MAHER TERMINALS PROPOSES NORTH AMERICAN CHASSIS POOL

MAHER TERMINALS PROPOSES NORTH AMERICAN CHASSIS POOL    Maher Terminals has proposed establishing a North American Chassis System to be managed by an affiliate, Maher Chassis Management Inc.
   The move is an effort to build on four successful years of managing a cooperative chassis pool in the Port of New York/New Jersey, Maher said.
   Basil Maher, president of Maher Terminals, said the company has contacted several major steamship companies calling at U.S., Canadian and Mexican ports, and they have been generally receptive.
   Maher discussed his proposal Wednesday during the North Atlantic Ports Association's semiannual meeting in Washington
   The pool proposal is being discussed as shipping lines in major trade routes have begun imposing chassis fees on shippers to recoup the lines' costs of purchasing and maintaining chassis to move containers from U.S. ports to inland destinations.
   Maher said shipping lines should get out of the chassis business, and join a national pooling system, which would produce major cost savings for ocean carriers.
   The top 20 ocean carriers calling at U.S., Mexican and Canadian ports control 400,000 of the 700,000 chassis in North America, Maher said.
   Chassis need to be interchangeable between transportation modes, he said.