Norfolk Southern is currently dealing with around 5,100 potentially defective chassis in its network. Jeff Heller, VP of Intermodal and Automotive, notified customers in June that the company was working on repairing the defect as quickly as possible.
His letter explained “the NSPZ 16 chassis were found to be light on grease in the wheel ends. This resulted in wheel bearings that have failed. Since the worst-case scenario involves a wheel set separating from the chassis, NS is inspecting and repairing all chassis in this series out of an abundance of caution. Norfolk Southern will continue to take the necessary actions to address the reduced chassis supply across the network. We are working to complete repairs as quickly as possible to minimize the impact to our customers and our business. [NS] understands that this is a significant business interruption, but the safety of our customers, drivers, the public and our employees is of paramount importance. We believe this course of action minimizes both the business impact and the risk of an incident.”
Right now, the company does expect additional chassis to begin arriving in September. Jim Squires, President & CEO, said “In the meantime, we are actively moving chassis from surplus locations to deficit locations. We are working with an additional supplier to share chassis in challenging markets. We will continue to monitor our equipment levels and adjust them to respond to changes in business conditions as needed.”
Defect impacts chassis availability on Norfolk Southern’s network
