Peter T. Leach, Senior Editor | Sep 17, 2012 11:42AM EDT
Hamburg Sud will stop providing chassis as part of its service to the ports of Portland, Seattle and Tacoma on Nov. 1.
The German carrier currently sources chassis from the SSAT Pool (soon to be the Trac Chassis Pool) for merchants haulage as well as carrier conducted intermodal moves.
Hamburg Sud said Monday it would no longer provide chassis as of Nov. 1 to shippers or their agents for cargo moving under merchant’s haulage through area terminals and depots in and around the three Pacific Northwest ports.
Shippers, their agents or consignees can procure equipment either directly from Trac Intermodal or from various other chassis vendors, Hamburg Sud said. Carrier provided intermodal moves will be not be affected by the change.
Most ocean carriers have been exiting the chassis business in phases at ports and inland rail terminals around the country during the last few years in an effort to cut costs and complexity.
Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.