Long Beach delays truck fee collection change

Long Beach delays truck fee collection change    The Port of Long Beach said Friday it is delaying by two weeks an exemption on pre-paying a clean truck fee for shippers whose containers move on clean trucks to better coordinate with a similar exemption by the Port of Los Angeles.
   In September, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a change in the way the port administers its clean truck fee that exempts shippers who move their cargo on trucks that meet EPA clean air regulations. Previously, shippers had to pre-pay the fee and were reimbursed if the truck used for their container was deemed clean. But the industry requested the port change the payment collection method to avoid the pre-pay and reimbursement process.
   'Shortly after the decision by the Port of Long Beach to change the pre-payment requirements, neighboring Port of Los Angeles followed suit with the elimination of pre-payment fees under its own program,' the Port of Long Beach said in a statement Friday. 'The two ports share environmental goals, but manage their truck programs separately.'
   Long Beach's change was to have taken effect Nov. 1, but Los Angeles' is set to take effect Nov. 15.
   'In order to better coordinate efforts with the Port of Los Angeles and avoid confusion among truckers, the vast majority of whom serve both ports, the new effective date has been postponed by two weeks to November 15,' Long Beach said.
   Fees collected from dirty trucks are used to help finance new, less polluting trucks.