Schneider adds 15,000th unit to growing container chassis pool

Schneider recently purchased its 15,000th intermodal container chassis, marking a milestone in an ongoing conversion to a company owned and managed chassis fleet, Schneider officials said in a press release.

A transportation and logistics services provider, Schneider began implementing the conversion in 2014 to improve chassis availability and reliability — two primary intermodal service constraints. The company expects to complete the conversion next year.

"We saw significant issues with the shared chassis pool, causing delays for drivers primarily at the ramp or when experiencing a breakdown on the road," says Jim Filter, senior vice president and general manager of Schneider's intermodal division. "That downtime gets costly for shippers."

The conversion is part of a series of ongoing improvements aimed at providing "truck-like" service in the intermodal segment, company officials said. Schneider also is striving to offer increased chassis availability to more precisely match the number of customer orders to equipment availability; decreased maintenance downtime and improved reliability to help avoid critical equipment breakdowns and costly delays; and a variety of chassis in the current pool to eliminate the possibility of having to reconfigure loads.