The ILWU listed nine developments that have contributed to the congestion problems that are now crippling all of the major West Coast gateways.
Those developments include a decision by the carriers to no longer provide chassis to their customers, carriers outsourcing their chassis pools to remote locations, terminals hoarding of chassis and shippers and consignees using containers on chassis as mobile storage units, thus exacerbating the equipment shortage problem.
Carriers, which as members of the PMA are employers of the ILWU, got out of the chassis business because of the huge costs involved in purchasing and maintaining chassis. They sold their assets to chassis leasing companies, which are not PMA members and therefore have no direct relationship with the ILWU.
