With today’s complex global supply chains, multiple entities contribute to the movement of shipping containers from one location to another, whether over the road or on the rails. As a critical link in the supply chain, chassis are the underlying equipment that makes container transport from a port to an inland destination warehouse or distribution center possible.

A competitive, reliable chassis system helps deliver vast quantities of goods efficiently and cost effectively. Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs) remain the dominant owners, investors and lessors of chassis to motor carriers, BCOs, NVOCCs, port users and others.

The rise of chassis provisioning companies coincided with ocean carriers exiting the chassis provisioning business starting in 2009. Since then, IEPs such as TRAC Intermodal have invested billions of dollars in upgrading chassis fleets acquired from the ocean carriers, along with purchasing thousands of new chassis. This evolution in chassis provisioning helped pave the way for different pool models by which customers can obtain chassis.