PierPass officials say night turn times down to 30 minutes

PierPass officials say night turn times down to 30 minutes    A survey of 126 port truckers, conducted by PierPass, the organization administering the extended hours plan at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, said that turn times for truckers during night and weekend shifts average about 30 minutes, PierPass officials said.
   The survey, taken July 27 through Aug. 6, and a later survey taken Aug. 12, showed that truck turns during extended hours are happening faster than the normal 35- to 40-minute turn times during weekday operations. Truckers, however, dispute the average turn times that terminals claim, and PierPass officials said times varied among the port complex's 12 terminals.
   In its first four weeks of operation, the program diverted more than 188,000 truck trips out of peak-hour weekday traffic, PierPass said.
   'These results are especially notable given that the surveys were conducted during the early days of the program, when many operational issues were being worked through,' PierPass President Bruce Wargo said in a statement. 'We expect that driver satisfaction with OffPeak will increase as the program matures. It is also important to note that some of the criticisms that have been directed at PierPASS reflect longstanding issues at the ports that have nothing to do with PierPASS or the OffPeak program.'