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CLEAN PORTS PROGRAM * USA - The Enemy Within?
Long Beach,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce, by John McLaurin (*) -September 30, 2009: -- The Port of Long Beach, one of the better-managed port facilities in the United States, operates in an extremely competitive environment... Unlike its competitors, however, the Port of Long Beach faces uncertainty and a new challenge from an unlikely direction — the City of Long Beach... The Port of Long Beach transfers 10 percent of its net revenue to the City of Long Beach on an annual basis... Since 1990, the Port of Long Beach has invested over $790 million into the City of Long Beach... But the city has been devastated by the recession. Yet the city is willing to mortgage the port’s future and its position in an ever-increasing competitive environment. The City is considering this proposal at a time when all elements of the trade community (labor, agriculture exporters/importers, truckers, retailers, ocean carriers, marine terminal operators, and so on) are registering their opposition... It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. How ironic it would be if the greatest threat to the economic viability of the Port of Long Beach turns out not to be the vagaries of a global economy or competition from other ports but the City of Long Beach itself... (*) John McLaurin is president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association - (Photo from tfhrc.gov)
* Port Clean Truck Program: One Year Later
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -LBPost, by Keith Higginbotham -30 Sept 2009: ... The multi-billion dollar plan sought to replace the nearly 17,000 container hauling trucks servicing the ports with cleaner-burning models within five years (later studies found the real number was over 19,000 trucks)... The goal of the plan was to cut emissions from this fleet of privately-held diesel trucks up to 80 percent by 2012 ... Now, a year after kicking off the program the ports claim that nearly 5,000 of the still working trucks now meet the cleaner 2007-or-later model year emissions guidelines set by the ports under the Clean Truck program. These nearly 5,000 trucks, according to the ports, now account for more than half of all container moves at the ports... as residents of Long Beach, can all breathe a little better for the plan being in place.* Did it cause the disaster in the transportation industry that opponents of the plan predicted? No.
* Did it run many workers out of the industry? Yes.
* Did the plan strengthen the lot of drivers servicing the ports like proponents claimed. No.
* Have emissions been reduced? Yes.
* Long Beach Beats Clean-Trucks Target
Long Beach,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Sep 30, 2009: -- The Port of Long Beach will reduce truck pollution in the harbor by almost 80 percent by the end of the year, two years earlier than port executives anticipated when they launched the clean-trucks plan in the fall of 2008... Long Beach and neighboring Los Angeles introduced clean-trucks programs on Oct. 1, 2008, when they banned all pre-1989 trucks... The compliant trucks now move about 52 percent of all containers handled in the harbor, and cumulatively they are helping to reduce truck pollution by almost 80 percent. When the clean-trucks plans were developed, the ports expected to achieve the 80 percent reduction by Jan. 1, 2012... Also, about 5 percent of the harbor truck fleet is now powered by natural gas. The ports encourage the use of alternative fuels to reduce diesel pollution... (Photo from joc.com)
Labels: clean ports
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