PierPass hits 500,000 box mark

PierPass hits 500,000 box mark    The organization that administers the nighttime truck gates program at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, called PierPass, said Friday that more than 500,000 containers have been moved at night and on Saturdays since the program began July 23.
   Since the program began, the percentage of boxes moving during the night has hovered around 30 percent, which is PierPass officials' goal after two years of the program.
   While truck traffic on key cargo corridors out of the port has thinned noticeably during rush hour drive times, there remains a rush at many terminals between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. (the night shift begins at 6 p.m.) so drivers can avoid being assessed the $40-per-TEU PierPass fee, but still get done with work at a reasonable hour.
   'There are lines at 6 p.m., and 7, 8 and 9,' Larry Bennett, chief operating officer of Total Terminals International, told American Shipper this month. 'If a guy shows up at 6:15, he'll probably be the last guy in line, and he's not happy. But if you come in here at 11 p.m., it's a ghost town.'
   The Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, which governs the 20-mile freight rail expressway between the Southern California ports and downtown Los Angeles, conducted a survey that estimates peak hour truck traffic has declined 24 percent since PierPass began.