INSIDER REPORT:
Board Approves Clean Truck Concession Rules Vote June 3, 2008
The newly adopted concession agreement is the core of the Clean Trucks system, insuring that trucking firms adhere to pollution-reducing requirements at the risk of losing their right to operate in the Port. The concession agreement requires drayage trucking firms (licensed motor carriers) to: Register their trucks and drivers with the Port, Ensure that drivers have federal Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC), Ensure that drivers adhere to local parking and travel restrictions, And certify that the trucks they dispatch to terminals comply with Clean Trucks emissions guidelines. "With the concession terms in place, our goal is to start the signups for our concessions at the beginning of July and to begin signups for our grant program in mid-July," said Port Executive Director Richard Steinke. "Truckers should get their TWIC cards now to be eligible. We need to move quickly to improve air quality while assuring that the transition to this landmark Clean Trucks Program allows trade to continue to move smoothly." Under the Clean Trucks air quality improvement program, older big-rigs will be phased out of drayage service at the Port of Long Beach starting with a ban on 1988 and older trucks starting on October 1, 2008. By January 1, 2012, all pre-2006 drayage trucks will be banned from the Port. To speed the transition to new, clean trucks, a $35 per twenty-foot container fee will be collected on all trucked cargo beginning October 1, 2008, to help pay for the $2 billion replacement of nearly 16,800 trucks that serve the ports. The Port will be offering truckers grants and a leasing program to acquire new trucks. Port of Long Beach
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