On October 13, 2014, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a proposal to create a chassis operating division at the port of Long Beach in an effort to stabilize and improve the port’s current congestion issues.

According to a release by Cargo Business News, “Truckers have traditionally used chassis owned by a company and would return them after use. But some terminals don’t have an adequate chassis supply, which forces truckers to drive to a storage location to acquire one. A chassis pool would allow truckers to use chassis interchangeably, and chassis owners would then be compensated through rental fees.”

Under the new plan, the port would be able to acquire, manage, and maintain the trailers for container transportation. Jon Slangerup, the port’s chief executive, will release the detailed action plan to the board within the next month.

Furthermore, while congestion issues remain severe, the Port of Long Beach announced that all overseas containers will receive an additional three days of free time, effective October 18-31, 2014. According to a notice on its website, the Port of Long Beach clarifies that, “The Port of Long Beach will add an extra three days to the time that overseas import containers can remain on the docks without charge, in order to grant some relief to cargo owners as the supply chain works to eliminate cargo delivery delays.”

Expeditors will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as they occur. Please contact your local Expeditors branch for specific questions and concerns.

The Business Cargo News press release can be accessed online at:
http://www.cargobusinessnews.com/news/101514/news1.html?utm_source=CBNNewswire+101514&utm_campaign=CBN+Newswire+101514&utm_medium=email

The Port of Long Beach release can be viewed at:
http://www.polb.com/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1371&TargetID=1