The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have filed their joint answer to the Federal Maritime Commission lawsuit against the ports' clean truck programs, saying the agency's request for a preliminary injunction against implementing elements of the plans is not supported legally or by evidence. read more

The Los Angeles-Long Beach ports' answer to the request for a preliminary injunction filed by the Federal Maritime Commission against the ports' clean truck programs was accompanied by 19 affidavits, containing declarations from port executives, environmental group staff members, regulatory agency folks, consultants, trucking executives, and drivers. Among those submitting affidavits were: Port of Los Angeles operations chief John Holmes and Port of Long Beach environmental chief Bob Kanter. Trucking executives' declarations in favor of the ports' plans came from Michael Fox of Fox Transportation, Gary Mooney of Green Fleet Systems, Brian Griley of Southern Counties Express, Bob Kelly of Maritech Trucking, and Ramses Villavicencio of American Container Express. read more

The final version of the China Shipping Draft EIS/EIR is expected to go to the Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioners later this month. If the document is certified and the project approved, it will be a major milestone for the project - and represent a major change in the way in which terminals are developed in the San Pedro Bay harbor. read more

The Port of Los Angeles has approved spending nearly $13.2 million of air quality mitigation funds left from the China Shipping settlement on 46 separate projects, but at least one commissioner is questioning if that's the best use of the money. While board President S. David Freeman voted for the expenditures, he also said that "money is being trickled away in tiny projects," and questioned whether the port will get the best emissions-reduction benefit for its investment. Under this latest round of awards, 35 projects will split $8 million, while another 11 projects will divvy up $5 million. read more

The Port of Tacoma Commission has approved a $203.6 million spending package for 2009 which includes projected operating expenses of $52.3 million and projected capital expenditures of nearly $118 million. read more

In light of the worldwide economic crisis and the expected loss of an important customer, Port of Tacoma officials are projecting declines in cargo this year and next. Container volumes are expected to decline 4 percent this year, to 1.85 million TEUs, and by 6.4 percent in 2009, to 1.73 million TEUs. Container volumes are expected to remain virtually flat in 2010 and 2011. read more

Commissioners for the Port of Seattle have adopted a spending plan of more than $871 million for their airport and seaport for 2009. Major elements of the budget include a $209.8 million operating budget and nearly $603 million in planned capital projects for the airport, marine terminals, cruise terminal, public marinas and commercial fishing terminal. Some $57.7 million will be used for debt service on outstanding general obligation and revenue bonds. read more

Port of Long Beach harbor commissioners are adding a new incentive to the port's Vessel Speed Reduction Program. Commonly called the Green Flag Program, the initiative provides incentives for vessels to slow down to 12 knots when 20 nautical miles from Point Fermin. Under a change approved by commissioners during the program's annual review last week, vessel operators will be asked to slow down to 12 knots when 40 nautical miles from Point Fermin, instead of the current 20 miles. read more

Terminal operators, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Agency are keeping a worried eye on the number of workers who have signed up for Transportation Worker Identification Credentials as the April 15 mandatory nationwide compliance date gets closer. Maurine Fanguy, who heads the program for the TSA said at the recent Maritime Security Expo in Long Beach that spreading the word about the program - which is being rolled out at 361 ports and which affects more than 3,200 facilities and 10,000 vessels, is the "No. 1 challenge." read more

When Susan Wise was nominated by Mayor Bob Foster to the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission last month, she beat out some stiff competition for the job, including a Frank Colonna, the former City Councilman who ran against Foster for Mayor, Thomas Fields, chair of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency board, and Michael LoGrande, an environmental specialist with a background in urban planning. read more

Just as fears of a ‘dirty bomb" coming through the Port of Los Angeles or the Port of Long Beach have increased since the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., so has the available technology that can detect those bombs, said Capt. John Schrinner, Security Chief for McAllister Tug and one of three panelists at the "Bomb in a Box" panel at the recent Maritime Security Expo in Long Beach. read more

Federal Judge Christina Snyder - who earlier this year turned down a request by the American Trucking Associations for a preliminary injunction against implementing trucking concessions at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach - will hear the case brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council against the Federal Maritime Commission... The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have filed a joint answer to the American Trucking Associations' request for a preliminary injunction in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal... Pacer Cartage, Harbor Rail Transport, and PDS Trucking are deploying 230 new clean trucks for use in Southern California. read more

The first new marine oil terminal proposed anywhere in the state of California in more than 25 years took a giant step foward last week when Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioners unanimously agreed to certify its environmental impact report and approve the project. read more

Two large construction contracts valued at more than $187 million were awarded last week by the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission. The contracts represent nearly half of the $383 million in construction work port officials say will be awarded by year's end. read more

Employees working at the regional headquarters of Neptune Orient Lines in Oakland may be receiving pink slips or transfer notices between now and Christmas, a company spokesperson said last week. The changes are part of NOL's plan to reduce the company's workforce by some 1,000 positions worldwide. read more

Last week's decision by Maersk Line to eliminate some services to several West Coast ports will have a substantial impact on volumes at those ports and will undoubtedly result in a loss of work for longshore laborers, port officials say. read more

If it were up to Port of Long Beach Harbor commissioners Jim Hankla and Mario Cordero, the State of California's Environmental Impact Report process would be a lot simpler and faster. Hankla made his opinion clear both at the regular POLB meeting last Monday and during welcoming remarks at the Terminal Operators Conference held in Long Beach last week. read more

The Port of Long Beach logo encompasses a lot. Silhouettes of a ship, fish, birds, people, a tree and even a house adorn the circular symbol. But one harbor commissioner thinks that's not quite enough. At last week's board meeting, Commissioner Mario Cordero lamented the fact that the words "The Green Port" had gone missing from various versions of the year-old logo. read more

The casual longshore workers' dispatch hall in Wilmington has been saved from the auction block. The dispatch hall would have been up for grabs next month as a result of a judgment that its owner, the Pacific Maritime Association, lost in court last December. In that case, longshore worker Emelia Huerta won an unfair labor practices suit against the PMA over payroll practices and training requirements related to casuals, who are apprentice longshore workers who are compiling hours to be eligible for union membership. read more

