We have talked with our experts in Oakland and they have urgent news to share.
The chassis shortage became more severe within the last week. Only certain chassis can be used for each steamship line and some are only allowing “own” chassis to be used. It is getting ugly and will only get worse in the coming weeks.
Terminals at the Port of Oakland are turning away drivers. Containers are coming in hot, but there is nothing to put them on to out-gate them. We are currently storing over 100 containers and counting daily.
Chassis shortage solutions
For this problem there is no real solution—if there aren’t any chassis then we can’t pull any containers. Our own chassis are all being used on containers that are scheduled for the future or on empty containers that the terminal does not want to accept at this time. We can’t buy more chassis; the market does not have any till the end of this year for production.
Port X Logistics customers
We are currently sending customers screenshots from terminals with updates. We aren’t living in a pre-COVID market anymore. Everything has changed.
We are updating customers daily when their containers are scheduled and doing our best to avoid demurrage. The terminals, however, have no equipment for their truckers to use. Again, some steamship lines allow only “own” chassis to be used, but no one has these types of chassis available.
How can a container be pulled if there is no chassis? It simply can’t.
LFDs are being posted so fast, with two to three days until the container is made available. Then we struggle to make an appointment. When we do get an appointment, well, then we have to find chassis. They are SCARCE.
Our advice: BE PROACTIVE
Our customers need to provide their DOs on time. This is the best way to avoid more problems and delays. So many customers are sending stuff over that is already here or will be here within a day or two. Before we used to ask for a 48-hour lead time before the vessel arrival, now we are asking for a two-week notice. The situation we are in is not easy and it becomes very difficult to explain that the Port of Oakland is in the same situation as the Port of LA even though it is a smaller terminal. We just want everyone to think of the Oakland situation as LA, we are having a hard time with the chassis’ availability and yard space.
Here’s your sign. Be proactive. NOW. You can reach our team at letsgetrolling@portxlogistics.com