Ports' Clean-Truck Program Starts in One Year
Following steps taken by its sister port, the Port of Long Beach approved a clean-truck program that will eventually ban dirty trucks from picking up cargo.
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Nov. 5 voted to ban the oldest and dirtiest diesel trucks from entering the ports starting Oct. 1, 2008. Under the Long Beach program, which is similar to a program approved by the Port of Los Angeles on Nov. 1, all trucks manufactured before 1989 will not be allowed to pick up cargo after Oct. 1 at the ports.
By Jan. 1, 2010, trucks made between 1989 and 1993 will be banned along with unretrofitted models from 1994 to 2003. By Jan. 1, 2012, all trucks that do not meet 2007 federal standards will be banned from the port. The ports’ trucking program must be approved by the Long Beach and Los Angeles city councils.
The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which handle 40 percent of all ocean-going cargo entering the United States, have been on a major campaign to clean up the air in their areas in order to launch expansion projects, which have been on hold due to environmental concerns. The new truck program is expected to clean up 80 percent of the harmful diesel emissions coming from trucks in the next five years.
“It’s a sensible plan that will help to aggressively clean the air while continuing the efficient movement of goods in and out of the port,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Richard Steinke. Trucks will be required to install radio-frequency identification tags, and tag readers will be installed at the ports’ terminal gates to let clean trucks through.
No one is sure how the ports are going to pay for this $1.8 billion program to replace 16,000 old trucks. The majority of the truck drivers are independent operators who own their own rigs. The ports have suggested awarding trucking companies grants to purchase new trucks and then have the trucking companies hire independent operators as full-time employees. That has not been a popular idea among trucking companies that fear the drivers will be organized by the Teamsters. Initially the ports thought they would charge dirty trucks a fee to call at the ports. That is one of the options still being considered, said Art Wong, a spokesperson for the Port of Long Beach.
Julie Sauls of the California Trucking Association noted the program will clean up no more than 10 percent of the air around the ports over the next five years. “We’ve said it is hardly the moment to declare ’mission accomplished,’” Sauls said. She noted the plan is likely to meet with litigation by either shipping companies or trucking companies.
S. David Freeman, president of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, said eventually consumers will have to pay a little extra for that T-shirt or pair of shoes coming from overseas to fund the Clean-Truck Program.—Deborah Belgum
