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Nov 26, 2010

CLEAN TRUCKS * USA - Truckers Renew Quest to Expedite Clean Trucks Appeal

ATA cites “irreparable harm” to harbor truckers if expedited hearing not granted

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Nov 18, 2010: -- The American Trucking Associations petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to move up by two months the hearing on the legality of the concession requirements in the Port of Los Angeles clean-truck case, citing irreparable harm to harbor truckers if an expedited hearing is not granted... ATA asked the 9th Circuit to push the schedule up two months: Opening brief, Dec. 28, 2009; answering briefs, Jan. 31, 2011; reply briefs with 14 days and oral arguments to begin in May 2011... Labor unions, by law, are prohibited from organizing independent contractors, such as the owner-operators that haul containers at most U.S. ports. By requiring motor carriers to hire drivers as direct employees, the Port of Los Angeles would, in effect, open the door to possible organizing of harbor truck drivers in Southern California... The port's timetable calls for 20 percent of the gate moves to be made by employee drivers beginning Dec. 31, 2011. Two years later, 100 percent of the gate moves would be by employee drivers... (Photo from t0.gstatic/Life -  Los Angeles.CAL: An inspector with the U.S. Customs department, watches a truck pull away from a Mobile Vacis unit after it was X-rayed)


* USA - Drayage Companies Evade Clean-Truck Requirements. Some use lighter Class 7 trucks to haul chassis, empty containers

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Nov 18, 2010: -- Some drayage companies in Southern California are violating the spirit, if not the letter of the Los Angeles and Long Beach clean-truck requirements, and the ports intend to end these practices soon... Thomas Jelenic, assistant director of environmental planning at the Port of Long Beach, said there has been a proliferation this past year of Class 7 trucks calling at the marine terminals... The ports' clean-truck programs requiring the phasing out of old, polluting trucks and replacing them with 2007-model or newer trucks applies to larger Class 8 tractor trailers. Therefore, older Class 7 trucks, which weigh 26,000 to 33,000 pounds, are operating legally in the harbor... One year ago, the ports' drayage truck registry recorded only 35 Class 7 trucks in the harbor. Now there are 500, and they account for about 2 percent of the gate moves at the ports, Jelenic told a dinner meeting of the Harbor Trucking Association Wednesday... The California Air Resources Board, which has a drayage truck rule for the entire state, is expected to take up the Class 7 issue when it meets on Dec. 16... (Photo: Class 7 two-axle tractor)

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Oct 10, 2010

CLEAN PORTS * USA - Trucking group challenges NYNJ Port’s ‘voluntary’ sticker

“The Port Authority agrees:  the trucks aren’t the largest polluter. Well, why do we have the mandatory Clean Truck Program?: This is about the Teamsters wanting to unionize"...

New YorK,NY,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -October 8, 2010: -- A longtime trucking association says plans to use stickers to identify emissions compliant trucks at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are mandatory and illegal, and it has asked FMCSA to review the program... The Port Authority says the program is voluntary and it is changing the name to say just that... The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently created a new port tariff with several provisions aimed at cutting diesel emissions from drayage trucks. The port designed a drayage truck registry for all trucks that conduct business on port authority terminals, and a “voluntary” compliance sticker program they say may speed up port visits for truckers... It also bans 1993 and older model year engines by Jan. 1, 2011... To help port security identify compliant trucks, the port has implemented what it calls a compliance sticker program... Port Authority spokesman Bill Nurthen told Land Line the stickers will help drivers facilitate timely movement through the ports... Gail Toth, the New Jersey Motor Truck Association’s executive director, said: “Going green makes green, and we’ve supported that ...   But there’s one thing about supporting something...   This is not about the environment. This is about the Teamsters wanting to unionize. People need to see this for what it is” ...   Toth said New Jersey trucks at the ports are responsible for a tiny percentage of particulate matter emitted at the ports...   “The Port Authority agrees, and they admit we aren’t the largest polluter at the port. Well, why do we have the mandatory Clean Truck Program?” Toth said... (Photo from p12.nysed.gov: Aerial photograph of New York City Harbor from Jersey City)

