New Report on Port Trucking Details Imminent Threats to One of 
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -PRNewswire -April 15, 2010: -- Environmentalists, Residents, and Port Workers Hail "From Clean to Clunker: The Economics of Emissions Control" by the Sierra Club, BlueGreen Alliance, LAANE, and the Teamsters... The new data reveals the cost of truck maintenance, coupled with the financial inability of individual drivers to meet this challenge, pose a profound environmental threat to clean-air gains initially achieved by the LA Clean Truck Program... The findings come a year after a deep-pocketed special interest, the American Trucking Associations (ATA), stalled full implementation of the green-growth program. The data also underscores the environmental risk for other U.S. ports being pressured by the Virginia-based industry group to put onerous and unreasonable costs onto the backs of individual drivers who earn $10-11/hr, rather than capitalized trucking companies that receive large public subsidies and incentives to acquire their fleets... Other findings include:
* The average cost of maintaining a clean truck in its first 12 months of service is $2,200 and rapidly accelerates over time.
* Adding typical wear-and-tear repairs to routine maintenance pushes out-of-pocket costs to port drivers in excess of $8,500 annually. Over the course of a standard 7-year lease the total cost can skyrocket to nearly $60,000.
* These expenditures are over 70 percent higher than what drivers typically paid to maintain the old dirty diesel trucks they drove prior to the implementation of the Clean Truck Program.
One long-time port truck driver cited in the report explains his inability to pay for maintenance... (Photo from cache1.asset-cache: Trucks are driven near the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the busiest port complex in the US, on September near Long Beach, California)* USA - ATA Calls Teamsters Report An Attack on Owner-Operators
Arlington,VA,USA -Trucking Info, by Deborah Lockridge & Diana Britton -16 April 2010: -- A new report backed by the Teamsters Union and several environmental interest groups claims the cost of truck maintenance and the financial inability of drivers to maintain their vehicles poses a threat to the clean air goals of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program... "That salvo is not a research report, as the Teamsters claim, but just a collection of rhetoric that they have used before to attack owner-operator independent contractors," said Clayton Boyce, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, in reaction to the report. "They falsely allege that owner-operators are not equipped intellectually or financially to properly maintain and service clean diesel engines. That's a huge insult to thousands of owner-operators"...Labels: clean ports, Clean Trucks Program
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Seattle,WASH,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Jul 3, 2010: -- Port scraps 200th older truck as part of effort to clean air around Northwest ports... The Port of Seattle’s program to get rid of older trucks reached its 200th scrapped vehicle this month, the port said... Seattle launched the program in November 2009 with the goal of removing at least 250 old trucks – those with pre-1994 engines – from service. It’s one of the many programs ports around the country are using to clean the environment around port facilities in response to local pressure and tougher regulations... In Seattle, truckers receive either the Blue Book value of the old truck, or $5,000, whichever is greater, for scrapping the vehicle. Many truckers use the money to purchase newer, cleaner vehicles... The program so far has spent $910,000 to take pre-1994 trucks off of the road... (Photo from shannonehlers: A grain handling pier in Seattle's port)
