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Clean Air * USA - Mayors: Is Priority, But What About Drivers?
Call it a tale of two cities
Long Beach,CA,USA -The Cunningham Report -3 Mar 2008: -- During the Faster Freight Cleaner Air conference last week, the adjoining ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach clearly declared their differences over requiring drayage truck drivers to be trucking company employees... On Feb. 18, Long Beach approved a component of its Clean Truck Program setting standards and requirements for trucking companies doing business with the port and the framework for a grant program to help owner-operators and trucking companies pay for new trucks... However, it does not mandate that port concessionaires use only employee-drivers. Whether they employ the drivers, use owner-operators or some mix of the two is left to the companies... The Port of Los Angeles and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, however, have been in favor of requiring that port trucking companies to use only employee-drivers... During last week's Faster Freight Cleaner Air conference in Los Angeles, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa talked about the plight of the truckers hauling goods to and from the ports and said they deserve employee status and the benefits that come with it...
* Spencer to California officials: ‘You’re not listening to truckers’ - “So many of the guys simply say, ‘Forget it, I’m not going’”
CAL,USA -Land Line Magazine , by Charlie Morasch -March 3, 2008: -- Waves of regulations on trucks, trains, planes and ships may be to the detriment of California’s trade prospects, OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer said during a recent panel discussion in Los Angeles... As CARB and other state and local officials develop emissions rules, it appears they haven’t taken truck driver input into consideration, Spencer said, “They’re not listening to the right people”... Spencer said, “Global shippers are interested in one thing: that’s the absolute rock bottom cost. Just as they will play one trucking company against another, they will play one port against another. That’s how global business is done”... “If the system is going to change, and for the long term, the underlying economics have got to change,” Spencer told Land Line. “If the drivers that operate those trucks aren’t compensated at a level that’s reasonable to allow for vehicle maintenance, then they won’t be maintained”... Many truck drivers pledged not to drive into California following the state’s approval of multiple regulations in recent years, including 2008 regulations limiting idling to five minutes and requiring all truck engines to have emission compliance labels affixed by the manufacturer... California’s high fuel prices, traffic-slammed highways and lack of parking have spurred many drivers to say the same, Spencer said...
* LA truck crisis looming
Long Beach,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce On Line, by Bill Mongelluzzo -March 5, 2008: -- The transportation community in Southern California could face a severe shortage of harbor trucking capacity this fall due to conflicting clean-air plans and the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential program... Southern California economist John Husing, who studied the harbor trucking environment in 2007, said the nation’s largest container complex could experience a shortfall of 8,350 trucks and owner-operators by October... Husing, said about 16,800 trucks call regularly at the ports, but this capacity could diminish significantly because many drivers will not qualify for the TWIC biometric identification card. At the same time, thousands of trucks built before 1989 will be banned from the harbor on Oct. 1 because they do not meet the ports’ new emission standards... Husing’s surveys, conducted on behalf of the ports, indicated that 15 percent to 22 percent of the drivers may not even apply for a TWIC card because they cannot demonstrate proof of legal residency in the United States, a prerequisite for TWIC certification... More than 1,000 trucks should be added to the harbor fleet this year just to accommodate expected growth, he said...
Labels: clean air
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