California Apparel News

For trucking companies picking up cargo at the local ports, Sept. 8 is their D Day—Deadline Day.

That’s the date a U.S. District judge in Los Angeles will decide whether to grant a preliminary injunction to temporarily halt the way the Clean Trucks Program operates at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Until that day, very few trucking companies are signing up for the controversial program, which starts on Oct. 1.

“We sure don’t want to sign up for something that is not going to happen,” said Ron Guss, president of Intermodal West Inc. in Pico Rivera, Calif., whose 75 drivers are independent workers who own their own trucks. “It’s kind of wait and see.”

Trucking companies are silently boycotting the system, which they claim will create a two-tiered pricing system, with cargo pick-up rates doubling at the Port of Los Angeles compared with the Port of Long Beach.

That’s because the Port of Los Angeles has more stringent and costly rules under its version of the Clean Trucks Program, allowing only fully employed truck drivers and not independent operators to pick up cargo containers.

Also, the Port of Los Angeles’ five-year fee for registering a trucking company is $2,500 per company plus $100 per truck. The fee at the Port of Long Beach is only $250 per trucking company plus $100 per truck.

The Port of Long Beach’s program is a little more liberal. It allows registered trucking companies to use independent drivers to haul cargo. These operators normally earn less than full-time drivers because they are paid on a per-trip basis.

“It will cost double of what it costs now to pick up a container at the Port of Los Angeles,” said Leonard Young, owner of Phoenix PDQ Inc., a trucking company in Paramount, Calif., that uses 60 independent drivers to haul cargo to and from the ports. “The average move for a container to Pomona [Calif.] costs about $200 to $215 right now, plus the fuel surcharge,” he said. “We have analyzed it, and we are looking at a significant increase in that cost, at least double.”

Trucking companies say that under the Port of Los Angeles system, the requirement to use employee truckers who work a 40-hour week and receive benefits will increase their payroll costs.

Also, trucking companies, rather than independent truckers, would be responsible for buying new cleaner-burning trucks that meet the Clean Trucks Program’s guidelines. However, many of the companies would be eligible for financing or grants from the ports through a $70-per-40- foot container fee that is expected to help pay for the estimated $2 billion in truck-replacement costs.

Keep it clean

The Clean Trucks Program, which was approved last year, aims to eliminate by 2012 about 80 percent of the pollution coming from the 16,000 diesel-powered rigs operating at the ports. On Oct. 1, only trucking companies registered with the ports will be allowed into the ports. Furthermore, old trucks manufactured before 1989 will not be permitted on the docks. By 2012, only trucks that meet 2007 truck-emissions standards can enter terminal gates.

The new Clean Trucks Program has revived simmering angst about a new wave of government regulation. In the early 1980s, the federal government deregulated the trucking industry, leading to a tendency in Southern California to use independent truckers, who own their own rigs. Independents solved the problem of meeting greater demand during the peak shipping season, which lasts from about August through October at the local ports.

Many trucking executives fear that a move to require employee drivers at the Port of Los Angeles will lead to a pent-up desire by the Teamsters to unionize port truckers. “They are trying to re-create trucking,” said Intermodal West’s Guss.

In the meantime, the American Trucking Associations, a conglomeration of state trucking associations that is the largest national trade group for the industry, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on July 28 protesting the truck concession or registration portion of the new program. U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder set Sept. 8 as the preliminary-hearing date.

“We are not trying to hold up the implementation of the Clean Trucks’ tariff that starts Oct. 1, and we are not against cleaning up the air,” said Curtis Whalen, an ATA executive. “It is our view that the program can move forward if the concession is enjoined.”

Meantime, only a few trucking companies are stepping forward to register for waterfront duty.

At the Port of Los Angeles, 10 trucking companies, representing 600 trucks, have filled out the 25-page application form, said port spokesperson Arley Baker. The application form is so complicated that many company executives are referring the matter to their lawyers.

Relatively few have signed up at the Port of Long Beach, said port spokesperson Art Wong. “I think they are kind of torn between whether they should support the [ATA] lawsuit or get on with their business,” Wong said.

Both ports are doing outreach programs to get more trucking companies online by Oct. 1.

Long Beach port staffers are sending email alerts and identifying companies for face-to-face meetings to clear up any apprehensions about the trucking program.

“We have a list of literally hundreds of companies,” Wong said. “We’ll start meeting with them shortly.”