Charge · the chassis, and its five names · read 07/26–07/29/2026
The chassis generates at least five differently named charges, and we have read the rate for none of them
- Chassis charges arrive under at least five different names: per diem or chassis fee per day, a usage charge, a detention fee, a split fee and a flip fee. They describe different events, they can appear on the same invoice, and this page publishes what each one is for rather than what it costs.
- A chassis split fee is charged when the container and the chassis are in different places at the terminal, so the trucker makes an extra move to bring them together. It is billed by the trucking company rather than by the ocean carrier, which is why it does not appear in any of the nine tariffs we read.
- Per diem means three different things in this result set. On a chassis it is a daily rental; on a container it is the carrier's detention charge after free time; and in the results below it is also the US government's travel allowance, which has nothing to do with freight at all.
- Chassis is the only line in the six-charge stack that rents you equipment rather than buying you a service or penalising your time. That is why it borrows its vocabulary from leasing, and it is also why no ocean carrier tariff contains it: the asset belongs to a pool, and the pool is not in the tariff.
What a chassis is, and why it has its own vocabulary
A chassis is the wheeled frame your container sits on for the road move, and it is the only line in the import stack that rents equipment. Two of the other lines are penalties for time, two are services and one is an authority’s charge — which is why the chassis brings leasing vocabulary with it and why its charges multiply.
It generates at least five differently named charges, and they are not synonyms. They are five different events that can appear on one invoice.
What each line on an import invoice is, one page per charge: what each charge on the invoice is.
Three parties can bill you for the same chassis
One physical object, three possible billers, and none of them publishes on the model an ocean carrier uses.
How this page is built · what we are paid
- We have read the rate for none of these charges. No chassis pool tariff has been opened, and the rate column below is empty in every row.
- That is a decision rather than an omission: knowing what a charge is for lets you dispute it on grounds. A rate without the mechanism does not.
- The five names are kept apart. Collapsing them into one “chassis fee” would destroy the only thing this page can give a reader.
- None of the nine ocean import tariffs we read contains a chassis charge at all — that is the boundary of those documents, not a hole in our reading.
- No pool, carrier or motor carrier has paid to appear here, and no link on this site is a referral link.
| Who bills | When | Who owes it | Under what | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A chassis pool | the chassis comes from the pool | the motor carrier, passed through to you | a pool tariff | not checked yetgap G — no pool tariff opened |
| The ocean carrier | the chassis is the carrier’s own | cargo interest | the carrier’s equipment terms — not its demurrage tariff | not checked yet |
| The motor carrier | a split, a flip or waiting time | cargo interest | a quote rather than a published document | not publishedand where it is folded into a drayage rate it cannot be separated |
| Nobody, under the nine ocean tariffs | never | not applicable | the chassis belongs to a pool that is not a party to the contract of carriage | not applicable |
The five chassis charges, and what we know about each rate
Five names, five different events, and one empty column. What follows is what each charge is for — which is what you would need to challenge it.
| Name on the invoice | What it is for | Typically billed by | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per diem, or fee per day | renting the chassis, by the day | the pool or the carrier | not checked yetgap G |
| Usage charge | using the equipment, sometimes billed alongside the daily rate | the pool | not checked yet |
| Detention fee | holding the chassis beyond an allowance — not the container detention your carrier bills | the pool or the carrier | not checked yet |
| Split fee | the container and the chassis are in different places and an extra move is needed to bring them together | the motor carrier | not checked yet |
| Flip fee | lifting the container from one chassis onto another | the motor carrier or the terminal | not checked yet |
| Every rate cell here is empty and that is deliberate. No chassis pool tariff has been opened. What this table does give you is the trigger for each charge — which is the ground on which an invoice line can be questioned, and it does not depend on our knowing the number. | |||
The split fee is the one thing the market explains coherently, and it is worth knowing before a quote arrives: if the box and the chassis are not in the same place, somebody makes an extra move and somebody bills for it.
Checking a chassis charge you did not expect
The federal rule this site cites elsewhere — 46 CFR Part 541, in force since 05/28/2024 and before the D.C. Circuit twice since — is written about an ocean carrier’s demurrage and detention. Whether it reaches a chassis pool’s charge is something we have not checked, and this page does not imply that the protection extends there. Read the current text at eCFR.
How to test a demurrage invoice, which is a different document with different requirements: the federal rules your invoice has to meet.
