Proposal to speed switch to clean trucks

Revisions to the Clean Trucks Program to be considered Monday, March 23, by the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners would provide more incentives to the trucking industry to quickly acquire cleaner-running big-rigs to meet the Port's goal of slashing truck-related air pollution 80 percent by 2012.
Changes proposed by the Port of Long Beach staff would expand exemptions to the Clean Truck Fee, recognizing the goods movement industry's demand for private financing of new clean trucks and encouraging use of liquefied natural gas-fueled (LNG) vehicles. Truck owners need to switch to clean trucks because the Port is progressively banning the older, dirtier big-rigs from entry into shipping terminals.
The Clean Trucks Program started October 1, 2008, with a ban on 1988 and older trucks. On February 18, 2009, the Port initiated a Clean Truck Fee of $35 per twenty-foot container and $70 for larger containers to provide truck owners with financial assistance for replacement vehicles. In the current economic climate, many importers and exporters have favored truckers who privately finance clean trucks and are therefore not required to pay the Clean Truck Fee.
"Because of the business climate, we have found that many truck owners are financing their own vehicles," said Richard D.
Steinke, Port Executive Director. "So we're proposing to make changes to the Clean Trucks Program that will speed us on the  road to cleaner air and still help truck owners to meet the program's goals."
The Port of Long Beach is proposing to fine-tune the rules on who has to pay the Clean Truck Fee and who doesn't:
- To recognize the market preference for privately funded purchases of clean trucks, the Port would eliminate the fee for containers hauled by all trucks bought without Port assistance. Previously, there was a 50 percent fee for some of this cargo. The scrapping of an old truck will no longer be required.
- To boost the ranks of LNG-fueled trucks, the Port would eliminate the fee for cargo hauled by LNG trucks purchased with Port assistance. The scrapping of an old truck will no longer be required. Cargo carried by privately purchased LNG trucks is already exempt.
- To encourage more truck owners to apply for Clean Trucks Program financial assistance in obtaining a new truck, the Port would give a 50 percent fee exemption for containers hauled by clean diesel trucks purchased with Port assistance. This fee will be $17.50 per twenty-foot container, and $35 for larger containers. These truck owners will still need to provide an old truck to be scrapped.
- Cargo hauled by the 500 truck owners who acquired a truck with the help of the Gateway Cities Program in recent years would be granted a 100 percent exemption from the fee.
Using Clean Truck Fee revenues, the Clean Trucks Program offers grants and leases that cover as much as 80 percent of the cost of a new truck. Beginning January 1, 2010, 1993 and older trucks will be
banned from the Port, and unretrofitted 1994 to 2003 trucks will also be banned. 

Source: Transportweekly