Ports of LA, Long Beach set to collect clean truck fees starting April 1

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, in separate actions, agreed to begin collecting the Clean Truck Fund Rate fee on April 1, 2022.

Los Angeles approved its motion on Thursday, Nov. 4 while the Port of Long Beach passed a motion on Monday, Nov. 8, to set the fee collections in motion.

The ambitious goal of transitioning to all zero-emissions trucks by 2035 grew out of the Clean Air Action Plan passed by both ports in 2005. The program will collect a $10 fee per loaded Twenty-Foot Equivalent container units — TEUs — leaving the ports on drayage trucks to help fund the changeover. Average fees per full normal container loads will be about $20 with the cost to be paid by cargo owners.

The collections are expected to bring in about $45 million per port, or $90 million combined, in the first year, but overall that cannot be expected to fully fund what will be an estimated $10 billion transition.

And complications have included an ongoing disagreement among environmentalists over the $10 fee, with many saying it should have been much higher.

The twin ports also had nuanced differences in whether low-emission trucks should be viewed as an immediate, interim alternative until zero-emissions trucks become more commercially available.

While the Port of Long Beach has focused its quest for a full zero-emissions truck fleet, said port Executive Director Mario Cordero, until more zero-emissions trucks become available on the market it makes sense to accept near-zero vehicles that are more available right now for the interim.

“The choice today is not between low-NOx, LNG trucks and zero-emissions, electric trucks,” Cordero said. “The choice is between low-NOx and (newer but still higher polluting) diesel engines. We’re being forthright and candid about what that choice is and we’ve chosen the (interim) low-box option in the interest of reducing emissions today.”

While fees collected in Long Beach will help fund some low-emissions trucks in the interval, the Port of Los Angeles has designated all of its fees to go to funding zero-emissions trucks only.

At the Port of Los Angeles, exemptions to the fee will be provided for low-NOx trucks that are registered in the Port Drayage Truck Registry and in service by the end of 2022.

For the Port of Long Beach, exemptions will be provided for low-NOx trucks purchased before Nov. 8, 2021 (and through Dec. 31, 2034).

Grants and other funding will be needed to make the switch to a full zero-emissions fleet, said Port of Los Angeles Director of Environmental Management Christopher Cannon at the Nov. 3 meeting.

The program includes a requirement for all participating trucks to be registered in the port drayage pool, which now has about 20,000 trucks picking up and dropping off cargo.

Only 30 trucks in the drayage fleet currently are zero-emission models, Cordero said, adding that the commercial availability of such trucks isn’t expected on a wider scale in the short-term.

“The good news is that zero-emissions is coming,” Cordero said, “but not today.”

Concerns also remain about whether the fees might end up being passed on to truck drivers in violation of the program rules.

“That’s something we will have to monitor,” said Heather Tomley, managing director of Planning and Environmental Affairs for the Port of Long Beach during Monday’s meeting. “Cargo owners are the ones that are held responsible.”

Commissioners and staff for both ports, however, have openly acknowledged that making sure those fees are not passed on to drivers will be difficult to enforce.