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June 20, 2000 9:45 AM, EDT

The owners, operators and lessors of intermodal equipment need to agree on who should be responsible for the safety of the equipment, or the government will do it for them, a top Department of Transportation official warned.

Stephen Van Beek, director of the Office of Intermodalism, said he is not optimistic about the private sector reaching consensus on difficult issue of who is responsible for the roadability of intermodal chassis and containers. He said the department is trying to quantify the actual safety of intermodal equipment.

“I see it as a stalemate right now,” said Van Beek of the lack of progress on a proposal to make terminal operators solely responsible for the condition of intermodal containers and their chassis.

He made those views known during a June 9 speech at the first annual government affairs conference of the Transportation Intermediaries Association in Alexandria, Va.

For the full story, see the June 19 print edition of Transport Topics. .