Clean Truck Fees to Be Delayed
A new clean-truck fee set to go into effect Nov. 17 at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has been delayed.
The ports said they need more time to work out some kinks in the system and resolve certain issues involving the Federal Maritime Commission.
The Federal Maritime Commission filed a lawsuit in federal court against the ports and their new Clean Trucks Program, objecting to the requirement at the Port of Los Angeles that truckers picking up cargo have to be employed by trucking companies rather than independent operators. The commission felt the requirement was anti-competitive.
The terminals are also working on smoothing out some glitches with their RFID (radio-frequency identification) readers, which scan trucks’ RFID tags at the terminal gates.
No new date has been set to start collecting the $70-per-40-foot container fee to help bankroll the nearly $2 billion Clean Trucks Program, which will ban any trucks built before 1997 from calling at the ports by 2012.
Port officials said they will revert to the temporary sticker system they have been using since the new program started Oct. 1.
“The Clean Trucks Program continues to function well, though starting the fee collection is essential to accelerate the environmental benefits of the program, so we hope to start fee collection soon,” said Richard Steinke, executive director of the Port of Long Beach. —Deborah Belgum
