Chassis pool established in Southeast

Chassis pool established in Southeast    The effort by steamship lines to reduce costs by sharing container chassis has taken a step forward with a plan to implement a regional chassis pool, filed with the Federal Maritime Commission by the Georgia Ports Authority, the South Carolina State Ports Authority and Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association (OCEMA).
   The South Atlantic Consolidated Chassis Pool, as it will be called, would cover the two ports and inland hubs in Atlanta and Charlotte. Eighteen steamship lines participate in OCEMA.
   The goal of the pool is to improve terminal efficiencies and realize economies of scale by reducing the numbers of chassis needed to move cargo through the ports.
   The pools “will benefit importers and exporters, motor carriers, railroads, ports and ocean carriers. It will free up inland and port terminal capacity, increase the efficiency of chassis use, and achieve more uniformity in equipment maintenance procedures,” said Curtis J. Foltz, chief operating officer of the Georgia Ports Authority.