The legal battle over clean trucks continued last week with the FMC filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to block certain elements of clean truck concession programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach... The Richmond City Council has approved the $30 million expansion of the Auto Warehousing Co. Point Potrero Marine Terminal that will allow the company to import 145,000 Honda vehicles through the Port of Richmond each year... Nearly two years after adopting their Clean Air Action Plan, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are drafting the next generation of the five-year plan and extending it out through 2012-13. read more

Maersk Line this morning announced a new vessel sharing agreement with French-based CMA-CGM that will result in significant changes to Maersk's current service to the U.S. West Coast by eliminating the Port of Los Angeles from one weekly service and eliminating the Port of Tacoma and Metro Vancouver from another. read more

The legal battle raging over implementation of Clean Truck Concession programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach continues to escalate as attorneys from the various sides struggle to determine just how far a port or state may go to regulate and control international and interstate commerce. read more

More than a month into the implementation of its Clean Trucks Program, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles continue to work out details of full implementation. The Port of Long Beach is currently looking at rules to address certain tasks that dealers authorized to sell program-compliant drayage trucks must perform. read more

Westrux International has won a tentative 10-year agreement with the Port of Long Beach to provide the preventative maintenance of all International brand trucks leased through the port's Clean Trucks Program. Westrux is the designated provider of maintenance for all International brand trucks, as well as an authorized dealer for any maintenance work. read more

As the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach continue to hash out the details of their Clean Trucks Programs, other ports up and down the Pacific coast are struggling to plot their own programs. Coming to agreement on how the programs should be constructed, funded and implemented seems to be as contentious in other ports as it is in Southern California. read more

After more than seven years in development, the marine oil terminal proposed by Plains All American Pipeline for Pier 400 will go before the Port of Los Angeles harbor commission on Thursday for certification of the project's final Environmental Impact Report. read more

Opinions on how to mitigate pollution and expand capacity at the Union Pacific-operated Intermodal Container Transfer Facility and Dolores rail yard are as heated as ever. Union Pacific wants to reduce emissions through its plan to double capacity while shrinking the footprint. California Air Resources Board officials continue to favor UP's proposed modernization plan as the most effective way to quickly reduce harmful diesel emissions, and most residents and community members remain wary of the increased truck traffic, noise and other impacts from more cargo moving through the facility and want to see UP clean up existing operations first. read more

About a dozen of nearly 100 people attending last week's community meeting on the ICTF-Dolores Rail Yard mitigation plans came with questions and comments. Some took issue with the process and whether the health risk assessments - the prelude to the mitigation plans - effectively measure community impacts. read more

The Port of Long Beach formally launched the start of its cold-ironing era last Tuesday when the "K" Line container vessel Long Beach Bridge became the first ship at the port to be able to shut down its diesel engines while at berth and plug in to electrical power. The shoreside power outlet, located at Berth G232 at the ITS terminal within Pier G, is the culmination of an 18-month, $8 million project to install electrical power for ships docking at the berth. It is the first step to complete electrification of all of Pier G. read more

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz - recently named head of the American Association of Port Authorities - takes on a unique challenge with the new role. Not only is she on point to represent 160 ports in the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, she must also take on the education of the new high-level federal officials that are being appointed in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. How well those newly appointed officials understand global trade and transportation issues will be crucial to health of the entire industry for years to come. read more

Susan Anderson Wise, the attorney finally nominated last week by Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster to fill the vacant fifth seat on the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission, may be new to the port, but she has a long history in the Long Beach community and legal circles. She's been an attorney in Long Beach for 34 years. If confirmed by the City Council, she will become the board's sole female member and fill the chair that's been left vacant since the end of June, when former Commissioner Doris Topsy-Elvord retired. read more

Rumor has it that Maersk Line may soon move operations from the Port of Tacoma to the Port of Seattle due to a vessel-sharing agreement with CMA/CGM, and although no one is willing to confirm the rumor, no one is denying it either... Ash may have been falling out of the sky as huge wildfires raged in Southern California over the weekend, but that didn't stop the Red Bull Drifting World Championship event from burning up the rubber on Pier S at the Port of Long Beach... Just days after Port of Seattle commissioners tentatively voted to lower the tax levy rate that King County property owners pay toward the port, homeowners received the news that their tax bills were going to be higher - not because of a higher rate, but because of increased property values, a problem a much of the rest of the country would love to have. read more

The $70 per 40-footer clean truck container fee due to begin on Monday morning, Nov. 17, at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach will be delayed by at least a couple of weeks and perhaps longer due to regulatory problems involving the Federal Maritime Commission. There have also been some technical glitches with the RFID truck tags and the RFID terminal readers upon which collection of the fees and enforcement of the Clean Truck concessions depend. read more

Susan Wise, an attorney with more than three decades of experience, was nominated by Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster today to fill the fifth seat on the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commissions. If confirmed by the City Council, Wise will fill the chair that has been left vacant since the end of June, when former Commissioner Doris Topsy-Elvord retired.  Wise - an attorney for nearly 34 years - is a partner with the Long Beach-based general business and civil litigation law firm Wise Pearce Yocis & Smith. Her legal experience includes both commercial and civil cases, plus time as a Superior Court mediator. She's known for her knowledge in insurance coverage and wrongful termination issues. Since Topsy-Elvord left, the remaining four members of the Harbor Commission - President Jim Hankla and commissioners Mike Walter, Mario Cordero, and Nick Sramek - have set port policy. It is still unclear what took the Mayor so long to name a replacement for Topsy-Elvord, especially since she announced that she planned to step down three months before her term ended. read more

The Federal Maritime Commission last week asked the U.S. District Court to permanently enjoin the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports from implementing certain elements of their Clean Truck Programs - specifically provisions involving a ban on owner-operators and provisions involving truck purchase incentives, fees and obligations, or exemptions from such fees and obligations, that would be imposed upon some drayage companies, but not all. read more

The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission has given final approval to a controversial element of the port's Clean Truck Program that will provide financial incentives to companies that invest their own money in clean-burning drayage trucks. read more

Pac Anchor Transportation - a Long Beach-based drayage company accused by California Attorney General Jerry Brown of misclassifying employees as independent contractors - filed its answer in Superior Court on Wednesday. The company claims that the Attorney General was motivated by "political gain" in an effort to force Pac Anchor to hire employees instead of contracting with owner-operators. read more

