Chassis Split

What it means

Flexport defines the situation as when "the container is not located in the same place as the chassis," with the trucking company charging a fee to cover bringing the chassis to the container.^[1] A split can happen on the way out (fetching a chassis before the terminal) or on the way back (dropping the empty in one place and the chassis in another).

The Port Authority's trucker guidebook defines a chassis as a wheeled flatbed trailer on which a cargo container is mounted for transport.^[2] Federal safety rules count chassis as intermodal equipment, and a company that hands chassis to truckers under a written interchange agreement is an intermodal equipment provider.^[3]

Split fees come from each trucker's rate sheet, so the amount varies. What to ask before dispatch, and how splits fit with the other drayage accessorials, is in chassis split, pre-pull and street turn fees.

Why chassis and containers end up apart in NY/NJ

At the Port of New York and New Jersey, many chassis are dispatched from depots rather than from the container terminal itself. The Port Authority's guidebook lists chassis depots in Elizabeth, Newark and Bayonne, each with its own weekday hours and its own list of providers, among them DCLI, TRAC, Metro Pool, Milestone and a GenSet pool.^[2] TRAC describes its Metro Pool as the largest chassis pool in the region, with more than 17,000 chassis covering the marine terminals of the Port of NY/NJ, Philadelphia and Baltimore.^[4]

• The facility has no chassis. For pickups at Millennium Marine Rail in Port Elizabeth, the guidebook says the trucker must arrive with a chassis because none are available there.^[2]
• The box needs special equipment. At one Newark depot, reefer and genset chassis are dispatched from a separate yard from dry container chassis.^[2]
• The empty goes somewhere else. The FMC's Fact Finding 28 report described triangle moves, where a trucker returns an empty to a different terminal from the one it was picked up at, and noted that empties needed at one terminal cause chassis misalignment "as every empty container comes with a chassis."^[5]

Who is involved and what the paperwork shows

• The drayage carrier makes the extra stop and bills the split under its own rate sheet.^[1]
• The chassis provider interchanges the chassis to the trucker. The UIIA is the standard bilateral industry contract for interchange between intermodal motor carriers and equipment providers, leasing companies included, and each provider's addendum sets commercial terms such as free time, per diem and use charges.^[6]
• The driver must inspect the listed chassis components before taking it on the road and report known damage or defects when the chassis is returned.^[7] The inspection happens wherever the driver accepts the chassis, so a depot pickup includes it.
• The terminal checks that the trucking company is registered under the UIIA and that the driver has the credentials and, where the terminal uses them, an appointment.^[2]

Picking up a chassis from a provider counts as an interchange under the federal definition, separate from the container interchange at the terminal gate.^[3] The depot and gate records of each interchange, with times and locations, are what show whether a split leg actually happened.

Example

A trucker is sent to collect an import at an Elizabeth terminal. The move needs a chassis from a provider whose equipment is dispatched at an off-terminal depot, so the driver goes to the depot first, inspects and takes the chassis, then goes to the terminal on the booked appointment. After delivery the empty is due at a different terminal from the chassis depot, so the driver makes one more stop to return the bare chassis. The invoice shows the base drayage rate plus a split for each extra leg.

Chassis split vs. similar terms

• Chassis flip. Moving a container from one chassis to another. Fact Finding 28 gave the example of a trucker who arrives with his own chassis and finds the container already mounted on another one, which leads to a flip fee.^[5] The guidebook lists chassis flip hours at the Port Liberty CES exam station.^[2]
• Chassis per diem. A daily charge for using the chassis, set in the provider's terms, not a charge for an extra stop.^[6]
• Demurrage and detention. Federal rules define these as charges by ocean carriers, marine terminal operators or NVOCCs for terminal space or containers.^[8] A split is a trucking charge, not one of these.

Frequently asked questions