Proposed Chassis Fee Dropped in LA/LB!

Last Tuesday, the West Coast Marine Terminal Operators Agreement (WCMTOA), the organization that represents marine terminal operators in LA/LB, declared that it has decided to drop the planned $5 per chassis service charge fee that was set to go into effect September 1st. Instead, individual terminals will negotiate compensation for equipment hosting directly with the chassis-leasing companies.

The proposed charge was intended to help compensate the terminals for the costly chassis handling they provide to the chassis leasing companies, such as chassis storage, longshore labor of stacking and unstacking chassis, and the transmission of electronic data for chassis usage, which is used to bill customers.

However, the WCMTOA's decision to drop the charge was mainly due to the backlash received from the intermodal equipment providers (IEPs). IEPs have stated from the beginning that charges should be negotiated on a terminal by terminal basis since each terminal has unique operations.

Even though the plan is shelved for the moment, the WCMTOA is not completely giving up. In a statement Tuesday, the organization declared that "it intends to vigorously defend its response to the petition."