West Coast port officials may be lamenting downturns in their cargo volumes due to the worldwide economic slowdown, but a recent report predicts that by 2020 - or shortly thereafter - all West Coast ports will have exceeded 80 percent of their projected capacities and that "serious peak season congestion will be the norm up and down the coast." read more

Richmond voters this week approved a new business license fee for the cash-strapped city that will force Chevron Corp. to pay an estimated $16 million a year in additional taxes for its oil refinery operations. read more

Despite heavy financial backing from the alternative fuels industry, Proposition 10, the California bond measure that would have created rebate incentives for the purchase of cars and trucks running on natural gas or other alternative fuels, was soundly defeated on election day. read more

More than 70 percent of voters in San Diego, Coronado, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and National City turned down Proposition B, the initiative that would have allowed the San Diego Unified Port District's master plan to be rewritten so that a 40-foot-tall deck could be built over the 96-acre Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. read more

A stealthy meeting in Portland of port pilot board members from California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska has drawn a strong protest from the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which skewered the pilot boards for their lack of transparency... Retail container trade volume through U.S. ports this year is expected to drop to the lowest level since 2004, according to a report announced Friday by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight... California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed last week that infrastructure projects that are funded by state bonds be given a temporary exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act in order to stimulate the state economy. read more

After a week of squabbling between involved parties, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal on Friday granted the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach until Nov. 26 to file their answer to the appellate brief filed by the American Trucking Associations. The ATA - which is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop implementation of what it sees as the more onerous elements of the ports' trucking concession plan - had asked the court early in the week to deny a joint port request for a 21-day extension to answer ATA arguments. read more

It may be 45 days later than planned, but the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach will begin collecting their Clean Truck container fee - $35 for a 20-foot container, $70 on anything bigger - in two weeks. The container fee will be phased in over the coming two weeks. read more

Following through on one of the tenets of its Clean Trucks Program, the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission last week unanimously approved hiring a contractor to perform all preventative maintenance of trucks leased under the program. Maintenance will be provided at no cost to the lessees. read more

Independent oilman and Clean Energy founder T. Boone Pickens may have as much at stake in Tuesday's election as John McCain and Barack Obama. Pickens is the prime force behind Proposition 10 - the $5 billion bond measure that proposes rebates for the purchase of cars and trucks that run on alternative fuels and would also provide sizeable grants for renewable energy projects. read more

Voters in the San Diego Unified Port District cities of Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego will soon decide the fate of the controversial and much-debated Proposition B - the initiative that would allow non-maritime-related commercial development on the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal at the Port of San Diego. read more

A new liquefied natural gas production plant capable of initially producing 160,000 gallons of LNG per day is due to be commissioned and servicing LNG-powered vehicles at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach within the next couple of weeks. The $75 million project, funded entirely by alternative-fuel supplier Clean Energy Fuels Corp., will be California's first large-scale LNG production plant and the only LNG storage facility in the Southwest. It will be able to store 1.5 million gallons of LNG. read more

California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed three more lawsuits last week against Los Angeles-Long Beach area port drayage companies for allegedly misclassifying workers as independent contractors. read more

The Port of Seattle has accepted a $10.5 million settlement of its lawsuit against an asphalt company that sold the port a PCB-contaminated parcel of land along the Lower Duwamish Waterway. Federal Insurance, the indemnity company for the Malarkey Asphalt Company, will pay $10.15 million to the port and $350,000 to the City of Seattle to cover a portion of the cleanup costs on the property. The settlement has been in the works for two years. read more

NYK's plans to build an innovative, state-of-the-art container hangar in Japan may be derailed by the current global economic crisis. Earlier this year, NYK announced plans to construct a 27,559 square-foot hangar at the No. 6 berth at the Oi terminal in Tokyo. read more

Fish and Game has cited some Los Angeles City firefighters for taking lobsters from the west side of San Pedro Bay, bringing back memories of the infamous 2004 Lobstergate incident where police we caught diving for lobsters from the city patrol boat... The folks at the Port of Oakland are pretty happy about their port getting a three-year recertification of its ISO 9001:2000 quality management system... The Surface Transportation Board Friday ordered the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad to sell the 111-mile rail line connecting Coos Bay to Eugene to the Port of Coos Bay. read more

Terminals operators enforcing the clean truck fee for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are expected to do so according to a schedule confirmed this morning by PortCheck, the nonprofit organization of terminal operators that will handle collection of the fee on the ports' behalf. read more

Federal Maritime Commissioner Joseph Brennan - who cast the lone vote against the FMC seeking to remove "anti-competitive" elements of the Clean Truck Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach - said today that he was appalled by the decision. read more

The Federal Maritime Commission announced today that it will go to court to block implementation of some anti-competitive elements of the Clean Truck Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Among the elements the FMC wants to see removed is the Port of Los Angeles requirement for drayage companies to phase out all owner-operators over the next five years. The Port of Long Beach has no such employee-driver requirement. read more

The uncertainty of the municipal bond market has already taken its toll on the Port of Seattle. Port CEO Tay Yoshitani announced today that the port will not finalize the $107 million acquisition of the Eastside Rail Corridor from the BNSF railroad until the first quarter of 2009. The board had initially planned to close the deal by the end of this year, pending approval from the Surface Transportation Board. Municipal bonds will be used to finance the acquisition. read more

The American Trucking Associations today asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal to reject a request by the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach for a 21-day extension of their deadline to answer ATA arguments. The ATA is asking the court to overrule a lower-court judge and issue a prelminary injunction against the concession plans. The court had ordered the ports to file their response by Nov. 5. read more

The Port of Los Angeles is contemplating a short-term incentive program to pay tenants $10 for every new TEU they bring to the port by either adding a new service or luring an existing service from another West Coast port. Needless to say, Port of Long Beach reaction to the proposal was not positive. read more

The American Trucking Association last week petitioned the Federal Maritime Agency for permission to intervene in the FMC's investigation into whether Clean Trucks Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach may violate the Shipping Act. The ATA says its participation is justified because it has a stake in the issue, because its participation will not delay the proceeding, and because it can assist in making sure the final resolution is a sound one. read more

The latest party to jump into the growing battle between the American Trucking Associations and the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach is the federal government, which has filed a brief arguing that the ports' Clean Truck Programs are preempted by federal law. The feds filed their argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the ATA is attempting to overturn a lower-court decision that cleared the way for implementation of trucking concessions at the two ports. read more

