SoCal ports give motor carriers primer on truck plan

SoCal ports give motor carriers primer on truck plan Drayage firms hoping to serve Southern California marine terminals after the Oct. 1 start of a truck plan attended separate orientation meetings held Thursday at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
   An early morning meeting at the Port of Los Angeles drew 500 to 700 people, according to attendees and various media reports. An afternoon meeting at the neighboring Long Beach port drew a smaller crowd, according to attendees and media reports.
   The ports called the meetings to provide the trucking firms with details of how the ports' truck plan would work. However, the two meetings also noted which parts of the ports' plan would not be working on Oct. 1.
   For more than six months, the ports have been moving toward a commitment to launch key components of the truck plan by Oct. 1. These components include a ban on all pre-1989 trucks from port service, the collection of a $35-per-TEU container tax from beneficial cargo owners on nearly all drayage moves, and the implementation of concession agreements requiring trucking firms to obtain ports-issued access licenses.
   The Port of Long Beach, which broadcast its meeting over the Internet, said it has signed up 500 trucking firms for the truck plan access licenses, representing more than 11,000 trucks.
   'There are still many piece of (the truck plan) that are not complete yet,' said Chris Lytle, Port of Long Beach deputy executive director.
   'When we talk of the 'still to come' category, we still have the details of the leases and loans to come. The electronic monitoring of compliance is not ready at this time,' Lytle said.
   Both ports, according to Lytle, do not have the capability to electronically determine the age of trucks entering the terminals.
   To solve this, the ports have come up with a temporary system involving compliance stickers to identify trucks that are compliant with the truck plan requirements, said Lytle.
   The temporary identification plan, according to Lytle, will be in place for 30 days.
   'We hope to have (the electronic system) on or before Nov. 1,' said Lytle.
   The Port of Los Angeles, which did not broadcast their meeting, has said previously that they intend to move forward with the truck plan on Oct. 1. ' Keith Higginbotham