Chicago Container chassis shortage

Can't beat good service,

 

Then you get the railroad's screwing the pooch. Ran a load from Denver to Cavalier, ND a month back, it was supposed to go to either Council Bluffs or Twin Cities, instead it deramped in Denver. Oh joy. Last minute situation.

It also doesn't help that many of these chassis are junk, sitting on junk tires, even some of the radials are junk. We've always run any 20' can weighing over 36K on a 3-axle chassis if it crosses state lines, or goes more than 150 miles. Now, we're starting to put 40' cans on 3 axle chassis if they weigh more than 38K, crossing state lines or going more than 250 miles, it's getting near impossible to get 10.00x20 tires and or tubes in some of these rural areas. Few months back, lost a tire returning to Denver from Dalhart, Tx., sat in Walsenburg, Co. for 13 hours while my company, chassis pool and the repair company fought over who was going to replace a 11x22.5 (non radial) tire that went flat and couldn't be repaired. In the end, my bosses ended up buying 2 new 11R22.5 tires, because no one within 200 miles of where I broke down had a 11x22.5 bias ply. The tire situation is getting ridiculously stupid.

 

I haven't done cans in many years. They had a better system then. A service company was a call away, the 3 Axel trailers were nice. I would carry a spare, we ran as far north as Sarnia, East as The Ports, Staten Island, Norfork. .Some Drivers went to the west coast. We relayed cans in Detroit, goin to Catch a ship at Halifax. Always had spare tires, lites. Jacks came in handy on a stack of chassis,

 

It has gotten out of control, I've been doing cans for almost 24 yrs, it's steadily going downhill, and the idiots that run these pools don't give a rats butt about the quality of the equipment. In almost every City with an intermodal ramp, it's a matter of time before there is another major fatal accident and a massive lawsuit against a trucker, a chassis pool and the railroad. I pray for any driver involved, but the reality is, they need to document everything, and pray they have a lawyer who will use it to help the family of the person killed go after the pool or the railroad.

 

That's to bad.,stay safe.

 

Norfolk Southern has quite a few 53' chassis for domestic cans, but is anyone working out of areas that still have railroad-owned 20' or 40' chassis?

I seem to recall that the railroads mostly got out of the chassis business years ago and let the chassis pool companies take over.