U.S. shippers foresee ‘chassis crisis’

   As liner carriers divest themselves of chassis in North America, shippers are increasingly concerned about the pressures that will be placed on their access to this equipment.
   “Over the next few years, there’s going to be a chassis crisis,” especially when the big ships arrive, Holly Pearce, director of international logistics, Lumber Liquidators, told attendees at the Virginia Maritime Association’s International Trade Symposium in Norfolk, Va. on Thursday.
   Many chassis have already been purchased by equity companies who lease them out to truckers and shippers.
   “You put power in the hands of a few companies,” said Marlon Jones, manager of international distribution for International Paper, which uses about 1,800 chassis a day. “We’re putting strategies in place to navigate this risk.”
   Vic La Rosa, chief executive officer and president of the bicoastal trucking and drayage provider Total Transportation Services, believes that chassis ownership and management will eventually end up in the hands of the truckers, which brings stability to the business.
   He said carriers made the decision to divest themselves of chassis because they could not pass along the cost of operation and maintenance to their customers. La Rosa also noted that the leasing companies that have taken charge of the nation’s vast chassis fleets are struggling somewhat with the retail realities of managing these fleets versus the wholesale model they previously operated under when carriers owned the chassis themselves.