Maersk is trying a new approach to solve one of the most intractable problems that leads to logistics managers and port directors in the US tearing their hair out – the hundreds of thousands of container trailers that clutter up terminals throughout the country and slow down cargo movement. The company is hiring out its trailers, known as chassis, for a fixed daily rate to local cartage companies, ocean carriers, marine terminals and railways. Trucking companies will be required to sign a contract under which they assume liability for the equipment and provide coverage through their own insurance policies Outstripped by more efficient ports in Europe and Asia, which move containers in automated yards by overhead gantries, the US is hamstrung by outdated yards where boxes are shifted by tractor or truck and where each load moved has often to be exchanged for another chassis. Maersk has formed a new company, Direct Chassislink, which will pool 5 000 trailers in New York before going national with all 90 000 units. Six industry pools operate in a number of cities, owned by Consolidated Chassis Management, but Maersk only participates in Denver, partly because the industry pools do not want all the additional Maersk equipment. “Trucks will not have to wait in slow-moving lines on marine terminals to pick up a chassis,” Bill Williams, Maersk Line vice president of health, safety and environment, said in news reports.
Maersk finds innovative answer to trailer clutter in US
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