Dive Brief:
- West Coast maritime terminal operators last week said they put aside plans to introduce a chassis services fee but affirmed their right to sek compensation for services provided to chassis leasing companies at the Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA, ports.
- Terminals pay $200,000 per acre annually to lease land from ports and stack many acres of chassis, according to the West Coast MTO Agreement.
- The terminals announced the plan to charge service fees for chassis entry, exit and storage in June, claiming the machines take up several rentable acres of space. Independent leasing companies filed a petition with the Federal Maritime Commission seeking to avoid the fee.
Dive Insight:
The proposed $5 charge on entry and exit of leaser-owned chassis was set to go into effect today, as previously reported.
Three chassis leasers had filed the petition seeking justification for the surcharge on their equipment, which they said would cost $28 million annually. The chassis leasing companies had asserted the fee violated the Shipping Act.
"WCMTOA members strongly believe the chassis owners must be responsible for covering the land, labor and technology costs the terminals incur on their behalf," the terminal operators group said last week. The WCMTOA covers 13 Los Angeles and Long Beach port marine terminal operators.