There were lots of questions asked at last week's Port of Long Beach meeting to update the industry on the Clean Trucks Program fee that is due to be implemented in the next few weeks - not the least of which is when will the fee collection actually begin. Shippers, trucking company owners, ocean carrier representatives, government officials and others who crammed the meeting or watched it on the web are also trying to find out if the $35-per-TEU fee can be avoided and just how much notice the industry will have before collection begins. read more

Last week's Port of Long Beach meeting with beneficial cargo owners on the Clean Trucks Fee underscored just how much more communication will be needed among members of the supply chain to ensure fair implementation of the fee - and to assuage cargo owners who are worried about being overcharged. To ensure their cargo is delivered and to avoid paying the fee, cargo owners will have to do their homework and verify that they are doing business not only with a trucking company or independent owner-operator that has an approved concession, but also that the operator's trucks are actually exempt from the fee. read more

The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles have been tinkering with the tariff provisions for their Clean Trucks Programs, further synchronizing the centerpiece of the Clean Air Action Plan, which was designed to cut pollution from port-related operations by 45 percent in five years. read more

At the same time that Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioners joined the Port of Long Beach in altering its fee structure to accommodate issues related to the implementation of the Clean Trucks Program, L.A. commissioners also approved language that clarifies that marine terminal operators get to decide the methods by which they will enforce the progressive ban on dirty trucks. Acceptable methods include radio frequency identification tag technology, California Air Resources Board compliance labels, clean truck program stickers and other methods subject to port approval. read more

The Port of Oakland laid off 24 union engineers in August in violation of state law in order to replace them with outside contractors, the Western Council of Engineers alleged in an unfair labor practices charge to the California Public Employees Relations Board. read more

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Victorville Mayor Terry Caldwell were at the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission meeting to reiterate their pitch for an inland port that would raise the capacity of the port to process cargo and ease congestion on the freeway. read more

Clean Energy made its case for alternative-fueled trucks to independent owner-operator drayage drivers on Friday, with a little help from officials from the San Pedro Bay ports, the South Coast AQMD and a few trucking companies. Clean Energy supplies natural gas fuel for vehicles and has been a strong advocate of the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach Clean Trucks Program. read more

The California State Board of Pilot Commissioners released a report Thursday concluding that port pilot John Cota made a series of mistakes while guiding the Cosco Busan container ship out of the Port of Oakland that resulted in the ship sideswiping the Bay Bridge and spilling 53,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the water... L.A. City Treasurer Joya De Foor and her team were at last week's Port of Los Angeles Board meeting to discuss the city's investment practices in response to concerns raised by commissioners about the safety of the port's money... Following through on the settlement that has allowed redevelopment of the TraPac terminal to proceed, the Port of Los Angeles board voted last week to establish a community mitigation trust fund with an initial $11.24 million investment. read more

The American Trucking Associations have filed a petition with the Federal Maritime Commission, asking that it be allowed to become a party in the FMC investigation into whether the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach Clean Trucks Programs violate the Shipping Act. read more

The Bay Area's top air quality official warned the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners Tuesday that time is running out for them to adopt a comprehensive plan to replace or renovate polluting old trucks that haul cargo from the port. read more

The U.S. Federal Government has jumped into the American Trucking Associations' lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach concession plans, siding with the ATA argument that the ports are preempted from regulating port drayage. The government's amicus curiae brief, filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, says that District Court Judge Christina Snyder erred when she denied the ATA's request for a preliminary injunction and found that the ports were probably exempt from the preemption argument because the concessions dealt with safety. read more

The Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission has approved participation in a study on the feasibility of an inland port, after hearing from several elected officials, including the Mayor of Victorville, who says he wants to work with the port to develop such a facility in his city. read more

Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin called for a comprehensive approach to port security and infrastructure at the Mayor's Technology Summit held in Oakland last week. The group focused on upgrading the aging infrastructure at the country's 366 ports and enabling the ports to become engines of economic growth. read more

The ILWU Coast Committee has sent a memorandum to California longshore and clerk workers stating that a class-action lawsuit recently won by dockworkers over the Pacific Maritime Association represents "a direct attack on ILWU dispatch halls" and says the claim that dispatch halls are under employer - and not union - control, is "total bull." read more

Of the estimated 16,800 trucks that regularly call at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the vast majority - about 90 percent - haul containers and are subject to the ports' clean truck programs. But what about the remaining 2,000 or so trucks that haul non-container loads to and from break-bulk, dry-bulk and liquid-bulk cargo facilities? read more

Two drayage truck drivers who opted to lease new rigs through the Port of Long Beach's Clean Trucks Program received the keys to their new vehicles on Friday at a dedication ceremony for the port's new Clean Trucks Sales & Leasing office. The drivers were handed the new keys by Harbor Commission President Jim Hankla and Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster. read more

Port of Seattle officials are deciding their course of action following a Washington state Supreme Court decision that said they must pay health care benefits to retired union workers, even though the port's contract with that union ended five years ago. read more

CleanAir Logix brought its truck-mounted Dual Frequency-Multi Voltage generator to the TraPac Terminal in the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday to demonstrate how the company's technology can cold iron ships without hooking up to the grid or doing expensive retrofits to vessels. The system - developed by Wittmar Engineering before that company became part of CleanAir Logix - generates the electricity required to power the ship's onboard needs right at the dock. By using natural gas as the fuel and running the exhaust through a mobile scrubber system, the pollution emitted is minimal. read more

On a 2-0 vote with one abstention, the California State Lands Commission last week passed a resolution opposing Proposition B, the Nov. 4 ballot measure that would amend the Port of San Diego's master plan to allow non-maritime related commercial development at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. read more

In less than a year, Honda automobiles and light trucks, including low-emission hybrid vehicles, will begin rolling off Japanese ships at the Port of Richmond bound for U.S. markets. Richmond's Design Review Board has certified the Final Environmental Impact Report for Auto Warehousing Co.'s $30 million Honda Port of Entry Project at the Point Potrero Marine Terminal at the Port of Richmond. The project is expected to add 75 more ship calls a year at the Port of Richmond. read more

The Aquarium of the Pacific is moving forward with plans to build a $4.4 million interactive outdoor exhibit called Seaports of San Pedro Bay that would spotlight the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. read more

