CMI, Home Depot to replace SoCal drayage trucks

CMI, Home Depot to replace SoCal drayage trucks A subsidiary of one of Southern California's largest drayage firms and one of the nation's largest home improvement chains have jointly pledged to replace all of their contracted owner-operator trucks servicing the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles with newer less emissive versions within five years.
   Signal Hill-based California Multimodal Inc., and Atlanta-based Home Depot, also said today they have joined the Sacramento-based Coalition for Responsible Transportation, an association of transportation firms pledging to implement clean truck technologies in their operations at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
   CMI, a subsidiary of Cal Cartage, and Home Depot plan to replace all of their contracted owner-operator trucks in use at the two ports with new low-emission 'green' equipment that will meet the ports' self-defined emission standards well before the 2012 deadline.
   To replace the vehicles, both firms have committed to financing arrangements that will allow the owner-operators to use the new trucks while preserving their ability to remain as independent drivers. Last November, the two ports adopted an omnibus Clean Air Action Plan which included a component plan to cut truck emissions by replacing the entire drayage fleet of nearly 17,000 trucks that service the ports.
   Earlier this month, the governing commissions of both ports adopted the first portion of the truck plan, implementing a progressive ban of older trucks servicing the ports.
   Last month, CRT-member Nike, and its affiliate Converse switched a portion of their Southern California ports drayage fleet from diesel to new liquefied natural gas-fueled vehicles.
   In August, CRT-member Target Corp. said it would introduce LNG vehicles into its fleet servicing the two ports.
   The CRT membership includes NYK Group Cos., Target, Total Transportation Services Inc., Nike, and Southern Counties Express Inc.