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A (CBSA) investigation into container chassis imports from Vietnam found they did not circumvent a 2022 finding, .

CBSA launched a probe Nov. 25 into whether was circumventing a CITT finding on the dumping and subsidizing of container chassis from China.

The company that filed the October complaint was Canadian chassis manufacturer .

In the complaint, Max-Atlas International alleged components — including sub-assemblies and steel — originating in China were being used to assemble or complete chassis in Vietnam, potentially avoiding duties applied under the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA).

The period under investigation began Oct. 1, 2020, and ran through Sept. 30, 2024.

CBSA conducted an on-site verification at Thaco premises in Vietnam in March. The agency found the percentage of Chinese parts or components were not a major portion of those needed for the chassis.

In its Statement of Essential Facts, issued April 9, the agency also verified Thaco performed fabrication of steel workpieces and main beams, welding, shot blasting, electrophoretic dipping, painting and assembly in Vietnam.

The chassis were then imported by Delta, British Columbia-based .

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Ocean Trailer Chief Operations Officer told Transport Topics on April 11 the company was pleased with the decision.

“We did our due diligence,” said Keay, a third-generation executive at Ocean Trailer, noting that company employees visited and inspected Thaco’s facilities in Vietnam. “We were confident we would be absolved of any wrongdoing.”

Primarily a trailer rental company, with more than 8,000 trailers, Ocean Trailer only sells Thaco container chassis.

Quebec-based Max-Atlas did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Comments on the SEF are due by noon Eastern time April 16. Responses to those comments must be filed by noon ET April 23.

A final decision in the case is expected by May 23.

Some 34% of Canadian container chassis imports were from Vietnam in 2023, compared with 0% in the final three months of 2020 and all of 2021 and 2022, according to CBSA data. Imports from Vietnam accounted for 4% of the total in the first nine months of 2024, the data shows.

Container chassis imports from China, meanwhile, accounted for 1% of the total in the first three quarters of 2024 and 3% in 2023, having been responsible for 36%, 49% and 34%, respectively, in Q4 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The value of the Canadian market for container chassis is estimated at $140 million per year.

The investigation stemmed from a probe that began in June 2021 and saw a January 2022 CBSA determination on Chinese container chassis dumping and subsidizing.

In February 2022, the CITT found that the dumping and subsidizing caused injury to the domestic industry in Canada and the CBSA started collecting tariffs on imports of Chinese chassis.

Circumvention would have required a change in the pattern of trade after a SIMA investigation, that the manufacturing and importing undermined remedial effects of the CITT finding and the change in the pattern of trade was caused by anti-dumping or countervailing duties.

If the finding was that the entities being investigated were circumventing the CITT finding, then the duties would be increased.

The probe of the Vietnamese chassis imports was Canada’s first anti-circumvention investigation.

Container chassis are commonly called intermodal chassis in the United States.

Chassis marketed as being manufactured in Vietnam were found in July 2023 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to have been predominantly made in China. Chassis manufacturer Pitts Enterprises and its Dorsey Intermodal unit knowingly imported the chassis and did so to avoid paying additional tariffs on Chinese products, CBP said.

CBP inspectors visited Vietnam and reviewed the operations of the company’s supplier in that country, Thaco Industries.