As the largest intermodal chassis provider in the U.S., we play an important role in helping American agricultural exporters get their goods to market. Our chassis are used to help deliver export loads to rail ramps at inland destinations and directly to ports u2013 like the Ports of Oakland, LA, and Long Beach u2013 for final delivery to overseas markets.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we increased the number of marine chassis on the street serving customers by nearly 60% while reducing out-of-service levels to all-time lows with the help of our chassis manufacturers and maintenance and repair vendors. We did this despite significant headwinds such as supply chain congestion that increased, in some cases by double or more, the amount of time customers held onto our assets and government-imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese chassis imports, which have hampered our ability to acquire new chassis.

In recent months, we have heard of the challenges faced by motor carriers and shippers in the Oakland market and have significantly increased our engagement with agricultural exporters to better understand their needs and how we can best serve them. You can read more about how DCLI supports Agricultural Shippers across the country here.

In response to these California-specific challenges, we have taken the following steps:

• We increased chassis availability and substantially reduced out of service (OOS) levels in Oakland by partnering with our local vendors and the ILWU to add a second shift at the Everport terminal. OOS has declined from almost 30% in August 2020 to less than 8% today

• We reduced OOS levels at the Ports of LA and Long Beach to below 3% to ensure all available equipment is deployed to move boxes

• We are supporting chassis needs at the off-dock yard established by the Port of Oakland and the USDA to help enable agricultural export shipments and serve the needs of farmers and other agricultural exporters from California and beyond

• We have relocated more than 500 chassis into the Oakland market to help restore supply chain fluidity and support volumes that come back as a result of ocean carriers resuming services to Oakland that were blanked during the pandemic

• We increased the number of chassis DCLI has on long-term lease in Oakland by 87% in the past year, responding to demand from local motor carriers and their BCO customers for chassis options that give them more direct control

This focus on our customers’ needs in California is to ensure equipment availability and deliver a great trucker experience in our continued drive to be your chassis partner of choice.

If you’d like to get updates on how we continue to support agricultural shippers, please fill out the form below: