Long Beach port approves truck access license criteria, sets date

Long Beach port approves truck access license criteria, sets date Port of Long Beach officials have approved final details of a port-access licensing scheme and plan to begin accepting applications for the licenses from port-servicing trucking firms.
   'With the concession terms in place, our goal is to start the signups for our concessions at the beginning of July and to begin signups for our grant program in mid-July,” said Executive Director Richard Steinke. The port refers to the access licenses as 'concession agreements.'
   The port-access licensing program is part of a broader drayage re-regulation plan developed and to be implemented by the adjacent Long Beach and Los Angeles ports. The full truck plan seeks to replace or retrofit the nearly 17,000 privately owned diesel trucks servicing the ports to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2007 model year emission standards.
   As part of the overall plan, access to the ports will be restricted on a four-year rolling schedule that will see all pre-2006 model year trucks banned by Jan. 1, 2012. The initial ban, of the nearly 3,000 pre-1989 trucks servicing the ports, is set to take effect on Oct. 1 of this year.
   A $35-per-TEU container tax will go into effect the same day at the two ports, with the collected funds paired with port and state funds to help owners replace or retrofit their trucks through grants and loans.
   To obtain a Long Beach port-access license, trucking firms must meet license criteria adopted by Long Beach port officials on Monday. Firms without the license will be barred access to the port's facilities.
   The access license criteria requires trucking firms to register their trucks and drivers with the port, assure that drivers have a federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential, ensure that drivers adhere to local parking and travel restrictions, and certify that the trucks they dispatch to terminals comply with the emission standards of the overall truck plan.
   Due to the two ports adopting different models for the licensing component of the overall truck plan, trucking firms will need to obtain two licenses if they require access to both Long Beach and Los Angeles port facilities.
   While firms serving Long Beach are permitted under the plan to hire per-hour employees, per-load independent owner-operators, or a combination, the Los Angeles licensing criteria requires that trucking firms only hire per-hour employees. The Los Angeles employee-only criteria will be phased in over four years, with trucking firms initially required to have 20 percent of their drivers as per-hour employees, ramping up to 100 percent by the end of 2013.
   Trucking firms applying for an access license from Long Beach will be required to pay an upfront application fee of $250 plus an annual fee of $100 per truck, while those seeking an access license for Los Angeles port facilities will be required to pay an application fee of $2,500 and an annual fee of $100 per truck.
   According to the Port of Long Beach, on online application for trucking firms seeking an access license should be up and running by July. ' Keith Higginbotham