WCMTOA postpones chassis fee

The West Coast Marine Terminal Operators Agreement postponed the implementation date of the $5 chassis fee imposed by container terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from Aug. 1. to Sept. 1.    Chassis lessors will be subject to a new $5 per chassis fee imposed by container terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach starting Sept. 1.
   The West Coast Marine Terminal Operators Agreement (WCMTOA) originally scheduled the fee to take effect Aug. 1.
   The $5 fee applies to chassis owned by chassis leasing companies that receive services from WCMTOA’s marine terminal members at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
   “The chassis system in the United States has been in flux for several years as shipping lines have moved away from providing the chassis (the truck trailer onto which containers are mounted) as part of their services. Since 2014, users in Los Angeles-Long Beach have arranged chassis directly with the leasing companies,” WCMTOA said.
   “However, the terminals haven’t been compensated by the leasing companies for basic services provided such as storage space, stacking and unstacking the chassis, and electronic data interchange (which tells the chassis lessors who is using their chassis). Since the chassis leasing companies formed a ‘pool of pools’ in early 2015, the terminals have been working with the leasing companies to address the compensation and services issues.”
   When chassis were provided by shipping companies, the cost of those services was negotiated as part of the package that terminal operators provide to steamship companies.
   WCMTOA said a new Rule 15 in its Terminal Schedule No. 1 provides for a $5 fee each time a chassis enters or leaves the terminal to cover the cost of services. The fee will be collected by PierPass on chassis with loaded or empty containers mounted, but not on bare chassis.
   In addition, WCMTOA said no fees will be charged for chassis that are owned directly by cargo owners or trucking companies, as these owners don’t require the services provided to leasing companies.
   Neither cargo owners or trucking companies need to register their chassis under Rule 15, WCMTOA said.
   PierPass said it informed the Federal Maritime Commission of its decision to postpone the start date to Sept. 1 last Friday in order to give “leasing companies additional time to implement the change without impacting cargo flow in the ports.”
   Although it was not clear how this will impact the pricing to the lessors of chassis, the Direct Chassis Link Inc. (DCLI) has a notice on its website saying that DCLI published rates exclude gate fees or other charges incurred upon the gate-in or gate-out of a chassis. “Any such fees assessed to DCLI will also be for the customer’s account, and included as a separate line-item on your invoice,” DCLI said.
   Jon Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation, said its members “are extremely concerned about the continually increasing costs of doing business at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Between the recently announced Traffic Mitigation Fee increase and now this new chassis fee, those costs are all passed along to the beneficial cargo owner. Unfortunately, there has been no discussion or consultation with the cargo owners about the impact these new fees will have or their purpose.”
   Don Pisano, the president of American Coffee and chairman of the National Industrial Transportation League Ocean Transportation Committee said “We don’t dispute that the MTO should be compensated for services provided to chassis providers. But we suspect that the $5 fee charged both in and out will be passed along from the chassis lessee to the lessor or the user of the chassis. Thus the beneficial cargo owner will be now be expected to absorb an additional $10 on each import and export container. This new fee on top of the increased Traffic Mitigation Fee which will become effective August 8th adds up. Shippers consider all direct and indirect charges in selecting which port to use for their shipments. We are glad the implementation date for this new chassis services fee has been delayed a month and hope all parties consider the impact of this new charge on the competitiveness of the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex.”