THE Georgia Port Authority (GPA), Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport), North Carolina State Ports Authority (NC Ports) and the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association (OCEMA), an association of 10 major international container carriers, have signed a Letter of Intent to increase and upgrade the South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP), reports the American Journal of Transportation.
Said GPA executive director Griff Lynch: "This pool will be a game changer for all stakeholders in the southeastern US by upgrading the region's intermodal chassis fleet through the creation of a true industry utility.
"In doing so, we wanted to build on the proven strengths of the SACP by adding upgraded capacity and improved ability to respond to market changes affecting container transport service throughout the Southeastern US," Mr Lynch said.
Said Jaxport CEO Eric Green: "Maintaining a steady and reliable chassis supply in Jacksonville and the US Southeast ensures that we can continue to serve the growing needs of our customers now and well into the future."
While the ports and ocean carriers have operated for several years under the SACP 2.0 concept, the next generation port/carrier effort, dubbed "SACP 3.0," will introduce up to 50,000 new high technology intermodal chassis to handle the international container trade to and from major South Atlantic ports (eg, Jacksonville, Savannah, and Wilmington NC), as well as key inland intermodal hubs (eg, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Charlotte).
Said NC Ports executive director Brian Clark: "The three ports were of the view that a new vision was needed for intermodal container chassis in the US. We asked OCEMA and Consolidated Chassis Management to join us in this effort. We believe the SACP 3.0 will achieve that vision."
Said CCM chief executive Mike Wilson: "The current SACP has been the best performing pool in the US during the very challenging cargo surge of the past 15 months. The SACP 3.0 will take the strengths of the current SACP - interoperability, efficiency, safety, and a best-in-class operating team - and move to the next level with a unique public/private cooperative effort."
The SACP will continue to be the largest fully interoperable chassis pool in the US, covering the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Said OCEMA executive director Jeff Lawrence: "The ports have challenged us to work with them to build a true chassis utility that will deliver the most resilient, efficient chassis fleet ever seen."
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