Vancouver port to place emissions, safety conditions on truck licenses

Vancouver port to place emissions, safety conditions on truck licenses    The Port of Vancouver in Canada said Monday it would use its existing truck licensing program to impose stringent safety and emissions standards on trucks serving its marine terminals.
   The new provisions, which take effect on Jan. 1, will prohibit access to older trucks that lack emissions controls, and are prone to mechanical and safety problems.
   In January, the Port of Vancouver tightened its existing licensing system by refusing to accept new license applications from owner-operators and terminating licenses for drivers who don’t enter the port for 90 consecutive days. The policy is designed to steer drivers to become employees at larger fleets that are better capitalized to make equipment upgrades. Under the truck licensing system, which also covers the two Fraser River ports in the region, the port already controls trucking rates.
   Port officials had previously announced their intent to use the licensing system to impose a series of port improvements on the unwieldy trucking sector.
   “This new version of the truck licensing system exceeds existing provincial environmental standards and raises the bar for container truck safety at the Port of Vancouver,” Port Authority Vice President Chris Badger said in a statement.
   The new regulations give port officials more authority to enforce environmental and safety rules, including auditing compliance and preventing substandard equipment from accessing the port.
   Safety violations will be met with warnings, leading to suspensions and eventual cancellation of a company’s truck license for accumulation of serious offenses.
   Under the new rules, container trucks built before 1989 will no longer be allowed on port property. By Jan. 1, 2009, the port will phase out the use of trucks built before 1994. The system includes an appeals process to consider older trucks that have retrofit equipment to reduce pollution.
   License conditions also will require trucking companies to pass annual emissions tests at certified facilities as well as random checks throughout the year, and put drivers through a compulsory annual driver education program in response to complaints from city residents about driver behavior. The port authority is also implementing steps to reduce idling on and around port property.
   “The Port of Vancouver’s economic, social and environmental impact reaches beyond the communities in which we operate. Setting very high standards for our operations and those of our service providers and supply chain partners reflects how sincerely the VPA takes its safety and environmental responsibilities,” Badger said.
   This spring the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach proposed a controversial truck-access licensing program that would overturn the current system of independent drivers and as part of a clean air action plan that would force companies to use less-polluting diesel trucks and hire employee drivers. Under the plan, also scheduled to begin Jan. 1, harbor trucks that don’t meet the clean air standards will be phased out of fleets or scrapped. Trucks would have to meet 2007 Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards or be retrofitted with emission control devices if built after 1994.
   For an in-depth view of the Port of Vancouver’s licensing system see the March issue of American Shipper, page 68.