Clean trucks at your ports: How to pay for them?

By Richard Knee

In their efforts to reduce their smogprint, the nation’s port authorities are insisting that truckers visiting their yards switch to late-model, cleaner-burning vehicles.

Port officials acknowledge that it’s a costly proposition, and they’re accordingly devising ways to help truck owners with the financing. But other freight interests want to know how the ports are raising the money; the plans vary, as became evident when representatives from several West Coast ports spoke to a group of agricultural product exporters recently.

L.A.-Long Beach fees
“Our goal is to clean emissions from trucks by reducing (particulate matter) emissions by 80 percent … before 2012,” Marcel van Dijk, commercial marketing manager at the Port of Los Angeles, said at the annual gathering in San Francisco of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, a Washington-based group that lobbies on trade and transportation issues for ag-product shippers and freight agents.

Los Angeles and neighboring Long Beach have a joint schedule of fees that they charge to shippers, though they differ in the exemptions that they grant for truck-engine age and the use of 2007 or later-model trucks purchased with Clean Trucks Program funds. In addition, the joint policy waives fees for containers moved via on-dock rail or by clean trucks, and for those moved at night or on Saturdays under the ports’ PierPass program aimed at paring the notoriously long truck lines that build up during normal business hours.

While the truck fees and the ban on older trucks increase logistics costs, “operationally, it is a very good time to introduce the truck ban, because the cargo volumes are down, and we have not seen and don’t expect any issues with truck availability at our ports,” Van Dijk said.

Fee-free in the PNW
The Vancouver, B.C., Seattle and Tacoma port authorities have joined forces on a Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy that is fee-free, said Sarah Flagg, seaport air quality program manager at Seattle.

Vancouver has a licensing program in place while Seattle measures truck performance against federal emission standards and Tacoma employs a market-based approach using best-management practices, she said.

Other U.S. ports, local governments, weigh options
The Port of Oakland plans to implement California Air Resources Board rules imposing fines for non-compliant trucks; California is the only state with federal permission to do that, she said.

San Diego has a strictly voluntary clean-trucks program; Houston’s and Virginia’s port authorities have voluntary, fee-free programs; and New York-New Jersey is developing a strategy calling for voluntaryactions and including the drayage sector, she said.

Figuring out how to reduce truck emissions is not a problem, Flagg said. The concerns deal more with socio-economic factors, safety, employment, parking, routing, rates and terminal operating hours, as well as legal challenges, she said.

Karen Vellutini, vice president of sales and marketing for the trucking and logistics firm Devine Intermodal, said the American Trucking Associations is seeking to enjoin a truck concessions plan that is part of the clean-trucks effort at Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Port of Oakland may assess fines “but can’t physically ban us from the port,” she said.

She noted also that cash-strapped state governments are talking about revenue measures such as a per-mile tax on vehicles; boosting vehicle registration fees; creating and privatizing toll roads; and congestion pricing for trucks entering metropolitan areas.

Shippers care about service over rates
Another theme that emerged during the conference is that shippers are concerned more with ocean carriers’ service quality than with rates at least now, with fuel prices having dropped steeply from their record level of a year ago.

Many carriers fall short in providing shipment status updates, said Debbie McMillan, director of operations in Derco Foods’ shipping and logistics department. “It would be nice if you (carriers) would have someone who takes responsibility and accountability in answering us, even if we don’t like the answer. If you just appeared to care, I think half the battle would be won,” she said.

In This Issue

Up Front

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

The Growth Paradox

Supply Chain
Industries to watch

Trade compliance in the workplace

Logistics costs dropped in 2008

Overseas trade experts have some tips for you

Five things you should know about U.S. trade policy

Supply Chain product review
Inventory container management

Features
Gateway at a glance U.S. Northeast

Bulk Up

Ports & infrastructure
Port of Seattle nets new container business

Clean trucks at your ports: How to pay for them?

Port Product Review
Project cargo equipment

Commentary
Are we thinking inside or outside the box?

On the horizon: Wave Energy - A future power source for your port

Casualties