Since the advent of COVID-19, the volume of e-commerce spending has surged dramatically. With countrywide lockdown measures, online shopping for consumer goods skyrocketed, sparking a surge in imports at many U.S. ports. To meet this challenge, TRAC Intermodal created a dedicated private chassis pool for global shipper ZIM to handle cargo volumes at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. TRAC’s detailed case study describes how its expedited chassis solution helped ZIM meet the express shipping needs of e-commerce customers from South China to the U.S.
The economic conditions caused by the pandemic, the changes in consumer behavior and double-digit growth in cargo activity in the second half of 2020 helped encourage U.S. e-tailers to shift more of their transport choices to expedited ocean services. In response, Ocean Carriers expanded and developed new customized solutions to meet rising demand for faster transit times.
TRAC’s dedicated pool solution ensures streamlined and efficient chassis operations to support the need for expedited delivery services.
“ZIM approached us to help them meet a very time-sensitive, mission-critical challenge for their ZIM eCommerce Xpress (ZEX) service,” says Daniel Walsh, CEO at TRAC Intermodal. “We worked quickly and efficiently to supply a high-quality fleet for the private pool, calling on our team and vendors to quickly identify chassis across our network, perform upgrades and deliver 1,200 converted chassis with GPS capabilities in just five weeks’ time. We then provided ZIM with ongoing service and support with streamlined pool operations and account management to meet their needs.”
Walsh adds that TRAC was uniquely qualified among IEPs to meet a scalable, fast-track challenge of this kind due to its inventory, operations and ability to summon the necessary resources as needed.
