SoCal truck plan appel gets extension, TEU tax starts Nov. 17

SoCal truck plan appel gets extension, TEU tax starts Nov. 17 After several weeks of additional filings in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case seeking to block portions of the Southern California ports' truck program, the court has decided to grant a time extension requested by the ports.
   Originally set for Nov. 5, the appellate court has rescheduled the deadline for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to file their final arguments until Nov. 26.
   The American Trucking Associations, the U.S. departments of Justice and Transportation, and several other industry trade groups are asking the Ninth Circuit to overturn a lower federal court rejection of an injunction against portions of the truck program. The groups argue that the truck program, which started on Oct. 1, violates federal interstate commerce laws. A full lawsuit against the truck program by the ATA is also moving through the lower District Court case, but does not involve the Ninth Circuit.
   The ports maintain that the truck program's goal of modernizing the local drayage fleet of trucks is necessary for safety, security and environmental reasons. In addition to the lower court denial of the ATA injunction, the Ninth Circuit also rejected an ATA request for an emergency injunction.
   In other truck program news, the two ports announced that collection of a $35-per-TEU tax on containers being drayed in and out of the ports' terminals will begin on Nov. 17. The collection of the tax, originally set to begin on Oct. 1 with the rest of the truck program, was delayed due to development problems in the electronic system that will be used to identify the trucks' radio frequency identification devices at the various terminal gates.
   The ports will be warning drayage drivers throughout this week that an RFID tag is required in order to maintain access to the various terminals. Trucks not having an RFID tag as of next week will not be admitted to the various terminals. The $35-per-TEU tax will start being billed on loaded container moves as of 7 a.m. on Nov. 17.