Long Beach port orders more LNG trucks

Long Beach port orders more LNG trucks Long Beach port officials last week agreed to a tentative deal to purchase an additional 100 liquefied natural gas-powered drayage trucks as part of a Southern California ports' truck re-regulation plan to replace or retrofit nearly 17,000 ports-servicing drayage trucks in the next five years.
   The nearly $20 million preliminary order for the Inland Kenworth LNG trucks, which cost $197,000 each, is in addition to an earlier pre-order for 500 similar trucks placed last month with various builders.
   The port had originally planned to purchase 41 already built LNG trucks from Inland, but the plan was scrapped in lieu of the new deal after the original trucks were found to not meet the ports specifications and emissions criteria.
   The two ports hope to introduce thousands of LNG trucks into the drayage fleet through the $2.4 billion truck plan. Plan guidelines call for at least half of the drayage fleet serving the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports to be powered by alternative fuel. Currently the only viable option for these vehicles is LNG.
   However, LNG trucks face some serious problems of their own when compared to the 2007 or newer model year diesel trucks that will also be bought under the plan. LNG lacks a sizable fueling infrastructure in the Southern California area, with only several facilities available within a small radius of the ports.
   Last week, LNG firm Clean Energy Fuels Corp., affiliated with oil billionaire Boone Pickens, received a $3.6 million grant from the state's Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee and the South Coast Air Quality Management District for the construction of up to nine additional fueling stations in Southern California, including the port area.
   LNG trucks are arguably not as clean burning as 2007 or newer model year diesel trucks. While LNG powered vehicles can virtually eliminate particulate matter emissions, mainly seen as exhaust soot, academic studies have shown LNG engines produce elevated levels of NOx when under load. These levels far surpass those generated by the newer diesel trucks.