Maersk Line starts chassis business

Maersk Line starts chassis business    Maersk Line said it was changing its chassis fleet business model in the United States and will offer its equipment for use throughout the nation to draymen, ocean carriers, marine terminals and railroads.
   “Truckers will be able to utilize the same chassis for multiple moves at different terminals, and for different lines, driving out inefficiencies and providing the supply chain benefits that only the user controlling the chassis can deliver. When fully implemented, it will improve port air quality and reduce port area congestion.' said Andy Chinigo, vice president at Maersk Inc., who is heading the initial phases of the project. 'The present chassis model has outlived its time. We can influence the carbon footprint that our industry creates through this approach.'
   Maersk has about 90,000 chassis in the United States, and the company will initially begin the program with a pool of about 5,200 chassis in the New York area in the third quarter, then expects to roll it out nationally.
   A new company, called Direct Chassislink, will run the pool and charge a daily rate for the equipment. Truckers will be free to use the equipment as they see fit. If they want to keep it for a day or a month, they can do so. They can take the chassis to any ocean terminal, rail head or container yard to pick up or drop off equipment, and make multiple moves with the same chassis in a single day. They can load the boxes of any carrier on the chassis.
   Maersk sees big environmental benefits to the change, saying that when implemented nationally, carbon dioxide reductions are estimated to be more than 4,000 tons.
   Chinigo said Maersk believes that as the program expands, it will be able to reduce the size of its chassis fleet because equipment will be used more efficiently.
   Other carriers have formed large chassis pools around the country through a company called Consolidated Chassis Management. Chinigo said while Maersk participates in one of those pools in the Denver area, it has not joined it in other parts of the country, in part because the multicarrier pool does not want all the additional Maersk equipment.
   The Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay Transport Partnership recommends the use of common chassis to reduce the environmental impact of drayage. 'According to SmartWay, common chassis pools can help trucking companies save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing unnecessary truck movements and idling associated with switching chassis. Drayage trucks using pooled chassis could save up to 0.8 gallon per trip, reducing nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions,' said Lee Kindberg, Maersk's environmental director. 'This approach is more sustainable for the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency DrayFLEET model estimates that if all drayage nationally switched to this model, the carbon footprint of drayage would be reduced by 50,000 to 70,000 tons per year, or the equivalent of saving over 5 million gallons of gasoline.    This will directly benefit the communities in which we work and live.'
   'Trucks will not have to wait in slow-moving lines on marine terminals to pick up a chassis, resulting in fewer emissions,' said Bill Williams, Maersk Line vice president of health, safety and environment. 'Because of the increased efficiency, drivers can get a customer's container from the terminal faster, better supporting customer needs. In short, with well-managed and well-maintained chassis pools, everyone wins.'
   The safety benefits are also significant. 'When a driver holds a chassis longer, there will be less wear and tear on the equipment compared to the current practices in which chassis are connected and disconnected from trucks constantly. Marine Terminals will see safety benefits from less congestion; they won't have to store large quantities of chassis on terminals and reduced congestion contributes to better traffic flow,' Williams said. ' Chris Dupin