Intermodal chassis: who provides them, what they cost you in time, and the federal rules

What a chassis is, and who owns it

Marine and rail containers have no wheels. To move one by road, it is locked onto a chassis: a frame with axles, tires, lights, a landing gear and a kingpin for the tractor's fifth wheel, plus twist locks or pins that hold the container. The UIIA defines a chassis in almost those words: a steel frame with wheels, landing gear and a kingpin assembly with locking devices for securing and transporting a container as a wheeled vehicle.

Federal safety rules call chassis intermodal equipment: trailing equipment used in the intermodal transportation of containers over public highways in interstate commerce, including trailers and chassis (49 CFR 390.5T). The company that hands the chassis to your driver is the intermodal equipment provider, or IEP: any person that interchanges intermodal equipment with a motor carrier under a written interchange agreement, or that has a contractual responsibility for maintaining it. The written agreement is usually the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement (UIIA), which the federal definition names.

In the US, chassis tend to come from one of these sources:

Which one applies can change by terminal, by line and by customer. A single drayage company may use pool chassis at one port, its own at another, and a railroad's at a ramp. The provider of the container and the provider of the chassis are not necessarily the same party, as the UIIA's definition of Provider notes.

Chassis splits and extra moves

When the chassis is not where the container is, someone has to bring them together. That is a chassis split (also called a flip). Common cases:

• The terminal has the container but no chassis of the right type, so the driver picks up a chassis at an off-dock depot first, then goes to the terminal.
• The empty must go back to one location and the chassis to another, so the driver drops the empty, then takes the bare chassis to the pool depot.
• The container is pre-pulled to your yard and the chassis is needed for another job, so the box is grounded and the chassis moves on.

Each split is a real move with a driver, a tractor and time, and often a gate transaction. Drayage carriers usually bill a split as an accessorial when the customer's rate assumes the chassis was available with the box. Agree that in the rate confirmation, not after the fact.

Chassis also bring use or rental charges. The UIIA defines a chassis use or rental charge as a daily charge for the use of a chassis, as agreed by the parties, and lets a provider allow some uncompensated time before charging (UIIA section E.6). The amounts and free time sit in each provider's addendum. Because chassis days keep running while a container waits at a customer or in your yard, the chassis cost of a slow unload can be as large as the container's. The container charges guide explains how per diem and demurrage differ from chassis rental.

The driver's duties: inspect before, report on return

Federal rules put two specific duties on drivers and motor carriers that operate intermodal equipment.

Before going over the road

The driver accepting the equipment must inspect the components listed in 49 CFR 392.7(b) and be satisfied they are in good working order (49 CFR 390.42(a)). Section 392.7(b) lists:

• Service brake components that are readily visible without going under the vehicle, and trailer brake connections
• Lighting devices, lamps, markers and conspicuity marking material
• Wheels, rims, lugs and tires
• Air line connections, hoses and couplers
• King pin upper coupling device
• Rails or support frames
• Tie down bolsters
• Locking pins, clevises, clamps or hooks
• Sliders or sliding frame lock

The same section adds that a driver who operates the equipment over the road is deemed to have confirmed those components were in good working order when the driver accepted it. In practice: if the tires or lights are bad, say so at the gate, before leaving. Driving away is treated as accepting them.

When returning it

The driver or motor carrier must report to the provider, or its designated agent, any known damage, defects or deficiencies when the equipment is returned (49 CFR 390.42(b)). Section 396.11(b) sets what the report covers at a minimum: the same component groups as above, with brakes, lighting, wheels and tires, air lines, the king pin, rails, tie down bolsters, locking devices and sliders. It must include the name of the motor carrier responsible at the time, the motor carrier's USDOT number, the provider's USDOT number and a unique number for the equipment, the date and time of the report, the defects that would affect safe operation or cause a mechanical breakdown on public roads, and the driver's signature. It may be kept electronically.

The general rule still applies on top: a vehicle must not be operated in a condition likely to cause an accident or a breakdown (49 CFR 396.7(a)).

What the provider has to do

The IEP's duties are in 49 CFR 390.40. The section is currently suspended in eCFR and its text is in force as 390.40T, which, among other things, requires the provider to:

• Mark its intermodal equipment with its USDOT number before tendering it to a motor carrier.
• Systematically inspect, repair and maintain equipment intended for interchange, and keep inspection, repair and maintenance records.
• Provide equipment for interchange that is in safe and proper operating condition.
• Keep a system for the driver vehicle inspection reports drivers submit.
• At its interchange facilities, provide procedures and enough space for drivers to do a pre-trip inspection, and repair or replace equipment with defects a driver finds before the driver leaves.
• Not place equipment found to pose an imminent hazard into service on public highways.

Section 396.12 and 396.11(b)(3) add the corrective-action rule: before letting a motor carrier take equipment that has a report against it, the provider must repair the reported defects likely to affect safety, and certify on the driver's report that they were repaired or that repair was unnecessary. The provider keeps the report and the certification for three months from the date it was submitted.

Roadside violations can be disputed through FMCSA's DataQs system. Under 49 CFR 390.44, a provider may challenge roadside violations for the 392.7(b) components, which the section says the provider should not be held responsible for because the motor carrier indicated at its pre-trip inspection that they had no defects. A motor carrier may challenge violations for other chassis components; because a driver could not readily detect those in a pre-trip inspection, FMCSA does not use them in the motor carrier's safety fitness determination unless there is evidence the driver or carrier caused or substantially contributed to them.

The interchange agreement side

The UIIA adds contract terms on top of the federal rules. In the version effective June 18, 2026, the parties acknowledge their FMCSR responsibilities and agree not to interchange equipment unless they have complied with them; the motor carrier does a pre-trip inspection that includes the items in the agreement's Exhibit A; and the chassis provider's equipment must carry a valid FMCSA inspection sticker, with rules about who reinspects when that inspection will expire during the carrier's use (sections D.3.a to D.3.d). Each interchange is documented on an Equipment Interchange Receipt describing the equipment and any visible damage (D.2). Keep those receipts: they are your evidence when a damage or repair charge arrives.

Running chassis well

1. Know the chassis source for each container before dispatch. Pool, line, ramp or your own. It decides where the driver starts and where the chassis ends.
2. Plan splits as moves. A chassis pickup and a chassis return are trips with their own times. If they are not on the dispatch plan, the driver finds out at the gate.
3. Photograph at every interchange. Tires, lights and the container locks, at outgate and ingate.
4. Write defects up on return, every time. It is a federal requirement, and an unreported defect can follow the next driver onto the highway.
5. Track chassis days separately from container days. They come from different providers, on different terms.
6. Bill the customer for splits and chassis days the rate did not include. Agree how in advance.

How TruckerPro handles chassis on a container

In TruckerPro's Intermodal and Drayage workspace (Elite plan and up, switched on in company Settings), chassis pickup and chassis return are moves on the container job, alongside import pickup, customer delivery and empty return, and each move can be linked to a dispatch leg. Equipment inspection is one of the readiness checks your team records, and pickup moves stay blocked until those checks are clear or not required. Chassis rental and chassis split are charge types: daily charges take free days and excluded dates, carry both the customer rate and the supplier cost, and post to the load as an accessorial before it is invoiced. TruckerPro does not connect to chassis pools or terminal systems; your team enters what the provider tells you.