC envisions the new pool embracing some premium chassis features as the new standard for the intermodal market.”
He said truckers have requested radial tires and LED lights for a couple of decades. While anti-lock braking systems have been standard on chassis for more than 15 years, he said half of the fleet lacks them due to age. He said all equipment should be upgraded to include those features.
A trucker-founded chassis provider, NACPC said it will own and operate the Southern States Chassis Pool. Truckers will pay a single rate, regardless of which equipment provider is stenciled on the chassis, and the service will be provided with at-cost pricing — no profits will be distributed to NACPC owners, according to its chairman, Dave Manning.
The plan by the ports for a new chassis pool was supported by a large number of shippers using the two ports as well as trade associations and government agencies.
The Institute of International Container Lessors, which includes both container and chassis lessors, had raised various objections to the proposed pool with the FMC.
But Charlie Wellins, the president of FlexiVan, one of the members of the IICL, said his company had abstained from the IICL letter and written separately to the FMC to express its support for the pool.
FlexiVan currently has about 12,000 chassis in the existing South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP).
TRAC Intermodal says it has close to 15,000 chassis in the SACP.
Keith Lovetro, president and chief executive officer of TRAC Intermodal, said as the pool shifts to the new Southern States Chassis Pool, his company will upgrade all of its currently contributed chassis to include radial tires, LED lights and ABS braking systems and that TRAC has “offered to add an additional 3,000 newly manufactured chassis to the SSCP to help ensure that the ports have the needed supply of chassis to support their anticipated growth.”