Oakland port approves truck retrofit funds and study to eliminate owner operator drivers

The governing board for the Port of Oakland voted Tuesday to approve two key moves in the port's efforts to clean up pollution generated by drayage trucks servicing the port's facilities.

The Oakland port commission voted to provide $5 million to a $15 million Bay Area Air Quality Management District program to retrofit 1,000 drayage trucks with pollution filters. An additional $5 million for the plan will come from the state's Proposition 1B infrastructure bond fund and the Bay Area AQMD will provide the remaining $5 million.

Air Quality Management District Executive Officer Jack Broadbent told commissioners Tuesday that he believes the retrofit program till make a serious dent in improving public health in West Oakland. Studies cited by the ports and environmental groups claim that diesel emissions from port drayage trucks are two to three times higher in West Oakland than the rest of the Bay Area.

In a separate vote, the port commissioners also approved a contract with Los Angeles consulting firm Beacon Economics that calls for the firm to develop an economic impact study looking at moving the local drayage industry to a new employee-only business model. Currently, the vast majority of truckers serving the Oakland port are independent owner operators. The study, according to port officials, is likely to be completed within the next three months.

A similar plan developed by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and set to go into affect on Oct. 1, has been challenged in federal court by the American Truck Association. In its suit, filed last week in a Los Angeles federal court, the ATA claims that the Southern California ports plan violates federal interstate commerce laws. 

Source: American Shipper