Seeking to mollify miffed cargo owners, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are working with terminal operators to eliminate the charging of a fee for cargo carried by environmentally friendly trucks.

Currently, all importers and exporters have to pay a $35 Clean Trucks Fee for each of their 20-foot equivalent cargo containers even if their cargo is carried by the latest-model trucks with the least emissions.

The ports keep the fee if cargo is carried on older, more polluting trucks about 33 percent of the trucks now servicing the ports but refunds it once it is verified cargo is carried by so-called “clean” trucks.

The cargo fees are used to help finance new trucks as part of the Clean Truck Program, which took effect last October and gradually will ban all trucks made before 2007. But importers and exporters are complaining the system is pinching their cash flow and is a bureaucratic hassle.

Now, in response to the complaints, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced this month they will stop collecting upfront fees when cargo is carried on clean trucks.

“This tentative agreement is the result of both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach listening to and working with the large percentage of cargo owners who are adhering to the Clean Truck Program,” said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Los Angeles port. “It eliminates a bureaucratic step without slowing down the significant progress we’ve made cleaning the air with this program.”

The change will not take place until Nov. 1 in order to give terminal operators time to reprogram 13 different computer systems that assess the fees.

Bruce Wargo, spokesman for the West Coast Terminal Operators Association, said eliminating the upfront fee will give motor carriers another incentive to replace older trucks.

“With the fee eliminated, cargo owners will see another benefit to using a clean truck,” Wargo said.

International Facelift

The Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport is set to get its biggest overhaul yet after just completing a separate $753 million makeover.

The LAX’s Board of Airport Commissioners approved a $1.5 billion plan last week that calls for building more gates capable of accommodating larger jetliners and providing more room and comfort for travelers.

The project, named “Bradley West,” is expected to be completed by mid-2013 and funded entirely by the sale of airport bonds. Nearly 35 airlines operate at the terminal, with more than 9 million travelers passing through annually.

Plans call for building nine new airline gates to serve the next generation of super-sized jumbo jets, including the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Also, the Bradley terminal’s old concourse area will be demolished to make way for two concourses that will add 1 million square feet for ticketing desks, baggage claim areas, security screening, lounges, shops and restaurants.

The Bradley West project, which will not increase the footprint of the terminal, now goes to the Los Angeles City Council for final consideration. The airport hopes to put out bids soon thereafter and start construction next year.

The project follows completion of renovations to all of the terminal’s 180 check-in counters and lobby, a three-year program that cost $753 million. The final element of that project was completed when Mexicana Airlines recently relocated back to the renovated Upper/Departures area.

Transit Tidbits

Santa Monica’s Big Blue Buses began rolling last Wednesday into their new environmentally friendly maintenance facility, designed by the Los Angeles office of HOK Group Inc., an architecture design firm based in St. Louis.

The $60 million, 66,000 square-foot building was designed with energy-efficiency as a top priority since it will operate 24 hours every day of the year. Energy costs are expected to be cut up to 15 percent.

The move toward a more green facility will help improve Big Blue Bus’ environmental image, blemished this March when the state’s Air Resources Board slapped a $21,000 fine on the bus line for failing to conduct required diesel emissions testing and maintaining appropriate records.

In other Santa Monica transit news, the city will host the fourth Annual AltCar Expo at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The two-day alternative transportation exhibition is free and open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Staff reporter Francisco Vara-Orta can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 241 or at [email protected].