Container surcharge in L.A.-Long Beach begins today

Container surcharge in L.A.-Long Beach begins today    All 12 container terminals in the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach remained open Saturday night to serve truckers picking up or dropping off boxes of cargo as the PierPass night shift program kicked off.
   Today is the first day that a traffic mitigation fee goes into effect at the port. Cargo owners are responsible for paying $40 per TEU that exits the port by truck during the peak period, defined as 3 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. The off-peak hours are available Monday through Thursday and on Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
   Shipments that are transported from the ports by rail and returned empty containers are exempt from the peak-time fee.
   The fee will be collected by PierPass, a non-profit entity created by the terminals, and distributed to the terminals to cover their cost of operating extra shifts. The terminals claim additional labor and other expenses for operating full-service gates at night will cost $156 million per year.
   PierPass said 350 to 550 new longshoremen’s jobs have been created to staff the night gates.