By George Lauriat, AJOTCheetah Chassis has been manufacturing and distributing container chassis for over three decades. From the Berwick, Pennsylvania manufacturing plant, the company has counted among its customers just about every major ocean carrier. The company has a reputation for being able to produce custom-built state-of-the-art chassis. But the times are a changing and so is the customer base. Murray Zwickel, a three-decade industry veteran whose been on just about every side of the intermodal chassis business told the AJOT in a recent interview, “From our perspective [Cheetah Chassis] the ocean carriers for quite a few years have been weaning themselves (out of the intermodal chassis business).” He explained that the ocean carriers have looked at the business as an “expense” rather than a “profit center” so this was no surprise. Zwickle says that the manufacture of standard chassis has followed that of containers overseas, particularly to China. However, Cheetah has specialized in building customized chassis and noticed an up tick on the “heavies” which follows the increase in US exports that tend to weigh out rather than cube out. Part and parcel with the market, Cheetah sales to ocean carriers aren’t what they use to be, and a new customer base is evolving. Zwickle says that US trucking companies are indeed looking to fill the void made by the exit of ocean carriers from the business. However, there is a little “sticker shock” as many of these truckers are small and haven’t had to make chassis purchases in many years because the business was dominated by the carriers. In turn, leasing companies often backed by venture capital money have stepped in and a new business model is developing.