July 29, 2016 Source: JOC.com –Marine terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach have suspended for 30 days the imposition of a $5 chassis gate fee on chassis moves into and out of their facilities that was to begin Monday, but it looks like the 13 terminal operators are determined to begin charging the fee by Sept. 1.
Although $5 does not sound like a lot of money, chassis providers, known as intermodal equipment providers, estimate that the fee will result ultimately in a total additional cost of $29 million a year for beneficial cargo owners in the largest U.S. port complex.
Terminal operators, on the other hand, say they store the chassis on expensive waterfront land, pay longshoremen for stacking and unstacking chassis in their yards and provide IEPs with information on each chassis transaction that the IEPs in turn use to bill their customers, and the IEPs until now have been receiving these services from the terminals for free.
The West Coast Marine Terminal Operators Agreement 45 days ago notified the three major chassis providers, Direct Chassis Link, TRAC Intermodal and Flexi-Van, that effective Aug. 1 the terminals would begin levying the fee in Southern California. WCMTOA then filed a formal notice with the Federal Maritime Commission 30 days in advance of the implementation date, as required by the commission.
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