The Los Angeles Board of Harbour Commissioners has voted in favour of the port''s recommendation to eliminate a container fee which has never been used.
The Infrastructure cargo fee (ICF) fee was created six years ago to help finance major rail, highway and bridge improvement projects, but it was never implemented.
Commissioners expected to raise US$1.4bn from the fee to raise cash for four capital projects already underway or due to begin construction next year - including the Berth 200 Railyard, the South Wilmington Grade Separation and two I-110 interchanges.
Geraldine Knatz, port executive director, said that the fact that the fee was never collected demonstrates “how the port successfully sought funding from other sources.”
She says that POLA managed to secure 55% of the US$313m needed for infrastructure projects in grants and funded the remaining 45% needed from its own revenues.
Added to the port tariff, the ICF was applied at the same time as the port was developing its Clean Truck Programme which was also challenged at the time.
The port says that recent traffic analyses have revealed that out of the remaining 13 projects that the ICF was intended to support – only one other is exclusive to the POLA, the others are joint projects.
Others are not needed urgently before 2025 and can therefore be deferred.
