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CLEAN TRUCKS PROGRAM * USA - Problems at ports shaft motor carriers
Stuck Trucks
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Business Journal, by FRANCISCO VARA-ORTA -15 Dec 2008: -- After the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach pressed on in October with their plan to cut down on truck pollution, Brian Griley decided to embrace the program despite opposition from many of his fellow truckers... The owner of Southern Counties Express, a motor carrier that operates 200 trucks serving the ports, went out and spent $10 million of his own money to buy 50 liquefied natural gas and 55 clean diesel trucks, each priced around $100,000... In order to encourage motor carriers to make the switch, the ports planned to charge truckers not using the cleanest trucks a fee of $35 per 20 foot cargo container, or $70 per 40 foot cargo container they haul. The idea is that owners of clean trucks like Griley who don’t pay the fee will have a cost advantage when negotiating drayage rates with cargo owners... That fee was supposed to be assessed on Oct. 1 when the Clean Trucks Program kicked off, but it was delayed to Nov. 17 when the Port Check organization the two ports developed to collect the fee wasn’t up and running in time. Now, it’s been suspended pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the Federal Maritime Commission, which regulates port activity... The commission’s lawsuit, filed Oct. 31, alleges the ports don’t have the authority to require motor carriers to get concessions – essentially permission – to operate at the ports. Complicating the situation, the lawsuit also seeks to overturn a requirement specific to the Los Angeles port – that carriers hire their drivers, who have historically operated as independent owner-operators... As a result, there is a financial disincentive for motor carriers to use clean-burning rigs, which Griley said are more expensive to run because of their higher insurance and maintenance costs, given the sophisticated technology they use... (Photo: New 'clean' trucks worth $100,000 each sit idle on a trucking company's lot in Rancho Dominguez) Labels: "Clean Trucks" Program
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