Calif. Ports Worry New Rules Could Lead to Fewer Trucks

This story appears in the Dec. 21 & 28 print edition of Transport Topics.

Beginning Jan. 1, officials at the Southern California sister ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will face yet another challenge as they begin the second phase of their clean trucks plans: fewer trucks.

The size of drayage fleets making container pickups and deliveries will have shrunk by an estimated 8,000 trucks, roughly half the number registered in 2008, because of a ban on 1993 and older trucks and soot filter requirements for all 1994-2003 model trucks.

“Last year, we were talking about a truck fleet that was 15,000 to 20,000 strong,” said Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach. “Already, the active truck fleet has shrunk at least 25%, maybe 30% or more.”

“There’s going to be a considerable number of trucks that are going to be banned on Jan. 1,” said Arley Baker, a spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles.

The good news is that most of the estimated 7,000 to 8,000 remaining trucks will either be alternative-fuel trucks or those that meet 2007 Environmental Protection Agency emissions re-quirements. Also, diesel emissions have been reduced by about 70%, nearly two years ahead of schedule.

“A little more than a year ago, the ports looked like a graveyard where old dirty trucks came to die,” said Nick Sramek, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners. But by the first of the year, he said the clean trucks program will bring “the newest clean truck technology and an impressive clean air benefit for the community.”

Because container traffic is down 22% at Long Beach and 15% at Los Angeles over 2008, the reduced numbers of trucks shouldn’t prove to be a big problem, at least for now, port officials said.

“I think there’s still a bit of concern about how it’s all going to work,” Wong told Transport Topics, “but we’re pretty confident that it is.

“During the Chinese New Year in January, we probably only will need 4,000 trucks,” Wong noted, “and if it’s as slow as it was last winter, we’ll have plenty of trucks.”

When the economy picks up, however, the number of trucks needed to keep container traffic flowing smoothly will increase, adding to several challenges already facing the two ports, which together account for more than 40% of all U.S. ports’ container traffic.

Port revenue has dropped because import traffic has sharply declined, relations between the two ports have become “strained” over a federal clean trucks lawsuit settlement and the competition for business has intensified.

Union officials, other port officials and environmentalists have chided Long Beach for “selling out” when it reached a clean trucks lawsuit out-of-court settlement with American Trucking Associations.

“The Port of Long Beach knows it has sold out both the environment and the hardworking men and women who keep our cargo moving every day,” said Fred Potter, director of the Teamsters union ports division.

The Oct. 19 settlement called for Port of Long Beach officials to drop certain concession requirements contained in the port’s diesel emission-reduction plan and replace them with a simpler registration process.

The Port of Los Angeles and ATA are still set to go to trial in mid-March.

At both ports, officials have been making financial concessions to their customers to keep from losing business and market share. For instance, earlier this month Port of Los Angeles officials approved a 6% rent credit for port terminals the first six months of 2010, estimated to cost the port $27.5 million.

“While there are hints that we’ve seen the worst of the recession, it is critical that we continue to help our customers through this difficult period,” Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said in a recent statement. “These measures will provide some cost relief to our customers, protect our market share, and help us maintain a competitive edge through the next 18 months as the market slowly recovers.”

Although the Port of Long Beach has not reduced rents across the board, Wong said the port has introduced a number of incentive programs for terminal operators and ocean carriers and is reviewing leases on a terminal-by-terminal basis.

“Our tenants are really struggling, and they’re insisting that we do what we can to market Long Beach, not Los Angeles,” Wong said. “These are desperate times, and even if we weren’t competitors, our customers would insist on that.”