September stats coming out for West Coast container ports are making for a dismal peak season with volumes for September 2008 compared to September 2007 down 6.7 percent at the Port of  Los Angeles, down 15.2 percent at the Port of Long Beach, down 6.3 percent at the Port of  Oakland, down 7.9 percent at the Port of Tacoma, and down 22.5 percent at the Port of  Seattle... The outlook for infrastructure development in the next few years is not good, as the credit crunch and economic slowdown make funding harder than ever, according to Mark Killion of Global Insight. read more

Now that the truck concession programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have completed their first week with no major glitches, the focus by labor and environmental activists is heading north. read more

The American Trucking Associations filed its opening brief Wednesday in an attempt to convince the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal to grant a preliminary injunction against truck concession agreements at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. The ATA is asking the appellate court to overturn a Sept. 9 lower court's denial of the ATA-requested preliminary injunction. The appellate court has already turned down an ATA request for an expedited ruling on the preliminary injunction. read more

After a successful Oct. 1 soft launch of the Clean Trucks Program, the next big date facing truckers calling at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is Nov. 1, when the ports expect to go live with radio frequency identification readers, and all trucks calling at the South Bay ports will be required to have RFID tags. And while officials at both ports are not calling Nov. 1 an official deadline, they say they will be firm about enforcing the requirement. read more

Requests for day passes - the temporary access permits that cost $100 per visit for trucks that visit the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach less than 12 times a year - have been relatively limited since the Oct. 1 launch of the Clean Trucks Program. read more

One piece of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program that will not be enforced as of Nov. 1, when the port expects terminal operators to have their RFID truck tag readers in operation, is the off-street parking plan requirement. read more

The Pacific Maritime Association could possibly lose ownership of its casual longshore dispatch hall in Wilmington later this year due to a judgment it lost several months ago in small claims court. read more

Approximately 10 percent of the $1 billion cost of the Port of Tacoma's Blair-Hylebos terminal redevelopment program will be spent on environmental projects. Those projects, which total more than $109 million, are necessary for the port to complete the development of two marine terminals and more than 550 acres of land between the Blair and Hylebos waterways. read more

The Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma held a joint meeting last week to explore ways to cooperatively market themselves and to lobby for state and federal transportation funds. read more

It will be another six months before the port pilot and the vessel operator facing criminal charges stemming from the Nov. 7, 2007 crash of the Cosco Busan see the inside of a courtroom. The bunker fuel spill that resulted from the allision of the Cosco Busan with the Bay Bridge causing the death of some 2,000 birds has been described as the worst in San Francisco Bay in nearly two decades. read more

California Air Resources Board enforcers and their local air-quality allies are on the prowl, cracking down on folks who let their diesel engines idle for more than five minutes... The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach Clean Trucks Programs will be among the subjects under discussion during a closed-door meeting of the Federal Maritime Commission on Oct. 15... Officials from the Evergreen Group companies Evergreen Line and EVA Air were up early Sunday morning in their role as corporate sponsors of the 2008 Long Beach International City Bank Marathon. read more

It may have been a soft launch, but the Wednesday debut of the Clean Trucks Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach went off smoothly, more for what didn't happen than what did. There were no long lines of trucks, snarled traffic, or shortages of trucks or drivers. read more

The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission on Thursday approved a contract with PortCheck for collection of a $35-per-TEU clean truck fee despite a plea by former International Longshore and Warehouse International President Jim Spinosa to delay action until union concerns about the program could be resolved. Spinosa, now president of Local 63 Marine Clerks Association, said he feared the RFID truck tags that will be used to record the containers, trucks, drivers, and cargo passing through the terminal gates for the Clean Trucks Programs, also could be used by terminal operators to eliminate ILWU clerk jobs. read more

The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission has awarded Manson Construction Co. of San Pedro the first major construction contract to redevelop a terminal under the Clean Air Action Plan. The two-year contract to upgrade 3,700 feet of wharf and deepen the berthing areas of the TraPac terminal is capped at $102,798,040, which includes a 5 percent contingency. The job includes readying the wharves for cold ironing and is expected to create the equivalent of 1,272 one-year full-time jobs. read more

The union representing professional employees at the Port of Oakland is claiming the port engaged in unfair labor practices and bad faith bargaining when it laid off 15 of its members. The charge was filed Sept. 16 with the California Public Employees Relations Board. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21, which represents 180 professional and middle-management employees at the port, claims that the laid-off workers are paying the price for management's financial mistakes. read more

The Western Council of Engineers will ask the Public Employees Relations Board to order the Port of Oakland to produce records proving that recent lay-offs of engineers were not a ruse for outsourcing jobs and hiring independent contractors to replace the union engineers who are civil service employees. The Oakland City Charter makes it illegal for the port to contract out any work that results in layoffs of full-time employees. read more

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two bills last week that would provide more oversight and transparency into administration of port pilots in the Bay Area. Senate Bill 1627, carried by State Sen. Patricia Wiggins, will move the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun under the oversight of the Business Transportation and Housing Agency. It also requires the Bureau of State Audits to do a performance audit of the Board by Oct. 1, 2009 and a financial audit by Jan 1, 2010. read more

A hearing to set a trial date for the criminal case pending against the port pilot and the operator of the Cosco Busan will be held today (10/6) in San Francisco federal court. read more

The Union Pacific Railroad will soon expand it intermodal lifts at the Port of Tacoma thanks to a 10-year lease and operating agreement approved last week by Tacoma's port commissioners. Beginning December 1, the UP will lease 10 acres across the street from Tacoma's South Intermodal Yard. read more

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union rank-and-file have voted about 75 percent in favor of the tentative contract agreement first announced by union and Pacific Maritime Association negotiators on July 28... The Port of Long Beach annual day-long block party drew 10,000 folks to the waterfront on Saturday to ride on a train, take a harbor cruise, pet starfish and sharks, pose with giant cargo-moving machinery, see educational displays, gawk at undersea life, collect promotional goodies, eat free food, drink free beverages, and listen to free music... Talk about non-controversial - not one person showed up at the Port of Long Beach on Wednesday evening for a public hearing on the draft Environmental Impact Report for a proposed port administration building and maintenance facility complex. read more

