CLARIFICATION: IANA not directly involved in working group
An item in the Nov. 19 Shippers' News Wire should have stated that subcommittees of an industry working group comprising representatives of equipment leasing companies, railroads, ocean carriers and trucking companies has reached consensus on how to make sure ocean containers and chassis are safe to operate over the road. The Intermodal Association of North America is facilitating the discussions, but is not participating in the decision-making process.
The sides have made progress on a systematic maintenance program to be performed by equipment providers. The working group still must approve the plan. Major trucking, rail and equipment provider associations will need to sign off on the plan too before it can be included in a standard equipment interchange contract, according to Joni Casey, IANA president.
A coalition of railroads, vessel and marine terminal operators, port industry management associations and retailers, is working to block intermodal equipment maintenance legislation that mandates federal inspections, among other provisions. Some members of IANA may be working separately as part of that coalition but IANA is not involved in those legislative efforts, she added. IANA’s policy is to refrain from taking positions before political bodies because it its diverse membership does not allow it to reach consensus on issues, she said.
Casey said IANA was inadvertently included as a signatory without permission in a July 31 letter from the coalition to members of the House arguing for a private-sector solution instead of legislative mandates.