Almost a dozen local family-owned trucking companies have joined forces to create a group that will monitor efforts to clean up truck emissions at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Unlike some other truckers and the American Trucking Association, which has sued to halt the Clean Trucks Program, members of the newly created Clean Truck Coalition say they do not outright oppose the $2.2 billion program.
In fact, the 10 local companies have started to comply with the program by purchasing low-emissions clean diesel and liquefied natural gas trucks, but they want to make sure that truckers are consulted as the plan is implemented.
“We realized there was a need for local representation,” said Mike Fox, owner of Fox Transportation, a drayage company based in Rancho Cucamonga. “We, as owners, and our drivers are all breathing this polluted air, but we want our voices to be heard.”
Collectively, the coalition members own 500 clean trucks, priced at about $100,000 each, and privately financed for about $62 million total.
John Holmes, the L.A. port’s director of operations, has met with the group and said its formation was an unexpected and welcome development.
“Some people may think the Clean Trucks Program is all about the larger, out-of-state motor carriers like Swift Transportation Co. and Knight Transportation Inc.,” said Holmes, mentioning two Phoenix-based companies that smaller carriers said would be able to better afford clean trucks and drive smaller local companies out of business.
“But we want to include those who have been the backbone of drayage at the ports for decades, and are glad to listen to the concerns of this coalition,” Holmes said.
The American Trucking Association has filed a lawsuit still lingering in federal court trying to halt the program. The association contends the program, which requires truckers to get a concession to operate at the ports, overly infringes on the industry’s right to conduct its business.
Electric Trucks
Finally, some good news for L.A.’s long-dormant vehicle manufacturing industry.
Balqon Corp., a Santa Ana-based manufacturer of alternative fueled trucks, is having success with its electrically powered short-haul drayage trucks serving the Port of Los Angeles.
The trucks which are built at a newly opened Harbor City plant that employs 47 workers can pull 60,000 pounds of cargo at a top speed of 40 miles per hour with zero emissions. That impressed port officials, who ordered 25 of the vehicles, which cost $208,500 each.
Because the port placed Balqon’s first sizable production order, the company will provide a royalty payment $1,000 to the port for each vehicle it sells or leases worldwide, said port spokesman Arley Baker.
Although the trucks can’t reach freeway speeds like their gas-chugging kin, they are useful in hauling cargo to a local rail yard. The rigs will replace diesel trucks that make 1.2 million truck trips, cutting down tailpipe emissions by 35,605 tons a year, Baker said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other public officials are expected to attend a grand opening ceremony Tuesday at the Harbor City plant.
Staying Public
Long Beach Airport likely will not be privatized after the Long Beach City Council expressed little interest in moving the plan forward but the idea isn’t totally dead on arrival.
Over the past 18 months, the city has fielded unsolicited inquiries into privatizing the airport from major banks and Wall Street firms such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, according to City Manager Patrick West.
West said it seemed like an option worth entertaining as the city faces a $15.7 million revenue shortfall. But after initial consideration during a closed session, City Council members decided to not place the item on agenda.
The big obstacle? A strict noise ordinance that limits the number of commercial flights to 41 per day, making expansion of the airport impossible for now and a privatization deal unattractive to investors.
“So while it’s not going to happen anytime soon, it could still happen someday,” West said.
Long Beach Airport, which has been owned by the city for 85 years and financially self-supporting, serves about 3 million commercial passengers a year and is a regional hub for discount airline JetBlue.
Long Beach Easy
Privatization may be on the backburner, but plenty of other issues, from a new parking structure to working with airlines grappling with passenger slumps, await Mario Rodriguez, the new director of Long Beach’s airport.
Rodriguez was to start Monday and will replace interim director Chris Kunze.
Rodriguez, most recently deputy director at New Orleans International Airport, is familiar with managing stressful situations to say the least he was the second-in-charge at the Louisiana airport during Hurricane Katrina.
Staff Reporter Francisco Vara-Orta can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 241, or at [email protected]
