Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 

Click on question number for answer and answer number to return to questions.

 

 

Q1. What is a CCM Consolidated Chassis Pool?

 

Q2. Who administers CCM Consolidated Chassis Pools?

 

Q3. What locations are covered?

 

Q4. How is utilization measured?

 

Q5. What is a start / stop location?

 

Q6. What is a non-start / stop location?

 

Q7. Can an ocean carrier participate as a Contributor in one location and Unitary Pool Concept (UPC) Customer in another?

 

Q8. Are different cities and different facilities within those cities measured together for utilization?

 

Q9. How will chassis migration between facilities be handled?

 

Q10. Who pays for the repositioning expense?

 

Q11. What if there is a service failure?

 

Q12. How are chassis repairs covered by the CCM consolidated chassis pools?

 

Q13. What about tires?

 

Q14. Who handles over the road repairs?

 

Q15. What happens when a chassis migrates to another location or is off-hired?

 

Q16. How do I get access to the appropriate chassis tracking system?  

 

Q17. What information is required from the Member Lines?

 

Q18. What is the target utilization level?

 

Q19. Who is responsible for chassis’s dispatched to non-members?

 

Q20. How are overdue units handled?

 

Q21. What is the billing process?

 

  

 

 

A1.  A CCM CONSOLIDATED CHASSIS POOL  is a cooperative chassis pool with varying participants that generally include most of the 21 largest international ocean carriers, some railroads, and some chassis leasing companies. The pool locations include marine terminals, rail ramps and container yards located throughout a geographic area (ex: the US South Atlantic).

 

 A CCM CONSOLIDATED CHASSIS POOL is structured as a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”), incorporated in Delaware and established specifically as an entity for the chassis pool. All of the CCM CONSOLIDATED CHASSIS POOL , LLCs are wholly owned subsidiaries of Consolidated Chassis Management “CCM”, LLC.

 

 

A2. CCM CONSOLIDATED CHASSIS POOLS are administered by an independent, experienced chassis leasing company that is contracted as the Pool Manager. This Pool Manager works under the guidelines established by the CCM staff and the local CCM CONSOLIDATED CHASSIS POOL Boards. These Boards are composed of representatives of the participating ocean carriers who participate on the Board for a set period of time.  The chassis leasing companies who administer the pool act as neutral representatives of the ocean carriers’ equipment control and M&R departments.  The chassis management system used by the pool is standard across all of the facilities within a region and is made available to all the members. There are established full time pool management staffs at, or close to the actual facilities in each region.  The Pool Managers handle administrative and support functions in centralized locations. 

 

A3. In each geographic region, CCM attempts to be available at all major ocean locations and intermodal transport hubs. In addition, CCM covers ocean terminal facilities, rail ramps, and other facilities to ensure that service is matched to regular trucking patterns. CCM will constantly look for new and different locations to continue to offer optimum service.  

 

A4. As detailed in the Consolidated Chassis Pool (CCP) Operations Manual, utilization begins on the date of mounting a container on a chassis at a start /stop location, and ends when the container is lifted off the chassis at a start / stop location. The target utilization for a given pool is 85% utilized. This target can be amended and is published in the CCP Operations Manual.

 

A5. Start / stop locations are neutral facilities where chassis usage (“time clock”) is begun or ended. 

 

A6. These are either carrier or customer container yards (CY’s) that are not neutral to the pool where the (start / stop) “time clock” will continue to run.

 

A7. Yes, at present time, CCM allows ocean carrier companies to have different agreements at different facilities.

 

A8. Facilities can be measured independently for contribution and utilization but are aggregated at the Pool level for billing purposes.

 

A9. The Pool Manger will identify and measure the units migrating between cities and individual facilities for the region. The Pool Manager will coordinate with Users /Contributors, and reposition chassis based on the metrics and by mutual agreement. 

 

A10. As detailed in the Consolidated Chassis Pool (CCP) Operations Manual, the Pool Manager receives the invoices for units they have dispatched. The repositioning expense is calculated taking into consideration the imbalance, if any, caused by each member line at the origin and/or the destination facility. These expenses are apportioned to the ocean carrier in accordance with the total percentage that they caused. 

 

A11. In some cases, the absence of chassis at the right location at the right time cannot be avoided.   Generally any expenses (flips) relating to the service failure become a pool responsibility.

 

A12. The pool M&R manager is responsible for supervising all M&R vendors to insure that they are adhering to the M&R pool standards per the CCP Operations Manual. The Pool Manager will review all major damage repairs and perform pre- and post- repair inspections at each repair facility.  

 

A13. Tires are provided by the vendors and included in the M&R expenses to the Users. Mature and large locations will likely provide a common tire bank managed by the Pool Manager. When tires need to be replaced, they will be done so on a like-for like basis, i.e. if a recap is removed, a recap is installed; if an OEM is removed, an OEM is installed.

 

A14. Over the road repairs are serviced per the interchange agreement between the truck line and the member carrier. The pool observes the “box rules”, meaning the owner of the container is responsible for the repair of the chassis over the road regardless of the owner of the chassis. Expense for over-the-road repairs will be forwarded to the Pool Manager for reimbursement consideration along with the appropriate documentation.

 

A15. The Pool Manager must be notified and the chassis will be removed from the CCM CONSOLIDATED CHASSIS POOLS.   The Pool Manager will also report to a Member when they find a Member’s chassis being used outside the pool’s operating region to determine if that chassis is a candidate for removal from the pool.

 

A16. This is dependent on who is managing the pool and what system is being used. Please see the individual FAQ’s for each Regional Pool to determine what system is supporting the pool you are interested in. 

 

A17. The Pool Manager must receive information on exception chassis needs from the Ocean Carriers. This information includes non-standard vessel calls affecting the volumes and unusually large outbound bookings needs. The Ocean Carriers also must regularly provide updated fleet files whenever there are any changes to their fleet. 

 

A18. The target utilization is set at 85% for the fleet.

 

A19. When a rail or terminal releases a chassis to a carrier that is not a pool member, it is the Pool Manager’s responsibility to track the chassis and have it returned to a pooling location.

 

A20. The Pool Manager monitors chassis that have not changed status and / or are outside accepted standards for that pooling location. When units are off-terminal under a carrier’s use, the Using Carrier is responsible for tracking the chassis. Reports are issued to the Carriers to help identify the overdue units.

 

A21. The M&R vendors and the truckers providing bare repositioning will invoice the Pool Manager. The Pool Manager will issue monthly invoices for Administration Expense, Repositioning Expenses, M&R Expense and other miscellaneous charges. There will be one consolidated invoice issued monthly unless a Carrier makes special arrangements with the Pool Manager to split the invoicing. Each Member is also charged an annual insurance fee.

 

The monthly invoice will be issued for estimated expenses of the current month, and will also contain an adjustment of the two month’s prior estimate to actual expenses.