User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News
Google
 
Loading

Oct 29, 2009

CLEAN PORTS DEBATE * USA - ATA Warns NY/NJ on Clean-Truck Plan

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -Oct 26, 2009: -- An American Trucking Associations executive said New York and New Jersey politicians will regret endorsing Los Angeles-style clean-truck regulations that he said represent a thinly disguised effort to encourage driver unionization... New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and Newark Mayor, Cory Booker, said this month that they support a clean-truck program modeled after the controversial one in Los Angeles, where the port wants to ban owner-operators and require the use of employee drivers. The mayors also said they support an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act to grant port authorities regulatory authority over harbor trucking... The ATA has challenged the Los Angeles plans in court, and Whalen noted that they are widely unpopular among nearly all segments of the transportation industry except the Teamsters Union, which hopes to organize employee drivers. Whalen said endorsing similar requirements for New York-New Jersey doesn’t strike him as “a particularly good marketing strategy”... (Picture from roadtransport/big-lorry-blog: Opening shotlo)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:31 PM  0 comments

Aug 25, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS PROGRAM * USA - Seattle Port To See More Business Thanks To

But Some Warn: We Could End Up Paying The Price

Seattle,WASH,USA -KIRO/TV, by Carol Han -August 24, 2009: -- The Port of Seattle is trying to clean up its act, and it could end up bringing in a windfall as a result... On Tuesday, the port commission is scheduled to get an update on its clean-truck program that will gradually phase out old, polluting trucks from the harbor. By Dec. 31, 2010, trucks entering the Port must be model year 1994 or newer... It's similar to a program implemented at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach but with one major difference: Seattle's clean-truck plan doesn't slap fees and fines on trucks that break the rules... It's one reason why independent truckers tell KIRO 7, the Port of Seattle could expect more business because more cargo ships will be bypassing the two California ports... Seattle Port spokeswoman, Charla Skaggs, told KIRO 7 the port working in partnership with the ports of Tacoma and Vancouver to reduce air pollution, but it's not seeking more authority from the federal government to do this... (SEE VIDEO)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 10:29 AM  0 comments

Aug 18, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS PLAN * USA - NY/NJ Seeks Local Harbor Trucking Oversight

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce -Aug 17, 2009: -- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is joining the push by California ports to give ports exemption from federal trucking oversight, saying local regulation is needed to create stronger clean-trucks programs... Ports in California, backed by environmental groups and organized labor, have also called for a change in the federal law since a court this year said parts of clean-trucks programs at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach violated the federal pre-emption against local regulation of price, routes or services by truckers... The New York and New Jersey Port Authority says in its letter that the “archaic, prohibitive” 1994 law doesn’t allow local authorities to address the “significant challenges” they face in improving the environment and clearing congestion around ports...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 4:03 AM  0 comments

Jun 16, 2009

Clean Trucks * USA – Cost To Ports Less Than Expected

Long Beach,CA,USA -The Cunningham Report -15 June 2009: -- Less than one year into the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach clean truck program, the fleet is turning over faster than anyone would have anticipated, and the private sector is footing most of the bill... In November 2006 when the two ports adopted their Clean Air Action Plan, the cost of greening the trucking fleet was estimated at more than $1.8 billion. At the time, the clean truck programs were a bare bones version of what they are now. When the ports started putting on the meat in 2007, the projected cost jumped to more than $2.2 billion. That figure included all of the costs to bring the entire fleet into compliance with 2007 emissions standards by 2012... But that's not actually happening. What's emerging is a situation in which already, more than one-third of the drayage fleet serving the harbor is eligible to call at the ports after 2012. At the same time, the ports are paying about one fourth of what they had anticipated for the program so far... (Photo from unitedgs.com: Trucks at the LAS/Long Beach ports)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 5:29 PM  0 comments

Jun 4, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Dirty diesel ban at Port of Oakland does not win approval

Oakland,CAL,USA -SFBG Politics, by Rebecca Bowe -3 June 2009: -- Around 100 environmental and social justice activists crammed into yesterday’s Oakland Port Commission meeting in support of a program that, among other things, would have banned polluting diesel trucks from the Port of Oakland... New air-quality regulations that come into effect in January 2010 will require trucks to meet more stringent emissions standards, and the proposed measure would have barred noncompliant trucks from entering the port. Instead of approving the program, known as the Comprehensive Truck Management Plan, Commissioners voted to revisit it on June 16, the next scheduled meeting... The trucking industry recently sued ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach for banning independent contractors, resulting in a legal injunction on those ports’ truck programs that will remain in place at least until December... The lawsuit and injunction has indirectly affected how far the Port of Oakland can take its own truck management plan. “We do have our hands tied,” Port spokesman Robert Bernardo told the Guardian. “We don’t want to overstep any legal bounds.”... (Photo courtesy Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports: Clean and safe ports)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 10:49 AM  1 comments

Apr 16, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS PROJECTS * USA - NY, NJ Port Authority should fix efficiency problems

Rajkovacz: “Simply attacking the driver’s status doesn’t do it”