Final results show 75 percent of the West Coast dockworkers in California, Oregon and Washington - represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union - voting to approve a new six-year waterfront labor contract. The official results, released this afternoon, means the working relationship between the union and the Pacific Maritime Association through 2014 has been decided. read more

The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach launched their Clean Trucks Programs today with few problems. It was a day marked by speeches, press conferences, show-and-tell events, and trucks moving cargo. The mood at the ports was a mixture of pride that they had managed to pull the program off as promised and relief that it seemed to be going well. Compliance by trucks and drivers was running in the mid-90 percent range. read more

California State Sen. Alan Lowenthal reacted with disappointment today to the veto of his bill to charge fees on all containers coming through the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles, and the Port of Oakland. In a release issued by his office, he called it a "sad day for California." read more

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has once again vetoed a bill, which would have placed a $30-per-TEU state fee on every loaded container coming through the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Although Port of Oakland containers would also be charged a fee, Senate Bill 974 would allow the Oakland Port Board to set the amount. Pending plans in Oakland called for imposing a $12.50 per TEU fee. read more

With only two days to go before the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach pop their ambitious Clean Trucks Programs into high gear, officials from both ports are promising to keep cargo flowing smoothly, even if they have to cut drivers and companies some initial slack. read more

On Thursday the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach each met with their concessionaires - most of whom were not too happy about their shotgun marriages to the two port authorities. In Los Angeles, that resulted in a noisy and vocal display of displeasure in the morning as trucking executives let port folks know just how they felt about the situation. Long Beach held a similar meeting that afternoon, and though few seemed thrilled about the prospect of being concessionaires, the meeting was civil and subdued. read more

The Federal Maritime Commission on Wednesday gave the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports notice that the FMC was concerned that parts of the ports' Clean Trucks Program may violate the Shipping Act of 1984. read more

With the Oct. 1 deadline only 48 hours away, rumors are swirling as to how the Port of Los Angeles may be helping trucking companies - particularly big companies new to the drayage business - comply with the requirement to find offsite parking. Last week, port officials confirmed that staff and some concessionaires are discussing possible options, including using available port property to help companies meet the parking requirements in the short run. read more

Los Angeles City Auditor Laura Chick has returned to the scene of her biting 2003 audit into contracting practices at the Port of Los Angeles in a new report that acknowledges progress made in the past five years, but says that serious problems remain. In a letter last week to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Chick said the audit discloses that the port does not have an effective centralized oversight function, and there is a lack of clear guidelines in the use of change orders and contract amendments. read more

With some 850 bills piled atop his desk as of Friday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger worked through the weekend trying to shorten the stack. He has until midnight Tuesday (9/30) to decide whether to sign them, veto them or let them quietly become law without his autograph. read more

California Sen. Alan Lowenthal, flanked by several local and regional politicians, held a press conference on Friday to urge the governor to sign SB974, Lowental's latest attempt to establish a container fee at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland. The fee - $30 per TEU at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach and up to $30 per TEU at the Port of Oakland - would be implemented July 1, 2009 and is expected to raise about $350 million annually. read more

The Pacific Maritime Association will pay a total of $15.6 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which a group of longshore workers claimed that for years they weren't paid for their travel time between the dispatch hall and the location of their daily work assignments. read more

The chaos and uncertainty on Wall Street is having an impact on seaports that depend upon long-term bond financing for capital expansion. Port of Seattle officials hope to issue up to $165 million in general obligation bonds to pay for a number of projects including dock improvements and utility upgrades at marine terminals and acquisition of a 42-mile Eastside rail corridor from BNSF. read more

Even though bonds have yet to be issued to pay for the Port of Seattle's acquisition of the Eastside rail corridor, port officials are moving forward with negotiations for freight service operation on the northern portion of the corridor. Port officials announced last week that they will begin negotiations with GNP/Ballard Short Line, a partnership of the Ballard Terminal Railroad and GNP Railway. The partnership will pay the port for use of a portion of the land that the port is purchasing from BNSF. read more

The volatility of the bond market has taken its toll on the Port of Tacoma. Three years ago, the port entered into a $30 million payment agreement with Lehman Brothers that allowed the port to swap a variable interest rate loan with a "synthetic" fixed interest rate. read more

L.A. Harbor Commission President S. David Freeman has asked attorneys for the port to take a closer look at what claim, if any, the Port of Los Angeles has on Long Beach oil operations within its jurisdiction. read more

The folks at Communities for a Better Environment in Oakland have released a report claiming that the Hegenberger Road Corridor in East Oakland has a higher level of air pollution than reported because of gaps in emissions inventories by the California Air Resources Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District... Inspectors have found that the shut-down rail line that the Port of Coos Bay wants to reopen has not deteriorated in the year its been closed, but the cost of the line is likely to go up due to a rise in the price of steel... The folks at Tideworks Technology say the second stage of the gate automation project - implementation of the company's GateVision Optical Character Recognition system - at Port of Portland Terminal 6 is complete. read more

Some 600 to 700 people showed up this morning at what was termed a mandatory meeting for licensed motor carriers seeking concessions to operate in the Port of Los Angeles as of the Oct. 1 launch date of the port's Clean Trucks Program. So many people packed the banquet room at the Cabrillo Marina Doubletree Hotel that midway through the two-hour meeting port officials announced those without seats would have to leave because they had exceeded the room's legal capacity and the meeting might have to be shut down for a fire code violation. read more

The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles both say they plan to launch their Clean Trucks Program as scheduled on Oct. 1, but the $35-per-TEU clean truck container fee will have to wait several weeks. Although the ports pushed until the last few days to begin collecting the fee from beneficial cargo owners on the start date, the system to enable that collection will take time to put together. read more

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected the American Trucking Associations' request to overturn a lower-court judge and issue a preliminary injunction against the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach clean trucks programs. In an unrelated development, the Federal Maritime Commission announced it planned to investigate the two ports' programs to see if they violate the Shipping Act of 1984. read more

As the number of days left before implementation of the Clean Trucks Program in the San Pedro Bay dips to a single digit, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are still faced with a long list of challenges. And as the two ports work to answer those challenges - one big question remains. Will the ports actually be able to implement the Clean Trucks Program on Oct. 1? The ports both say they will. read more

