Transport Partnership
U.b. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
A Glance at Clean Freight Strategies:
Common Chassis Pools for Drayage
Common Chassis Pools can help trucking companies save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
minimizing unnecessary truck movements and idling associated with switching chassis. Drayage trucks
using pooled chassis could save up to 0.8 gallons per trip, reducing Nitrogen Oxide and Particulate Matter
sions.
What is the challenge?
Fuel consumption and turn times for
drayage trucks are increased through
the common practice of picking up and
dropping off chassis that belong to
different terminal operators. Most
chassis are owned and maintained by
individual terminal operators or
steamship lines, and are not permitted
for use with containers from another
carrier. With one acre required for every
50 chassis, the storage of excess
chassis requires space that could be
allocated for more productive uses
within the terminal. Port congestion
associated with chassis storage can
negatively impact terminal throughput,
timeliness, and ability to compete as a
shipping destination.
Chassis switching can add up to an hour
per trip, substantially reducing income
for drayage truck drivers. Since trucking
companies and truckers are typically
paid by the trip, reducing gate turn-time
is key to maintaining pay level, and
driver retention. Chassis switching also
increases fuel use, delivery times, port
congestion, and air pollution.
What is the solution?
One option to reduce delays caused by
switching chassis is the development of
a port-wide common chassis pool.
Participating shipping lines provide their
own chassis for use by the pool, which
can be managed and maintained by a
subsidiary of the participating terminals,
or a third party. This allows drayage
trucks to use pooled chassis to serve
multiple carriers and greatly reduces
gate turn-times through greater
streamlining of operations.
Common chassis pools can provide a
more efficient management of terminal
assets, increase the volume of goods
through the port and free up space used
to store chassis on port lands. Additional
fuel savings from
reducing miles traveled while switching
chassis, is dependent on the size of the
port facility and its physical layout.
Pooled chassis can also facilitate the
implementation of virtual container yards
(VCY) and empty container yards
(ECY), reducing the number of empty
container movements, congestion and
wait times at terminal gates.
The results are in ...
In October 2004, the Port of Virginia
became the first U.S. port to require all
chassis stored on site to participate in its
Hampton Roads Chassis Pool II
(HRCPII). By June 2005, HCRPII has
achieved 100% participation from the
port's container shipping lines,
managing over 15,000 chassis. Plans
for the pool include the development of
HCRP III in which a third party supplier
will own all chassis.
The pool has reduced the number of
chassis stored on site by 5,000 to 6,000,
U.S. EPA Office of Transportation & Air Quality • EPA420-F-06-002 • (734) 214-4767 phone
www.epa.gov/smartwav
smartway_transport@epa.gov •
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or 20% of the original fleet. This has
resulted in 40 to 60 acres of land being
recaptured for use by the terminals.
HCRPII has been instrumental in
keeping gate turn times below an
average of 42 minutes, enabling
terminals to accommodate the
continued annual growth in container
shipments occurring at the Port of
Virginia.
Local trucking companies have indicated
that the number of moves their drivers
are able to complete in a shift has risen
dramatically. Local drivers who would
previously only be able to complete two
to three container moves per shift are
now being able to move up to ten
containers daily. This has allowed
companies to provide a more reliable
service while increasing company
revenues and driver incomes. Marine
and railroad terminals including the ports
of Los Angeles Long Beach, Baltimore,
Charleston and Savannah, have
expressed an interest in port-wide
common chassis pools.
Next steps
Terminal operators and Port Authorities
should consider the implementation of
chassis pools to recapture terminal
space, reduce gate turn times, and
reduce air pollution and congestion in
and around port facilities. Stakeholder
meetings held early in the planning
process can help terminals interested in
adopting a common chassis pool
determine which model best suits the
needs of the individual ports.
U.S. EPA Office of Transportation & Air Quality • EPA420-F-06-002 • (734) 214-4767 phone <
www.epa.gov/smartwav
smartway_transport@epa.gov •
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