The Port of Los Angeles is forging ahead with its Clean Trucks Program despite various delays, and expects to dole out $44 million to licensed motor carriers that already bought low-emissions trucks.

Over the next few weeks, 107 licensed motor carriers can expect to receive $20,000 for each truck that qualified for the program. However, some motor carriers that purchased the clean trucks are not receiving any money due to a shortage of funds, acknowledged port spokeswoman Theresa Adams-Lopez.

Although the program is under way at both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the incentive program was only offered at the L.A. facility. The program bans trucks built before 1989, the first year of diesel pollution control, and by 2012 prohibits any truck that doesn’t meet the latest 2007 emission standards.

To qualify for the incentive program, trucks had to meet the 2012 standards, be purchased with private money and make an average of six trips a week to the port for the next five years.

Kevin L. Dukesherer, director of Bell-based motor carrier Progressive Transportation Services Inc., originally cringed at the $100,000 price tag of each clean truck. But Dukesherer said he thought Progressive should embrace the inevitable, so his company purchased 61 new trucks at a cost of $6.1 million.

Progressive paid for the trucks partly with bank loans, and since the trucks qualified for the incentive program, he felt some relief that his company stands to receive a reimbursement of $1.2 million.

However, he said he was notified at a Dec. 23 meeting with port staffers that because the port had overcommitted to the carriers, only 86 percent of what the port promised to reimburse them would be paid. The remaining 14 percent would come later when the port had the money.

Adams-Lopez denied that port was only paying in partial payments and said that it will pay out whatever had been committed to the licensed motor carriers. However, because the $44 million came out of its the ports own revenue funds there was only money for 2,200 trucks, Adams-Lopez said. Some 7,500 applications were submitted, thought not all met the program standards.

The port had hoped to give out more in incentives but the program has been hit with legal challenges that has prevented it from collecting a so-called Clean Truck Fee, a portion of which would subsidize the truck purchases.

Adams-Lopez said the port plans to offer another incentive program later in the year when more money is available.

“It’s bittersweet,” Dukesherer said, “but at this point anything is going to help.”