The legal battle over the Clean Trucks Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach continues to rage. Although U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder turned down the American Trucking Associations' request for a preliminary injunction against the ports' truck concession plans, that decision has been appealed. read more

The latest group to jump into the Clean Truck fray - Minority Truckers for a Clean & Fair Policy - has gone to the Port of Los Angeles harbor commission with claims of discrimination. William McConnell of Compass Transportation, Inc., a small Licensed Motor Carrier, speaking on behalf of the group, told L.A. commissioners that its policies are discriminating against small LMCs, most of which are minority-owned, by offering large LMCs preferential terms to get concessions under its Clean Truck Program. McConnell and other small LMC owners hope to avoid legal action, but they are girding for battle in case the port's actions lead to the demise of their businesses, he said. read more

Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles commissioners voted Thursday to approve three-year Clean Trucks Program loan and lease-to-own agreements with Daimler Truck Financial that will help trucking folks buy 2007-compliant diesel or alternative fuel vehicles. read more

The Port of Long Beach is buying 600 automatic vehicle locator devices under a cost-sharing agreement with the Port of Los Angeles. The automatic vehicle locators will be placed on new drayage trucks funded by the ports as part of their Clean Trucks Programs. The devices will monitor where trucks go - to ensure that they are being used in port service - plus have radio-activated starter-disabling functions that can be used if a truck is stolen or needs to be repossessed. read more

Port of Seattle commissioners have approved a $2 million expenditure for maintenance dredging at the port's largest container terminal. The dredging is required to remove up to 6,900 cubic yards of sediment from the channel serving Terminal 18. Silting over the past two years has resulted in portions of the channel bottom being four feet higher than the 50-foot depths needed to accommodate super post-Panamax ships. read more

Implementation of a vessel-speed reduction program for incoming and outgoing ocean vessels around California's five major ports - Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, San Diego and Hueneme - would result in an immediate reduction of toxic air emissions of between 28 and 36 percent a day, CARB officials said at a September workshop to discuss the plan. read more

The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach will split the cost of one compressed natural gas truck in order to test the alternative-fuel vehicle in port drayage service through the ports' joint Technology Advancement Program. Together, the ports will spend $223,155 to buy the CNG-fueled, heavy-duty truck equipped with an 8.9 liter Cummins ISL-G engine that meets U.S. 2010 EPA emissions standards. read more

The Port of Los Angeles is expected to release its draft environmental impact report this week for the proposed redevelopment of the San Pedro Waterfront. The document, which could be made public as early as today, will describe the project and analyze its environmental impacts, look at six alternatives, and recommend proposed mitigation measures for redeveloping the waterfront from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the breakwater. Port officials estimate the cost of the ambitious makeover - already more than eight years in the making - at about $1 billion. read more

The Westway Terminal Co. at the Port of Los Angeles' Berths 69-71 was gone as of last Monday following a deal struck last year in which the port spent $17 million to buy out the remaining 18 years of Westway's liquid-bulk terminal lease... The Federal Energy Commission has approved a certificate order for construction and operation of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas receiving terminal to be built along the Columbia River near Astoria... The Port of Long Beach expects to commission a tanker cold-ironing plug in at Pier T Berth 121 by next March. read more

The Long Beach Harbor Commission today authorized approval of a contract with terminal operators to use RFID tags and other technology to control truck access at terminal gates and collect the $35 per TEU clean truck fee, but included a condition that the information be used only for the purposes intended. read more

An already crowded field is getting even more crowded as new parties join old parties in the American Trucking Associations' attempt to get an appellate court to issue a preliminary injunction against truck concession plans at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. A federal judge turned down the ATA's request earlier this month. The ATA wants the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal to override that decision. read more

Terminal operators at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are warning the two ports that pushing ahead too fast on collection of a clean truck fees and a ban on old trucks could backfire and undermine the entire program. It is the second letter sent this month from terminal operators to the ports warning that the Oct. 1 launch date for the ports' Clean Trucks Programs is premature. The first letter was from the terminal operators discussion agreement. This one is from the individual terminal operating companies. read more

The American Trucking Associations filed an emergency motion Friday evening with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, asking the court to rule by no later than Sept. 30 on the ATA's request for a preliminary injunction against truck concession plans at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles. read more

The cold war simmering between the trucking community and the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach turned hot last week with the ports holding off a challenge from the American Trucking Associations, the trucking marketplace starting to shift to bigger companies, and local trucking companies beginning to feel the pain. The two ports' Clean Trucks Programs are expected to drive several hundred smaller trucking companies out of business. read more

Whether or not the American Trucking Associations is successful at its last-minute attempt to secure a preliminary injunction, the legal battle over implementation of truck concession plans at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach may continue for months and even years to come. read more

The Clean Trucks Program ready to be launched at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Oct. 1 requires truckers to have Transportation Worker Identification cards to gain access to the terminals, even though the cards won't be required by the Department of Homeland Security until April 15, 2009. read more

The slow pace of TWIC enrollment nationwide is among the latest causes of delays that have dogged the post Sept. 11 security initiative since its inception. Among port workers required to have a Transportation Worker Identification Credentials are longshore workers, drayage drivers, merchant mariners and anyone else who has regular business in and around secure areas of the ports. But while the program is intended to ensure that people with access actually have business at the ports, the application process accommodates those who choose not to say exactly what their business is at the ports. read more

While Southern California ports battle lawsuits in an effort to implement their Clean Trucks Program, officials in Seattle are taking note. The staff there plans to present their proposed clean truck program to the port commission on October 14. The goal of the Seattle program is to eliminate pre-1994-model trucks by 2010 and 80 percent of the pre-2007 models by 2015. By 2017, they want to take all pre-2007 trucks off the road. read more

Although container volumes may be down this year and expected to be flat next year, Port of Seattle officials say that volumes will come back - and they want to be prepared to handle them. In a recent work session with harbor commissioners, port staff reported that they are well on their way toward making improvements necessary to handle 3 million to 4 million TEUs annually. read more

A strongly worded letter sent last week to the Port of Los Angeles by Pacific Merchant Shipping Association attorney Conte Cicala, asks the port to reconsider a Memorandum of Understanding that would establish a fund to mitigate port impacts. The port signed the MOU in April after environmental groups challenged port approval of the Environmental Impact Report for expansion of the TraPac terminal, and Councilwoman Janice Hahn agreed to block final approval until a side deal could be worked out. read more