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Aug 28, 2010

CLEAN PORTS * USA - Port of L.A. wins round in lawsuit, appeal anticipated

Los Angeles,CAL,USA - Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -August 27, 2010: -- A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program, although litigants – the American Trucking Associations – have said they plan to appeal the latest ruling in a two-year legal battle... On Thursday, Aug. 26, U.S. District Judge, Christina Snyder, ruled in favor of the port, including the Clean Truck Program’s employee-driver provision, off-site parking and other requirements on the basis that the Port is acting as a market participant and, as such, is not subject to the laws that pre-empt states or municipalities from regulating trucking activities... While the Port of Los Angeles has sought to regulate drayage drivers, it hasn’t regulated long-haul trucking, and the port worked with OOIDA to create a Day Pass system that allows trucks engaged in long-haul to bypass the system... OOIDA has objected to expensive fees for port access and has pointed out underlying problems at ports that go beyond the scope of the Clean Truck Program... ATA argued that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization act of 1994 pre-empted the port from regulating some portions included in the concessionaire plan, including the employee-only mandate... (Photo: Port of Los Angeles sky view)


* COMMENT: Judge’s Ruling on Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program Delights Some, Dismays Others, Surprises Many

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Cunningham Report, by George Cunningham -29 Aug 2010: ... Common wisdom had been that Judge Snyder would uphold the port's right to require truckers to sign up for a concession, but would rule against the port's plan to require that all drivers be employees of the drayage companies that pick up and deliver cargo at port terminals. That rule - the most controversial provision of the Clean Trucks Program - would ban owner-operators from servicing port terminals and open the drayage industry to unionization by the Teamsters Union... Also a surprise to many was the judge's rationale for the ruling. She agreed with the ATA's argument that the port was preempted by the federal government from requiring trucking companies to use employee-drivers or regulating off-street parking. And she agreed that the safety exemption, which allows local agencies to restrict trucking when it comes to safety did not apply in either of those cases... But she disagreed with the ATA when it came to the port's claim that it was a market participant and as such it could require certain conditions from the companies with which it did business. The ATA argued that since the port does not itself purchase drayage services or participate directly in the drayage services market, it was not a market participant... Judge Snyder, however, said the law allows the port to be considered a proprietor even if it does not buy anything. As a landlord, the port has the proprietary interest in maximizing its profits and operation. While the federal government preempts local agencies from regulating trucking, it does not prohibit a public agency from taking proprietary actions that require certain terms from companies doing business on its property...The battle may not be over until the fat lady sings - and that fat lady could well turn out to be the U.S. Supreme Court - but the movement by ATA and others to quash the Port of Los Angeles Clean Trucks plan has been significantly damaged...

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Mar 24, 2010

Federal Transportation Law * USA - Opposition Mounting to Union-backed Change to

Washington,DC,USA -Trailer Body Builders -Mar 22, 2010: -- A California congressman has joined a number of national leadership groups in opposition to a campaign by the Teamsters union and allied politicians to change long-standing federal transportation law... The union is seeking taxpayer-funded help in organizing port drayage truck drivers by banning independent owner-operators from ports. The Teamsters hope to attain this by pushing Congress to change the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA), which prevents state and local jurisdictions from regulating interstate trucking and commerce... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers also oppose any change to the FAAAA... The American Association of Port Authorities also refused to endorse the Port of Los Angeles position on amending the FAAAA... The Clean and Sustainable Transportation Coalition – 31 groups that represent exporters, importers and the logistics industries and service providers that support them – also opposes the union effort to change the FAAAA... (Image from joc.com: Box Moving)


* Senate denies “Brown Bailout”; UPS, FedEx Express react



Washington,DC,USA -Fleet Owner, by Brian Straight -March 23, 2010: -- The U.S. Senate on Monday voted 93-0 to advance the FAA Reauthorization Act to fund the FAA through 2011. The bill itself is not unlike the transportation bill that we’re all waiting for Congress to act upon. This bill, though, which focuses on the nation’s airline industry, includes a battle that has been waging for some time between UPS and FedEx Express... The Senate bill, which does not include language reclassifying FedEx Express truck drivers under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act rather than the Railway Labor Act, must still be reconciled with the House of Representative’s version, which does. The change in classification, which FedEx Express dubbed the “Brown Bailout,” would presumably make it easier for FedEx drivers to unionize. UPS, which supports the bill, is heavily unionized already... (Video from YouTube, by Norm50cal - 16 June 2009)

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