Los Angeles port chooses truck plan access license contractor

Los Angeles port chooses truck plan access license contractor The Port of Los Angeles' governing board has selected a firm to run the most contentious portions of its $2.4 billion truck re-regulation program.
   On Thursday, the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners will approve a motion allowing port executive director Geraldine Knatz to negotiate a scope of work and enter into an $8.4 million contract with Tetra Tech Inc. to manage the licensing portion of the truck plan.
   Under terms of the contract, Tetra Tech will develop the physical application for the access license, develop a grant application for truck replacement, design and develop the truck registry system, and coordinate with the truck owners.
   Originally envisioned as a cash-delivery system to help the nearly 17,000 drayage drivers serving the Southern California ports replace or retrofit their vehicles with newer models, the truck plan now requires all trucks to have a port-issued access license to enter facilities at Los Angeles or the neighboring Long Beach port.
   To obtain the license, truck owners must agree to numerous port-defined criteria involving business practices, financial capacity and labor policies. In addition, truck owners must agree to register their vehicles in a port-run registry.
   Set to start Oct. 1, the program is being paid for a ports-imposed container tax of $35-per-TEU to be collected by the terminals and assessed against the beneficial cargo owners, which also goes into effect the same day.