CLEAN PORTS * USA - Los Angeles Reports Deep Pollution Reductions

Key diesel emissions measure falls 52 percent from clean trucks and other efforts


(Video from YouTube, by AcmeStudios —26 Dec 2009: HD short of the container ship MOL Emissary entering the Port of Los Angeles)

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Jun 4, 2010: -- The clean-trucks program and other pollution-reduction measures slashed harmful diesel emissions at Los Angeles last year, according to the port's 2009 air emissions inventory... Diesel particulate matter emissions declined 37 percent from 2008, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions fell 28 percent, and sulfur oxide emissions dropped 36 percent, the report said... The reduction in pollution was even more dramatic when compared to 2005. The 2009 DPM emissions declined 52 percent, NOx emissions were down 33 percent, and SOx emissions dropped 56 percent over the four-year period... The biggest declines in the 2009 inventory report can be attributed to the clean-trucks program, said Christopher Patton, the port’s acting assistant director of environmental management. More than 6,000 clean-diesel and LNG trucks have replaced old, polluting trucks in the harbor since the program started on Oct. 1, 2008...


* Clean Trucks Missing Minimum at LA Port. Subsidized vehicles fall short of requirement for port service

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -May 24, 2010: -- Only 30 percent of the motor carriers that received subsidies from the Port of Los Angeles to purchase new trucks are on track to meet the port's minimum requirement for using the vehicles in port service... As part of the port's clean-truck program, drayage companies that purchased 2007-model or newer clean-diesel trucks, or trucks powered by clean alternative fuels, were given an incentive payment of $20,000 per vehicle... Since late 2008, some 100 motor carriers purchased 2,100 compliant trucks, costing the port $44 million in subsidy payments... In order to keep the incentive money, motor carriers must use each clean truck for a minimum of 300 trips to the Port of Los Angeles per year, or about one trip each working day... In a presentation to the harbor commission, John Holmes, director of operations, said only about 30 percent of the motor carriers receiving the $20,000 per-truck subsidy are on track to meet the 300-trip minimum... Harbor truckers unable to meet the requirement blame the 15 percent drop in cargo volume this past year as the main culprit. They add that since they also serve the neighboring Port of Long Beach, and those trips don't count toward the minimum requirement, Los Angeles should make adjustments to the program... On the other hand, some trucking companies accepting subsidy money made far fewer than 300 trips to the harbor, and almost 400 of the new trucks have yet to make a single trip to the marine terminals... (Photo A Freightliner truck)