If you have ever asked a trucking company to pick up an ocean container and been told “we are not on the UIIA with that line,” you have run into one of the least-known but most consequential documents in intermodal freight. The Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement — UIIA for short — is the standard contract that governs what happens when a motor carrier takes possession of equipment owned by someone else.
It is not glamorous. It is also the reason your container either moves on Tuesday or does not.
What the UIIA actually is
The UIIA is a standardized interchange agreement administered by the Intermodal Association of North America. Before it existed, every ocean carrier, railroad, and equipment leasing company negotiated its own terms with every trucking company. A carrier serving ten steamship lines needed ten separate contracts with ten sets of liability language.
The UIIA replaced that with one base agreement plus company-specific addenda. A motor carrier signs the UIIA once, meets the insurance and safety requirements, and then requests to be added to the roster of each equipment provider it wants to work with. Each equipment provider — a steamship line, a chassis pool, a railroad — publishes its own addendum covering per diem rates, free time, damage responsibility, and similar commercial terms.
What it covers
At its core the UIIA answers a simple question: while your container and chassis are off the terminal, who is responsible for what? The agreement addresses:
- Insurance requirements. Minimum liability, cargo, and trailer interchange coverage the motor carrier must maintain and keep current.
- Equipment condition and inspection. The obligation to inspect equipment at interchange and to note defects on the interchange receipt.
- Damage responsibility. Which party pays when a chassis or container is damaged, and how that is documented.
- Per diem and free time. How long the carrier may hold equipment before charges begin, per the equipment provider addendum.
- Safety and compliance standards. FMCSA safety rating thresholds and operating authority requirements.
- Dispute resolution. A structured process for contesting per diem and damage invoices.
Why it matters to you as a shipper
You will never sign the UIIA. You are still affected by it in three concrete ways.
Carrier eligibility limits your options
A trucking company can only pull a container belonging to a line it is registered with. If your cargo arrives on a carrier your trucker is not set up with, the pickup does not happen until registration is completed — and that is not a same-day process. Ask your drayage provider which lines they are active with before you book, not after the vessel arrives.
Insurance lapses stop trucks cold
UIIA participation requires continuously valid insurance certificates. If a carrier’s coverage lapses or a certificate expires without renewal, that carrier is suspended from the system and cannot interchange equipment at all. This is a real and recurring cause of missed pickups with underfunded carriers, and one reason vetting drayage carrier credentials is worth the ten minutes it takes.
Per diem disputes follow UIIA process
When an equipment provider bills per diem you believe is wrong — because the terminal refused the empty, or a chassis was unavailable — the dispute runs through the UIIA framework and its documentation requirements. Interchange receipts, gate transaction records, and terminal turn-away evidence are what win those disputes. Our breakdown of empty container returns and per diem covers the practical side.
The addenda are where the money lives
The base UIIA text is fairly uniform. The addenda are not. Each equipment provider sets its own free days, daily per diem rate, weekend and holiday treatment, and damage thresholds. Two containers arriving the same week on two different lines can carry meaningfully different cost exposure for the exact same delay.
Experienced drayage dispatchers track those differences and will sequence pickups accordingly — pulling the box with three free days before the box with seven. That kind of sequencing only works if the carrier controls its own trucks, which is one of the practical advantages of an asset-based drayage operation over a brokered one.
What to ask your drayage carrier
- Which steamship lines and chassis pools are you currently active with under the UIIA?
- Are your insurance certificates on file and current with those providers?
- Do you provide interchange receipts (EIRs) with delivery documentation?
- Who handles per diem disputes on my behalf, and what do you need from me?
Go Drayage is a UIIA participant operating a company-owned fleet out of a secure five-acre yard in Miami, with 24/7 access and real-time shipment tracking. If you want to know whether we are set up with the line carrying your cargo, contact our team and we will check before you commit to a delivery date.
Frequently asked questions
Do shippers need to sign the UIIA?
No. The UIIA is an agreement between motor carriers and equipment providers such as steamship lines, chassis pools, and railroads. Shippers, importers, and freight forwarders are not parties to it. You are affected by it indirectly, because it determines which truckers can legally interchange the equipment carrying your freight.
How long does it take a trucker to get added to a new steamship line?
It varies by equipment provider. Some approvals process in a few business days once insurance and safety credentials are verified; others take longer, particularly if the provider is limiting new registrations. The practical takeaway is that this is not something to start after your vessel has already arrived.
Can a UIIA dispute actually get per diem charges reversed?
Yes, when the documentation supports it. Successful disputes usually rest on evidence that the delay was outside the motor carrier’s control, such as a documented terminal empty-return refusal or a chassis shortage. Weak or undocumented disputes generally fail, so the record-keeping matters more than the argument.