ARLINGTON, Va. — It was day one for the new rules, and confusion reigned.

Thursday, Dec. 17th, marked the first time that intermodal chassis providers in the U.S. had to live with new "roadability" regulations, which have been in the works for about a decade.

And despite the long lead-time, things didn’t go smoothly at marine and rail terminals all over the U.S. according to media reports.

The actual details of the new rules — designed to make the owners of intermodal chassis responsible for the safety of their gear — were announced months ago; and since that time, workshops were held across the country, so everybody would be ready.

Under the new law, whoever provides intermodal chassis’ — and in most cases it’s a rail or marine company — is supposed to have systematic way of doing safety checks and reporting the results of those checks before the chassis are meted out to carriers.

(It’s the kind of safety check other transportation professionals; say, airlines and truckers, have been doing for decades.)

So what happened when D-day for the marine and rail guys finally arrives?

Delays. Miscommunication. Long lines of trucks waiting at terminals.

"A great deal of confusion," is how Curtis Whalen, executive director of the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) intermodal conference put it.

According to the weekly logistics magazine Journal of Commerce, the information systems needed to send data between truckers and equipment providers weren’t compatible.

The equipment provider is supposed to have pre-inspected chassis ready to tender, and after the truck driver picks up the chassis, he is supposed to conduct a pre-trip and transmit the report back to the owner.

Whalen says confusion resulted because it’s difficult to determine who actually owns the chassis and it’s exacerbated because once the owners are identified, the truckers’ information systems don’t jive with theirs.

"We are very disappointed at the rolling out of this program," said Curtis Whalen.

The Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association (OCEMA), the body that represents the owners, is developing an electronic reporting system that it will provide to the truckers free of charge.

However, it’s not ready yet so the OCEMA has asked the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) for a six-month delay in rolling out the rules.