10


House to House July 2010


Commitment to acomplex class of cover


The provision of road going chassis for the delivery of containers to exporters and importers premises from US ports is a systemunique to the USA. Traditionally ocean carriers have supplied the equipment to truckers inmuch the sameway as they allowthe use of their containers to shippers. This is in contrast to other regions of theworldwhere the road haulier provides both the chassis and traction unitwhen contracting to deliver containers for loading or discharge.


mentcannotbedescribedasunique,but theClubs’ knowledge,experienceandexpertiseinthecomplex set of circumstances at play within US container chassis operations, certainly can.Over the last 25 yearsTTClub’scommitment toprovidingsoundad- vice to chassis owners, inwhat can sometimes be a fog of legal intricacies, is proven.


The chassis are, of course, land-based and verymuch port-oriented. The ocean carriers have, throughout the history of containeri- sation (the last forty years or so), struggled to maximise the usage of individual units and therefore, manage their investment and operating costs.Chassismanagement is however, a complexmatter.


Just so, the necessity to ‘inter-change’ the chas- sis fromthe care of the terminal,which stores the equipment on behalf of the ocean carrier, to or from trucking companies, makes the matter of insurance liability a complex issue as well.


As thereareanumberof insuranceproviders inthis sector, the cover offered by TTClub for this equip-


Throughout these last two decades, and formuch of the years prior, the history of the container chassis in the US, has been one of constant search; ocean carriers searching for an efficient way of utilising equipment, and all parties, in- cluding chassis owners, terminals, truckers and legislators, seeking a compromise on an equi- table share of the potential liabilitywhen the chas- sis are being operated.


In 2004 a concerted effortwasmade by Virginia International Terminals (VIT), in the Port ofHamp- ton Roads/Norfolk, to help streamline the chas- sis operating system by initiating an equipment pool operated independent of the ocean carriers. This innovation involved the pooling of carrier’s chassis to be operated fromVIT andmanaged by a subsidiary of the terminal company, Virginia In- ternationalManagement (VIM).


TT Club, at this time were consulted regarding the establishment of this pooling arrangement


and, provided critical advice on the risk aspects of this agreement, particularly regarding the amendments to the allocation of the parties’ lia- bility in operating equipment through the pool sys- tem. The pool, namedHRCP II (HamptonRoads ChassisPool II) became the blue-print agreement for other such pooling arrangements that were established by other ports and eventually by the carriers themselves throughout the USA.


In 2005, under the auspices ofOCEMA (Ocean Carriers Equipment Management Association), a 20 carrier strong body, which acts as a forum for its members to discuss operational, safety and related matters pertaining to the intermodal transport of ocean freight, Consoli- dated Chassis Management LLC (CCM) was established. CCM operates six regional pools from over 20 depots throughout the US with a total of around 120,000 units. Each pool has chassis owned by a number of OCEMA mem- bers and is administered by asset-management companies with expertise in the sector, such as Seacastle or Flexi-Van. These, and other, pool- ing initiatives have enabled standardised main- tenance, better utilisation and reduced on-ter- minal storage. As a result, significant operational and cost efficiencies have beenmade.However, problems remain due to the complexity of a sys- tem which requires truckers to be constantly


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