Truckers say port registries violate federal law
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the New Jersey Motor Truck Association and a group of about 1,000 draymen in the Port of New York & New Jersey, known as 'Port Drivers Federation 18,' have filed a petition asking the U.S. Department of Transportation for a determination that mandatory drayage truck registries conducted by various ports and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) are pre-empted by federal law.
The drayage groups argued progressive bans on trucks equipped with older engines result in a regulatory regime that impacts the 'price, route, or service' offered by motor carriers in violation of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAA).
They added drayage trucks are already subject to the same emissions limitations and enforcement procedures as other heavy-duty trucks and that they result in 'minimal” improvement in air quality.
“Trucks banned from one port can and will continue to serve other ports as well as the geographic areas immediately surrounding the ports. Further, trucks currently serving the ports compose only a small portion of the heavy-duty diesel trucks operating in the port vicinity,” the groups said, citing a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey report that stated “port trucks make up less than 4 percent of all trucks and less than 1 percent of all vehicles on the regional roadways.'
'Since all of the state/port registries are imposed for environmental purposes and capture in their data-bases virtually every truck that 'may' enter a port or rail yard facility during the course of a year, the burden on interstate commerce is significant,” the drayage groups said.
The petition said emissions-related drayage truck registries originated in California in 2007 when CARB imposed strict pollution limits on trucks entering intermodal freight facilities including ports and rail yards. That was followed by the creation of drayage truck registries by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach which require truckers serving these ports to register and then affix a radio frequency identification device or individually numbered compliance labels to their trucks
Other ports have begun emulating the California truck registration systems, with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey incorporating a drayage truck registry plan that will phase out older trucks and the Port of Seattle setting up a similar registry, the petitioners said.
“Carriers can avoid these service and route limitations by retrofitting older trucks or purchasing newer trucks,” the petition said. “But retrofits and new trucks cost money that in the current economic climate with low (or no) profit margins is difficult to generate.
“While it cannot be determined exactly how many trucks will be affected over time by the truck bans, it is clear that the number will be significant. According to the statistics recently gathered by the Port of Seattle, approximately 25 percent of the truck fleet serving that port predates 1994. Statistics compiled by the PANYNJ show approximately 15 percent of the trucks serving those ports predate 1994,” the petition said.
In their petition to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the drayage groups asked the DOT to “issue a determination that prohibits any state or port from mandating that motor carriers engaged in interstate commerce must comply with requirements to participate in any drayage truck registry” and also prohibit ports requiring placement of stickers or other forms of identification evidencing registration, or from giving preferential treatment to those who voluntarily use these forms of identification.
The petition comes on the heels of a report earlier this month by the National Employment Law Project, Change to Win, and Rutgers University arguing the typical port truck driver is misclassified as an independent contractor and that this is linked to high pollution around ports. That report can be found here. ' Chris Dupin