Program to Extend Port Hours Is Delayed
A plan to alleviate cargo congestion at Southern California’s ports won’t get started until June 1.
Organizers of PierPass Inc., which is coordinating the effort to keep terminal gates open during off-peak evening and weekend hours for cargo-carrying trucks, said their goal to have the program in place sometime during the first quarter of 2005 has been scrapped.
“This is a huge undertaking that is going to impact the largest port complex in the country, where we are going to attempt to change the normal day-to-day operations of the stakeholders. And it is important that we get it right,” said Bruce Wargo, general manager of PierPass, based in Long Beach, Calif.
PierPass recently retained Affiliated Computer Services Inc. to develop the complex information system that tracks which containers are picked up during peak or off-peak hours. Pickup times determine whether companies will pay a $20 per 20-foot container surcharge for hauling cargo out of the ports during daytime peak hours. (The fee increases to $40 for 40-foot containers.) After the first month, those fees will double to cover the program’s $150 million annual budget. ACS, based in Dallas, will develop a computer software program that will communicate with all 13 terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
This is the third delay for PierPass, which was originally supposed to have launched in November. A coalition of marine-terminal operators and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach developed the program after state lawmakers threatened to impose legislation forcing the ports to open their gates evenings and weekends to cut down on idling trucks waiting to gather backed-up cargo.
But in November, the Pacific Maritime Association, representing waterfront employers, asked that the PierPass plan be delayed while more longshore workers were trained to handle cargo during the extra shifts.
PierPass was started after then-state Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal (D–Long Beach), now a state senator, introduced legislation in early 2004 to make nighttime gate hours mandatory by Jan. 1, 2005. Lowenthal pulled the bill on Aug. 12 after private industry said it would start its own program.
Port officials have been patient with the delays.
“We are looking out for the best interest of the PierPass operation to run smoothly,” said Theresa Adams Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles. “If they need more time, they should take the time to make it right.”
—Deborah Belgum
