TRUCKING COSTS * USA - LA Harbor Commission Closes Clean-Truck Loopholes

Port bans tricks by some motor carriers that circumvent regulations

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Dec 16, 2010: -- The Los Angeles Harbor Commission Thursday voted to prohibit two practices some motor carriers deploy to circumvent the port's clean-truck regulations... Class 7 trucks will now be governed by the same clean-air rules that apply to the larger Class 8 trucks... Also, the commission modified its tariff so that switching containers from compliant trucks to banned trucks is banned anywhere in the harbor district. This practice is known as dray-off... The California Air Resources Board, whose regulations apply throughout the state, is scheduled on Dec. 16 to consider amending its Drayage Truck Rule to include regulation of Class 7 trucks and to address the dray-off issue... (Photo from wantai.net: Class 7 Fuso truck)


* California - Truckers say L.A.'s 'green' port costs them money. The dispute over who should pay for leasing and maintaining 'clean' rigs could go to the Supreme Court

Los Angeles,CAL,USA - The Los Angeles Times, by Patrick J. McDonnell -December 7, 2010: -- Alex Mejia said he often sleeps in his truck, grabbing some fitful rest before a new dawn breaks and he is once again hauling cargo at the Port of Los Angeles. The routine marks another working day that, he says, could last 18 hours, much of it spent waiting — for a job order, a load, an operational trailer chassis — before getting back on the road... He is among about 10,000 drivers who provide a lifeline at the nation's busiest port complex, hauling containers from the seaport to far-flung warehouses and distribution centers for clients ranging from small firms to giants such as Wal-Mart, Costco and Rite Aid. Many say they have long endured extended hours, high stress and relatively low pay, even in the days when business boomed with galloping multibillion-dollar commerce with Asia... Life was supposed to get better for them with the coming of the city's much-ballyhooed Clean Truck Program, which is widely credited with helping to upgrade air quality... The concept — to replace smog-spawning clunkers with newer and cleaner rigs — promised to slash emissions and offer a new deal for beleaguered port truckers, many of them immigrants from Mexico and Central America... "Things were ba enough when we owned our trucks, but I would say the situation is desperate now," said Mejia, who ditched his 1995 Freightliner and now leases a "clean" 2008 International. "We're all happy that the air is cleaner. We live here too. But it is our sweat, our work, that is helping to improve the environment" ... "This program has been a great deception to us," said Jose Mauricio Guzman, 54, who has more than 20 years of port trucking experience. "We no longer have hope to be in the middle class. We are all poor now"...