Union Pacific President and CEO James Young has written a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger saying thanks, but no thanks, to $43 million in state bond matching funds for track and tunnel improvements on the Donner Summit. Young said the railroad's problem with the project - which would add a second track and enlarge tunnels to allow for double-stacked container traffic out of the Port of Oakland - was the state's insistence on linking it to expanded passenger service. read more

The California Coastal Commission sent a letter to the Port of San Diego last week, expressing concerns over a ballot initiative that would open the door to double-decking the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal with a hotel, restaurants and sports arena on top and cargo and ships below. read more

The Seattle office of the National Labor Relations Board has released final figures on the payout by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to its nonmember "B" workers as part of a 2007 settlement of allegations that the union had overcharged the "B" workers for dues. Although the union informed workers that they could choose to reject their payback as a show of support for the union, most of them went for the money. read more

The California Air Resources Board, which was originally scheduled to consider a proposed regulation on greenhouse gas emissions from drayage trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles in October, has pushed the hearing back to near the end of the year. CARB is now expected to take up the matter during its last meeting in 2008, currently scheduled for Dec. 11-12 in Sacramento. read more

Southern California is still reeling after the head-on crash Friday afternoon between a Union Pacific freight train and a Metrolink commuter train loaded with passengers that killed 25 people and injured about 135 others... Federal Judge Susan Illston will conduct a hearing in San Francisco next week on whether to allow Fleet Management Ltd. to plead no contest to charges of polluting the bay and falsifying documents in connection with the Nov. 7, 2007 fuel spill from the Cosco Busan container ship... Folks at Pacific Harbor Line - which supplies rail services for the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports - announced last week that they had completed renewal of their 22-engine locomotive fleet to become the first all low-emission railroad in the nation. read more

The Federal Maritime Commission has asked the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach to submit more information on their plans to grant truck concessions and implement their separate Clean Truck Programs. The two ports say they are moving full speed ahead on their Oct. 1 launch date for the programs - including collection of the $35 per TEU clean truck fee - despite warnings from Marine Terminal Operators that trying to collect the fee before a system is in place may lead to long truck lines at terminal gates, a decline in productivity, and widespread dissatisfaction among "truckers, ocean carriers, and the shipping public." read more

The American Trucking Associations, whose request for a preliminary injunction against trucking concessions was denied, has filed an appeals docketing statement. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder filed her final decision to reject the ATA's request on Tuesday, leaving the door open for the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach to bar all trucking companies without a concession from port container terminals on Oct. 1. The ATA filed its appeal notification on Wednesday afternoon. read more

The California State Fourth District Court of Appeals has denied an appeal by the Port of San Diego to block a ballot measure that could open the way for the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal to be double-decked with the top layer for commercial development. read more

Judge Christina Snyder has issued her final decision rejecting a request by the American Trucking Associations for a preliminary injunction against truck concessions plans due to go into effect at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach on Oct. 1 read more

West Coast Marine Terminal Operators are urging the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach to postpone for three months the collection of a $35 per TEU dirty truck fee, due to begin Oct. 1. The terminal operators are the one who would administer collection of such a fee through their PierPass non-profit arm. read more

U.S. District Court Judge Christine Snyder issued a tentative decision Monday morning, that would reject arguments by the American Trucking Associations and turn down the ATA's request for a preliminary injunction against the trucking concession plans due to kick in Oct. 1 at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Her tentative decision was issued shortly before a noon hearing on the matter at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. read more

Both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach say they will have enough trucks available to keep cargo moving on Oct. 1 - when the Clean Trucks Programs at both ports are due to go into effect - despite the fact that almost all pre-1989 trucks will be banned on that date and concessions will be required for any company serving port terminals. read more

A number of drayage companies that currently service the port are irate over the incentive plan that the Port of Los Angeles has instituted to get big trucking companies to bring their clean trucks to the port drayage business. They say the $20,000 per truck payment plus up to $10,000 in drayage incentives being provided to big carriers - such as Swift Transportation, Knight Transportation, and National Retail Systems - make it impossible for smaller drayage companies that have serviced the ports for years to compete. read more

As the deadline for launching the Clean Trucks Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach draws near - now 22 days away - it has become clear that not everything is going to fall neatly into place when the curtain goes up. read more

When attorneys, the press, and other interested parties gather in Courtroom 5 at the U.S. District Courthouse in Los Angeles at noon today (Monday), they will be waiting to see what one woman thinks. Most folks have known since the beginning of the dispute over bringing clean trucks to the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach that much of the debate will be decided at some point by one person in a black robe. read more

With Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach Clean Trucks Program due to start in three weeks, licensed motor carriers are already being forced to make costly decisions - such as purchasing older trucks to turn in for scrap and leasing off-street parking space to comply with L.A.'s requirement - as a condition of staying in the region's port drayage business. read more

Two of five trucking companies that filed declarations in the hearing over whether to grant an injunction to stop the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach from implementing their Clean Trucks Plan are expressing support for the program, its concession requirement and the Port of L.A.'s employee mandate. In five-page declarations, Michael Fox, CEO of Fox Transportation, Inc., and Ramses Villavicencio, president of American Container Express, Inc., say they support the clean air initiative and that they are preparing applications for concessions to do business at both ports. read more

At last week's meeting on the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, the debate was in full swing over whether Union Pacific should clean up the rail yard before it expands operations or whether expansion is the path to a cleaner yard. read more

The downturn in the national economy is taking its toll on Pacific Northwest ports. Total container counts at the Port of Seattle were down 8 percent through July. Some 1,025,579 TEUs moved through the port so far this year, as opposed to 1,114,991 TEUs recorded at this time last year. The most significant declines were reported in containerized imports, which fell 13 percent from 2007. Containerized exports grew by 1.6 percent. read more

When looking for ways to offset cargo losses due to the current economic slowdown, Pacific Northwest port officials tend to look south. In a briefing session last week, Port of Tacoma officials indicated that the lack of environmentally driven fees in the Pacific Northwest could be considered a competitive advantage over Southern California. read more

With the California legislature gridlocked over the state's 2008-09 budget and more than two months behind schedule for its passage, the attempt to establish a container fee for cargo coming through the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland ports appears to be doomed once more. read more

Count Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as among those who will not be urging California Gov.