Port of Long Beach commissioners sign off on “clean trucks” tariff

Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 11/8/2007

LONG BEACH, Calif.—While it hardly came as much of a surprise to shippers here, Long Beach Harbor Commissioners voted to ban the oldest, dirtiest trucks from operating at the Port of Long Beach, through approval of a port tariff that will gradually limit access to all but the cleanest vehicles.

As reported in LM last Friday, this outcome was expected after the commission’s meeting on Monday, November 5.

The tariff, which matches the one enacted the previous week by the Port of Los Angeles, will cut air pollution from dray vehicles working in the harbor by nearly 80 percent within five years. For some shippers, this represented a “good news/bad news” scenario.

"The positive part of the plan is that it deals directly with the emission issue,” said Joel D. Anderson, president & CEO, International Warehouse Logistics Association. “The plan removed the non-germane franchise, concession and labor component.” 

But Anderson said that legal questions aside, there are at least two operating issues to consider. First, is the timetable attainable given current equipment, technology and manufacturer capacity?

“That is a question of fact, and they [the Port] make no mention of whether there was constructive dialogue with the equipment manufacturers,” he said.

Secondly, he noted that the upgrade of the industry requires a recapitalization of the fleet within an extremely short time frame.

“The fact of old trucks is a consequence of the current rate of return on the drayage of containers,” he said. “Our industry would modernize if the return enabled that result. We are disappointed the plan did not include the funding mechanism which is mission critical to the industry's recapitalization."

The tariff is based on a progressive ban of the oldest trucks. The schedule is:
• October 1, 2008: All pre-1989 trucks will be banned from port service.
• January 1, 2010: 1989-1993 trucks will be banned along with unretrofitted 1994-2003 trucks.
• January 1, 2012: All trucks that do not meet the 2007 federal standard will be banned.

Long Beach Harbor commission president Mario Cordero, who championed the cause, was predictably ebullient.

"With this clean truck program, the Port of Long Beach has taken a major step forward for clean air,” he said.
The tariff’s ban will rely on an electronic identification system such as RFID—Radio Frequency Identification. RFID tags or similar technology will be placed in trucks and tag readers will be installed at port terminal gates to ensure access only for clean trucks.

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