Filter deadline impacts Oakland drayage

Filter deadline impacts Oakland drayage    About 500 truckers who failed to meet an April 30 deadline to have new diesel particulate filters installed on their rigs were shut out of the Port of Oakland marine terminals Monday, the Oakland Tribune reported Tuesday.
   Also kept out of the terminal were a group of drivers whose filter deadlines were extended until June 30, but who had yet to receive new compliance stickers for their trucks from the California Air Resources Board, the state's air quality regulatory agency.
   A small group of drivers protested outside the port's marine terminals and said they planned to protest the rest of the week.
   “We are trying to bring attention to the problems with the deadlines,” Ron Dacus, spokesman for the Northern California Rail and Port Truck Association, told the newspaper.
   He estimates that about 400 of the association’s drivers who qualified for grants to install the new filters — which cost $16,000 to $21,000 — are still caught up in a backlog of filter orders and are not able to work at the port starting this week.
   According to California air regulatory laws that went into effect this year, trucks older than 1994 are banned, while model years 1994 through 2003 are required to have the new diesel filters. The rules were supposed to go into effect Jan. 1 but the state extended the deadline to April 30 to allow manufacturers to make more of the filters.