New York,NY,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -April 14, 2009: -- Every time Paul Yurkovac hears environmentalists or union leaders calling for port bans on owner-operators, he wants to set them straight... Yurkovac – who is an OOIDA member and works full time as public relations/project coordinator for the Owner Operators Coalition of Virginia – said anyone blaming owner-operators for port diesel emissions is missing the point... “People who aren’t familiar with port operations – it’s easy for them to point their finger at anyone driving an older truck,” Yurkovac told Land Line. “They’re not the source of the problem; they’re a result of the problem.”... “If you’re starving because you can only make it to the port two times a day – cutting wait times by half could allow you to double your income and have the money to retrofit your truck,” Yurkovac said. “If they fix the inefficiencies of the port, and drivers could get off the port in say half the time, more profits would go to owner-operators, which inevitably will lead to equipment upgrades as they’re necessary. But you can’t look at owner-operators who are forced to deal with these inefficiencies and turn around and blame them for having to wait to load or unload.”... “To take the issue of the economics surrounding port drayage and just simply lay it off as a problem with the status of drivers being an employee or an owner-operator is simplistic, to say the least,” Rajkovacz said. “The problems are more systemic than they are the issue of the driver’s status. All of the problems that complicate an owner-operator’s profitability are still going to be present – even if they are employee drivers. So you must get to the root causes that complicate a driver’s life...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 10:20 AM  0 comments

Feb 28, 2009

Clean Trucks Program * USA - Could New Jersey port adopt California one?

NJ,USA -Fleet Owner,by Justin Carretta -Feb 27, 2009: -- The average vehicle age for trucks servicing the Port of New York/New Jersey is more than a decade old and the port is unable to maintain a strong labor force due to low pay and operational inefficiencies, according to a new study completed by professors David Bensman and Yael Bromberg of Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations... According to the report, the average port trucker drives a vehicle that is 11 years old because they cannot afford to buy or lease low-emission, high-efficiency diesel trucks... The older vehicles pollute at least ten times more than modern trucks while consuming more fuel, costing more to maintain and requiring more frequent repairs... With the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach implementing its Clean Trucks Program (CTP), requiring that trucks servicing the ports release fewer emissions, calls have come to implement similar plans at other U.S. ports...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:42 AM  0 comments

Jan 20, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS PLANS * USA - FMC Says Ports’ Clean Plans Under Its Jurisdiction

Long Beach,CA,USA -The Cunningham Report -18 Jan 2009: -- The Federal Maritime Commission last week filed its reply to separate motions filed in December by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach asking federal Judge Richard Leon to dismiss the agency's case against the two ports over their Clean Truck Programs. Despite claims by the ports, their Clean Truck Programs are clearly within FMC jurisdiction, the agency argues in its filing... The FMC approved a discussion agreement between the two ports so they could harmonize their approach to cleaning up the fleet of drayage trucks that service port terminals. But it took the ports to court after maritime officials found the final Clean Truck Programs to be anticompetitive and likely to unreasonably raise the cost of transporting goods... The ports argue in their filings, however, that the two issues that the FMC most strongly objects to are the Port of Los Angeles requirement to phase in a ban on owner-operators and that port's offer of incentive payments to trucking companies that have purchased clean trucks and plan to use them in port drayage. Long Beach has rejected both of those requirements in its plan, so there is no agreement between the two ports on those points... The two ports have also approved different fee structures for which trucks must pay the Clean Truck container fees and which trucks are exempt... Since the ports disagree on these issues, they are not a result of any discussion agreement and the FMC has no standing to seek an injunction, the ports argue in calling for a dismissal...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 10:47 AM  0 comments

Jan 16, 2009

CLEAN TRUCKS PLAN * USA - Truckers may have to replace rigs to meet Port standards

Seattle,WASH,USA -MyNorthwest.com/KIRO Radio, by ERIN COVEY -15 Jan 2009: -- The Port of Seattle is trying to reduce pollution from old diesel trucks that move goods in and out, but not everyone likes the idea... Since the Port says it is unable to force trucking companies to replace rigs built before 1994, the burden will likely fall on truck drivers. Drivers say the economy has already cut their paychecks. "When business is not great, my truck is standing still," said one driver at Wednesday night's meeting... The truckers act as contractors, paying their own insurance, gas, and maintenance, but the company gets a cut of their salary. Since they aren't truly independent they feel the companies should foot the bill. "When business is not great I have two things to do. I have to stay home or I have to wait for them to call me to get the job," said a truck driver...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:04 AM  0 comments

Jan 15, 2009

CLEAN TRUCK PLAN * USA - Diesel truckers air concerns to port

Drivers can't afford to bear costs of pollution initiative

Seattle,WASH,USA -The Seattle PI, y KRISTEN MILLARES YOUNG -15 Jan 2008: -- The Port of Seattle tried Wednesday night to hear and allay the concerns of diesel truckers alarmed by a port environmental program that aims to reduce the pollution created by the aging fleet of heavy-duty trucks used to haul containers between seaport terminals, container yards and warehouses... By 2010, the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy requires that drayage trucks seeking to access the Seattle seaport meet emission standards of trucks made in 1994 or later... Many drivers said that years of rising fuel costs have made it hard for them to maintain and insure their trucks and impossible to buy health insurance for themselves and their families, let alone accumulate enough savings to buy a new truck or retrofit the ones they have... By 2015, the port plans to require that 80 percent of heavy-duty drayage trucks serving the port reach the particulate matter emissions of 2007 or newer engine model years... By 2017, the port wants all trucks serving the port to have the equivalent emissions of a 2007 model or newer... (Photo by Mike Urban / P-I - From left, Dagim Mengistu, Asmamaw Mijena and Dereje Muhamed huddle Wednesday night to discuss the Port of Seattle's proposed truck emission standards set forth in a meeting with drivers)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:58 AM  0 comments