With the need to improve efficiency and environmental outcomes in the transportation industry, the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement as of the first of October has begun the implementation of a ban on older, polluting trucks under the Clean Trucks Program of the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.

The program designed as part of the Clean Air Action Plans of the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles has the goal of reducing emissions of harmful pollutants by forty-five percent by the year 2012. Under the plan, all trucks manufactured in 1988 and earlier are to be banned, with trucks manufactured in 1989 and onwards, being subject to the Clean Trucks Fee. 

The Clean Trucks Fee, a charge in the ports tariff for cargo entering or leaving the port terminals will be used to fund the purchase of new, clean trucks through the ports’ grant program.

However members of the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement (WCMTOA) have expressed concern over the introduction of the agreement saying that ports have not completed the preparations necessary for a smooth implementation.  The impediment being that trucks must be listed in the ports Drayage Truck Registry to gain admittance to the ports, however the registry is yet to be in place. 

As an interim measure the port authorities issued stickers to trucks that have been registered, however as of Tuesday morning, fewer than a third of the trucks arriving at the ports were found to be bearing the stickers.  Indeed terminal operators checking trucks operating in the Ports found that only between twenty-two percent and thirty-two percent of trucks had the port-issued stickers.

According to the Secretary of WCMTOA, Bruce Wargo, members remain apprehensive over the delays, the Secretary saying that "We are concerned that inadequate preparation could lead to gridlock around the ports and a disruption to the flow of national commerce. We will implement the ports’ program beginning today, but will closely monitor the situation, with the ports, and respond as necessary."

In an effort to address the situation, terminal operators will continue to monitor conditions throughout the day and confer regularly. If the result of the truck ban is gridlock on roads in and around the terminals, or if the number of trucks available is not sufficient to meet the need, it is understood that the terminal operators will immediately bring those concerns to the ports and seek a rapid resolution.

Source: Business Wire

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.