California Apparel News

Los Angeles–area truckers who haul cargo might boycott a new program to keep the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach open at night and on Saturdays.

A flyer circulating through the independent trucking community is calling for drivers to meet in Wilmington, Calif., on July 23 for a stop-work meeting unless they are paid more money to haul containers at night and on Saturdays.

“Those to benefit from this are the brokers, longshoremen, the community and the politicians, everyone except for the truckers,” the flyer reads. “And who is going to do the work? The truckers!!!”

The call to boycott the new OffPeak program, which begins on July 23, is sending ripples of concern through the import community. “I think there is some trepidation,” said Robin Lanier, executive director of The Waterfront Coalition, based in Washington, D.C. The trade group represents big importers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Nike Inc.

While few people believe a boycott would shut down the ports, it could add one more element of chaos to the first days of the OffPeak program, being organized by PierPass Inc., a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators to address the port congestion problem.

The idea behind PierPass is to avoid any backup of cargo by extending terminal gate hours from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Mondays through Thursdays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Those picking up or dropping off cargo during these off-peak hours will forgo paying daytime pickup fees ranging from $40 for a 20-foot container to $80 for a 40-foot container. The fees are to finance the roughly $160 million budget needed to keep the ports open longer hours. Intermodal cargo transported by rail will pay no additional fees.

Independent truckers, who pick up 99 percent of the ports’ cargo, are miffed they are being asked to work at nights and on Saturdays without additional pay because they are sacrificing time spent with family or friends. “We all came to an agreement that it is necessary for us to organize and take action so that we can receive part of the $80,” the boycott flyer says. Ernesto Nevarez, who is involved in organizing the stop-work meeting, said truck drivers could strike at the port as early as July 25. “If there are only 10 to 20 who show up at the meeting, we’ll keep organizing. If 100 to 200 guys show up, they could say on Monday they are shutting down the port,” he said, noting this was an “anarcho labor movement.”

Trucking companies, freight forwarders and consolidators point out they are not receiving any extra money for picking up cargo at night. The fees go directly to operating the terminal gates at night.

Day into night

But nighttime hours may not be the panacea everyone was hoping for. Trucking companies surveying some of the 11,000 independent drivers who work at the ports say that many truckers aren’t embracing the idea of late-night work. “We are getting little to minimal interest from our [independent] drivers to work nights,” said Patty Senecal, vice president of sales and marketing at Transport Express Inc., a trucking company that employs scores of independent truckers to pick up cargo at the ports.

Money would be the only incentive for truckers to become night owls. Some trucking companies are considering tacking on a $55 to $65 additional fee to pick up containers at night, although customers have not reacted too enthusiastically to this idea.

“Our members are reporting that trucking companies have contacted them about charging additional fees for night service,” said Lanier of The Waterfront Coalition. “It runs the gamut from nothing to $80 a container. The average is $34 to $40.”

Some industry officials support the idea of passing on a portion of these fees to truckers to make up for the inconvenience of nighttime duty and help pay for rising fuel costs. “I believe the truckers suffer a lot already with the current system,” said Robert Krieger, president of Norman Krieger Inc., a Los Angeles freight forwarder and customs broker that hires trucking companies to pick up freight at the ports. “Are they adequately compensated for waiting? No. Hopefully, PierPass will relieve the congestion they suffer. If they are picking up at night or off hours, they should be charging premium rates.”

Nevertheless, truckers should be able to boost their pay at night because reduced port congestion will enable them to pick up more loads during an eight-hour shift. “One of the things we have heard time and again from trucking companies over the years is that owner-operator truckers, who get paid by the trip, will make more money at night because the reduced road congestion will allow them to make more trips,” Lanier said. “Truckers who have been working nights in support of some of our shipper members have told us they like working at nights because they make more money per eight-hour shift. Some truckers are willing to do this business, and some will continue to work days only.”

The proposed trucking boycott is just one more worry for Bruce Wargo, PierPass’ president and chief executive officer, who has been working for months to get this program up and running.

“The truckers have issues with their employers [the trucking companies], and they should address them,” said Wargo, who has been busy testing the new computer system that will bill customers who pick up cargo during the day.

So far, 3,600 companies have signed up with the PierPass program at www.pierpass.org. Those who have not signed up will be unable to pick up their cargo containers during the day.

PierPass will be changing the way the two ports operate just as the big cargo crunch begins for the Back-to-School and Holiday seasons. Last October, as many as 35 to 40 ships were waiting for days to dock at a berth. For some importers, it was taking as long as one week to get their cargo unloaded.

With the new nighttime hours, port executives hope to avoid last year’s fiasco and keep in step with the big Chinese ports that operate around-the-clock. “This is a real change in the way we are doing business,” said one shipper. “I think ultimately people [at the ports] are going to have to work more at night.”