US ports approve clean truck regs

According to the Port of Long Beach, the move is “designed to accelerate the reduction of harmful air emissions from trucks”.

Under the measures, new trucks visiting marine terminals will have to have a model year of 2014 or newer, with this requirement coming into force on October 1 this year.

The rule only applies to trucks not already registered in both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles’ Ports Drayage Truck Registry (PDTR) and not current on their annual registration dues.

The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the tariff amendment in June, with the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners taking a similar move just a few days after. Final approval is expected in July.

According to the Port of Long Beach, all trucks in port service must currently have a model year of 2007 or newer, and at the moment, around 50% of the trucks registered in the PDTR have a model year of at least 2010.

The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach co-ordinate on truck standards and other air quality measures as part of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP).

The tariff change is the first in a series of near-term and long-term steps from the Californian ports to advance clean truck-progress under the 2017 CAAP Update, which was approved last November.

New strategies seek to phase out older trucks, with an objective of switching to zero-emission trucks by 2035.

Future moves include waiving the annual PDTR registration fee for near-zero and zero-emission trucks and charging a rate for cargo moves by truck (with exemptions for trucks adhering to near-zero and zero-emission standards), with the latter envisioned to start in mid-2020.

Around 17,000 trucks are registered to work in the San Pedro Bay port complex.

More information can be found here.