Lack of Chassis Choice Hurts ELD HOS

Discussion in 'Trucking Industry Regulations' started by BradRalston, Nov 4, 2022.

  1. BradRalston

    BradRalston Bobtail Member

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    I am working with the co-sponsors of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to advocate for chassis choice to help independent contractors be freed from the rules that hurt their productivity related to what chassis you can use.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 11, 2022
    Reason for edit: Edited out petition request.
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  3. BradRalston

    BradRalston Bobtail Member

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    Simply put- Chassis Choice allows the trucker to decide which chassis gets used so intermodal containers can move as efficiently as possible. In the United States, however, there are agreements which can dictate what chassis can be used to move specific containers. Globally the standard is that the trucker provides the chassis (chassis choice). Now how does the lack of chassis choice negatively impact efficiency, increase emissions, and drive inflation? As an example let's say there are 100 chassis in a given market made of up 50 red chassis and 50 blue chassis. Customer A requires the trucker to only use red chassis. Immediately the trucker now only has 50 assets to work with to move that freight from the rail/port. Less options is never good when it comes to moving freight. What happens if the trucker ends up at the port with a blue chassis after in-gating a container when their next move is for Customer A who requires a red chassis? Now they have to leave the port get rid of the blue chassis, bobtail to another depot, wait in line to pick up a red chassis, do another pre-trip to ensure the chassis is road legal, head back to the port to wait in line again, only then to have the box mounted for the Customer requiring red chassis be used. Three extra legs were created that drive extra emissions and miles. The time spent doing this is On Duty for a driver so now they have less productive hours left in their ELD HOS to move freight from the rail to help congestion. With less ELD HOS available because of these extra legs the driver now doesn't have the hours required to pre-pull another container from the port/rail at the end of the day. If today was the last free day of that box the driver couldn't pull now there is a day of demurrage that must be paid to the port to pick the box up tomorrow. That cost gets passed onto the end customer who then has to account for that cost in their price on the shelf to the consumer driving inflation. At scale lack of chassis choice compounds into significant environment, safety, and economic consequences. Supporting chassis choice is positive step towards a cleaner, safer, more efficient supply chain. Please share and help spread the word!
     
  4. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    You may have to wait a couple of days before the can haulers have worked themselves and equipment to near death,

    . . . slept a few hours

    . . . re-applied all lost duct tape and zip ties to equipment,

    . . . kissed the wife
    . . . and THENNNNNNNN, absorb the information and respond.
     
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  5. Cattleman84

    Cattleman84 Road Train Member

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    So my question is... What the hell difference does it make what F color the #### chassis is???
     
  6. EvertonP

    EvertonP Light Load Member

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    Besides color what’s the shipper asking for in deciding a chassis? It’s been a while since I pulled one but the only difference I remember is high cube and tandem/ tridem variants
     
  7. ZVar

    ZVar Road Train Member

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    Most likely the color is an example. Likely it's more to do with the owner of the chassis. Now if it is color choice, and that's a law.... Wow.

    But it likely has more to do with one can only use Swift chassis with Swift containers or the like.
     
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  8. gentleroger

    gentleroger Road Train Member

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    What happens when the chasis gets dropped at a customer? You now have a "red" container on a "blue" chassis. The owner of the container doesn't care how long the customer takes to load/unload but the chassis owner wants their chassis back. What about balancing chassis pools?

    I get the problem this is trying to solve, but from what I see it's not a solution, unless every container is IMMEDIATELY removed from the chassis at in gate.
     
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  9. BradRalston

    BradRalston Bobtail Member

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    Was just giving a high level example to simplify the issue without diving into Steamship line billing agreements with chassis pools. The main point of the petition to allow for any road legal chassis to pull a container. When Customers or Steamship Lines start dictating what chassis you can use it starts eroding efficiencies.
     
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  10. BradRalston

    BradRalston Bobtail Member

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    What is going on currently is less about balanced chassis pools and more about true shortages of chassis stemming from the import surge tied to COVID. This will eventually clear out and then there will likely be a surplus of chassis in my opinion because pools have been ordering tens of thousands of chassis to meet demand. Most of the demand is tied up in your original point of a container dropped at a customer and as things slowly normalize dwell times at warehouses will relax which will free up significant chassis around the country as new orders begin to come in and get fed into the pools. Your point is valid but I believe within a year there will be plenty of chassis and then chassis choice will be very important at that point in time. Appreciate your comment and consideration in the petition.
     
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  11. BradRalston

    BradRalston Bobtail Member

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    Things run smoother when you can use any chassis:)
     
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