Descriptive, not legal advice.
How to find out which chassis you are on before the box lands
With no rates to compare, the useful work is done before the box moves and on the invoice afterwards.
- Ask whose chassis it is, before the booking. Pool, carrier or motor carrier — the answer decides which of the three can bill you and under what document.
- Ask whether the chassis is inside the drayage rate. In many quotes it already is, and a separate chassis line then double-counts it. Where it is folded in it cannot be separated out afterwards.
- Get the allowance, not just the rate. How many days are included before a daily charge starts, and from what event they count.
- Ask whether a split is likely at that terminal. A split fee is a charge for an extra move, and it is foreseeable at the point of booking rather than at the point of invoice.
- On the invoice, separate the two per diems. One is the container’s and comes from the carrier; one is the chassis’ and comes from the pool. They cover the same days and they are not the same charge.
- Then challenge on the trigger rather than on the amount. Ask what event the line is for and which document sets it. That question does not need a published rate to be answerable.
Where a chassis charge does not apply
Four things share these words and none of them is a chassis charge on your import.
- A government travel allowance. Four of the related searches on this subject are federal per-diem rates for travel and mileage. Same phrase, different world.
- A truck configuration. The results carry chassis-cab vehicle listings with their prices — a commercial vehicle body style, not an intermodal chassis.
- Container detention. The carrier’s charge for holding the box outside the gate is often called per diem too, and it is a different party’s charge on a different document.
- Air and consolidation rates. Figures quoted per kilogram or per cubic metre sit in this page’s own recorded vocabulary and belong to other services entirely.
See alsowhen the ship skips your port →what to do when the box will not move →
What the market publishes about chassis costs
This is one of the clearest cases on the site of steady demand meeting no published answer. These are our own counts.
| What we measured | Value |
|---|---|
| Questions above the results that are genuinely about chassis charges | seven or eight of ten — a higher share of on-subject demand than most pages on this site |
| A question asked twice, once misspelled | what the usage charge is — steady, unmet demand |
| The one thing the market explains coherently | the split fee — an extra move when the container and the chassis are in different places |
| Published rates for any of the five charges | none we found |
| Related searches belonging to a government travel allowance | four |
our own capture of the chassis queries, Google US, 07/26/2026
Demand is high, the vocabulary is inconsistent, and nobody publishes the rates. That combination is why this page explains mechanisms instead of pretending to a price list.
Why there is no chassis rate on this page
What each of the nine ocean carriers does publish — and why none of it is this: what each ocean carrier charges after free time.
What a chassis charge is not
- Not legal advice. A description of a federal rule is a description of it, and the rule as in force on your date governs.
- Not a quote. The tariff and the bill of lading in your own file decide what you owe, not a number on this page.
- Not a filing service. We do not act for you, contact your carrier, or take a share of anything recovered.
Questions about chassis per diem and split fees
What is chassis per diem?
The daily rental of the chassis your container rides on. The same phrase also means the ocean carrier's container detention and, outside freight entirely, the US government's travel allowance — three subjects sharing two words.
How much does chassis per diem cost?
We have read no rate for it. No chassis pool tariff has been opened here, so this page publishes the mechanism and the billing party rather than a number we would have to invent.
What is the split chassis fee?
A charge the trucking company bills when the container and the chassis are in different places at the terminal and an extra move is needed to bring them together. It comes from the road side, not from the ocean carrier.
What is a chassis flip fee?
The charge for moving a container from one chassis to another. It is a separate event from a split and can appear on the same invoice as one.
What is a chassis usage charge?
Another name for paying to use the equipment. It appears twice in the questions above these results, once misspelled, which is a fair sign that the terminology has not settled.
What is the chassis detention fee?
A charge for returning the chassis late. It is not the same as container detention, although both are called per diem, and the two can arrive from different parties for the same week.
Who charges the chassis fee?
Three parties can: the chassis pool, the ocean carrier if the chassis is theirs, and the motor carrier for splits, flips and waiting. Each bills on a different basis and none of them publishes a tariff the way ocean carriers do.
Is the chassis included in my drayage rate?
Often yes, and then a separate chassis line is a duplication. We cannot check that from anything we have read, but you can ask the motor carrier before the box lands.
The chassis is the one line of the import stack that rents rather than penalises, and the one where the party billing you may be a company you never contracted with. When the box stops moving for other reasons, the two pages linked above cover those.