Representatives from the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and Harbor Trucking Association aired their grievances with the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach at the 2017 IANA Intermodal Conference on Sept. 18.
The Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), a wide-ranging joint initiative by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles has been successful in drastically reducing air pollutants over the past decades, but some critics say that the program had deep flaws that they hope will be corrected in the next version of CAAP, which the ports are currently formulating.
During a panel on the CAAP update at the 2017 IANA Intermodal Conference on Sept. 18, representatives from the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), a not-for-profit that focuses on issues affecting international trade, and the Harbor Trucking Association (HTA), a coalition of Los Angeles and Long Beach intermodal carriers, aired their various grievances with the plan and the proposed update.
Particulates are down about 87 percent at the port complex, and there’s been a 96 percent reduction in emissions from cargo handling equipment, according to data, but PMSA Vice President Thomas Jelenic said his organization is concerned that the dramatic reduction in air pollutants has seemingly come at the expense of competitiveness.
Other ports in North America have grown their volumes by double digits since 2006, when the CAAP was adopted, but LA and Long Beach were down 1 percent during the same time period, he said.
“We’ve accomplished the green part. We’ve done the green part extraordinarily well. We have not accomplished the growing part, and one of our most consistent comments moving forward on the CAAP is that competitiveness needs to be part of this discussion,” Jelenic, who was the Port of Long Beach’s assistant director of environmental planning from 2008 to 2013, said.
“The only way that we are going to achieve the emission reductions moving forward is if we grow this industry and have the money to fund these new investments [in zero and near-zero emissions equipment],” he remarked. “We have a serious concern about how an expenditure of $14 billion over the next decade will impact the competitiveness of this port.”
Jelenic also expressed concern about how the CAAP plan is focused almost entirely on a specific technology, electrification, calling it the most expensive tech option, and said that the ports’ regulations will put “an incredible economic burden” on the industry as the LA-Long Beach complex faces “tremendous economic pressures” from other North American ports.
The expansion of the Panama Canal, he said, puts LA-Long Beach “on equal footing” with every other port in the country when it comes to the ability to receive larger container vessels.
“One of the worst things that could happen if we divert cargo is that we are actually creating greenhouse gas emissions,” since some other ports don’t have strong pollution reduction programs, Jelenic said. “We are undermining the very goals we claim to be pursuing, because this is the greenest gateway.”
Also during the panel discussion, Harbor Trucking Association President Weston LaBar said that heavy reliance on electrification could be an issue because Southern California’s energy grid is already strained.
But the HTA’s main concern, he said, is that the previous CAAP and the proposed new version both mandated upgrades to cleaner drayage trucks, and the technology hasn’t proven to be reliable as of yet. Natural gas engines didn’t work the first time either, said LaBar.
“They had to figure out how to operate with technology that didn’t work,” he said of drivers, adding that the experience made them wary of adopting new vehicle technology, even if it works properly.
“If you bought a Ford and it didn’t work for the three years you had it, would you go buy another Ford? Probably not,” he added. “So now, even though it’s a viable technology and it works, a lot of folks don’t want to go down that rabbit hole because they’ve already been jaded by the process.”
LA and Long Beach released the draft version of their proposed 2017 Clean Air Action Plan update in July. Strategies outlined in the draft plan include:
• Phasing in clean engine standards for new trucks entering the port drayage registries starting next year, followed by a truck rate structure that encourages the use of near-zero- and zero-emissions trucks, with the goal of transitioning to a zero-emissions drayage fleet by 2035;
• Expanding use of on-dock rail, with the long-term goal of moving 50 percent of all inbound cargo leaving the ports by rail;
• Developing a universal truck appointment system for the entire complex with the goal of minimizing truck turn times;
• And developing infrastructure plans that support terminal equipment electrification, alternative fuels and other energy resource goals.
Correction: A previous version of this story quote PMSA Vice President Thomas Jelenic as saying the CAAP program would constitute an expenditure of $14 million over the next 10 years. The correct figure is $14 billion.