The Federal Maritime Commission has decided to allow the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach to begin collecting fees from port operators under the PortCheck Agreement of the ports’ joint Clean Truck Program (CTP) after meeting and discussing anticompetitive concerns associated with the CTP.
FMC currently is pursuing an injunction under section 6 of the Shipping Act against certain aspects of the CTP in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The PortCheck Agreement, as one part of a related web of agreements, implements the harmonized CTP, which FMC has determined is likely, by a reduction in competition, to result in an unreasonable reduction in transportation services and an unreasonable increase in transportation cost. FMC said Wednesday, Feb. 11, that in light of the previously filed action targeting the most anticompetitive provisions of the CTP, it determined that it is unnecessary to separately enjoin operation of the PortCheck Agreement and fee collection.
FMC said Wednesday it also determined to require the parties to the PortCheck Agreement to file special monitoring reports with FMC, which would allow the commission to closely monitor the ongoing operation of the CTP collection process to assess the fee’s impact on the San Pedro Bay drayage industry, and the American shippers and consumers served by that industry.
The Port of Los Angeles had announced Jan. 22 that it would begin collecting fees for its CTP on Feb. 18, simultaneously with the Port of Long Beach. The fee is expected to raise funds over the next few years at both ports to help finance the replacement of thousands of old higher-polluting trucks currently in drayage service.
The CTP is part of a massive five-year Clean Air Action Plan to reduce port truck emissions at the San Pedro Bay ports by 80 percent and emissions from all sources by 45 percent. Collection of the Clean Trucks Fee was scheduled to begin in November, but was delayed twice due to extended FMC review.
“It’s imperative that we start the program and continue the progress we have made to date in terms of banning pre-1989 trucks and accelerating the deployment of more than 2,200 2007-compliant trucks through our 2007-Compliant Incentive Program,” says Geraldine Knatz, Port of Los Angeles executive director.
Through that program, more than 100 of the Port of Los Angeles CTP concessionaires applied to receive $20,000 for each U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-compliant truck serving port cargo terminals, according to the port; more than 100 local Licensed Motor Carriers applied for the incentives in order to operate clean trucks and be exempt from the Clean Trucks Fee.
