L.A. port postpones infrastructure fee

L.A. port postpones infrastructure fee    The Port of Los Angeles' harbor board has followed the lead of neighbor Long Beach in deferring the assessment of a per-container infrastructure fee.
   The board this week voted to delay the imposition of the fee, which was to have begun July 1, until March 31, 2010 at the earliest.
   Earlier this week, Long Beach harbor commissioners made a similar decision, saying the fee might hurt the Southern California port complex's competitiveness for intermodal cargo arriving on the U.S. West Coast.

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   The $6 tariff was to be imposed on every loaded inbound and outbound container at the two ports. In Los Angeles' case, the fees would have funded six infrastructure projects at the port, several of which are already underway.
   Without the fee the projects will now be funded through a combination of federal, state, county and port funds, the port said.
   'We felt delaying the tariff was in the best interest of our importers and exporters in these tough economic times,' said Mike Christensen, deputy executive director of development at the Port of Los Angeles, in a statement. 'We wanted to give them a break.'