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January 3, 2004
CALIFORNIA
Higher Daytime Port Fees May Be Sought
The aim is to make shipping at off-peak times more attractive to
relieve road congestion.
Goby Deborah Schoch, Times Staff Writer
A special panel of port officials and businesses may recommend in
mid-January that shippers pay higher fees to move cargo out of the
ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach during the day in hopes of making
off-peak transport more attractive.
The idea is being floated amid public outcry over growing truck
traffic on area freeways. Most port terminal gates are open between 8
a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, meaning that port cargo is moved inland
during peak commuting hours. Only 17% of that cargo moves at night
and on weekends.
Propelled by concerns over congestion, truck-car collisions and air
pollution, the panel began meeting last fall to explore how to
promote cargo transport at night, when some key area freeways are
largely deserted.
"This is something we can do right now that will ease traffic - on
the 10, on the 15, on the 60. On all the arteries coming into the
port area, congestion will be significantly reduced," said
Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who represents the harbor area and who
spearheaded the new panel's creation.
Some key international shippers support keeping port gates open on
nights and weekends. Officials at Wal-Mart, one of the world's
largest shippers, said the company is willing to alter its schedules
to ease congestion.
"We are committed to doing whatever we can to move some freight
traffic to off-peak hours," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said
Friday at the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. Officials of
the Waterfront Coalition, a group of major retailers and other
shippers, say that its members have agreed to move a considerable
amount of freight at off-peak hours.
The groundswell of interest in longer gate hours is a marked change
from a year ago, when officials at both ports expressed doubt that
shippers, ocean carriers and other companies would embrace such
changes.
"People are recognizing that the industry has to come up with a
plan," said Harbor Commissioner James Acevedo, who co-chairs the
special panel studying how to promote off-peak shipping.
Public pressure has mounted in recent months with a high-profile
series of fatal truck-car collisions as well as community opposition
to expanding the Long Beach Freeway, the busiest freeway serving the
two ports. That prompted some elected officials to speak out, and
state Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) plans to hold a Jan.
23 public hearing on the issue.
Most truck-related collisions on the Long Beach Freeway occur on
weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., when port gates are open,
according to California Highway Patrol statistics for 1992-2000.
Fully 1,042 collisions took place on Thursdays, compared with 212 on
Sundays. A total of 1,882 accidents took place between 8 a.m. and
noon, compared with 152 between midnight and 4 a.m.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex is one of the busiest in the
world. Port cargo tripled in the 1990s and is expected to triple
again by 2025.
The Long Beach Freeway, which carried 47,285 trucks per weekday in
2001, is projected to carry 99,300 trucks daily by 2020.
Some officials expected port-related traffic congestion to ease with
the 2002 opening of the Alameda Corridor, a much-touted rail corridor
linking the ports with downtown Los Angeles rail yards. But the
corridor is carrying a smaller share of port cargo than anticipated,
especially with the increase in traffic to warehouses in the Inland
Empire.
Hopes that a rebuilt Long Beach Freeway could aid in port growth
faded last summer when area residents opposed expansion plans and the
chances of federal and state funding became less likely.
So Hahn came forward with a council resolution that challenged the
ports to develop a plan to keep terminal gates open during nights and
weekends.
That motion in turn led to the creation of a special working group
that is studying the issue. About 60 representatives of port
interests - including ocean carriers, terminal operators and trucking
companies - attended the group's December meeting to discuss how to
make a schedule shift more attractive to port businesses.
Most members concurred that economic incentives - such as imposing a
premium on moving goods during the day - would be the most effective
way to keep gates open on evenings and weekends, officials said.
But the panel is not expected to make a specific recommendation until
its Jan. 15 meeting. Also uncertain is who would pay a premium if one
is imposed, or where the money would go.
Some of the biggest concerns about off-peak gates have been raised by
the Pacific Maritime Shipping Assn., which represents ocean carriers,
terminal operators and stevedoring firms. The group has warned that
if shippers are not fully committed to extended gate hours, mandating
such a shift would impose unfair economic penalties on marine
terminals.
Tom Teofilo, the association's vice president, said Friday he is not
necessarily opposed to the idea of economic incentives to promote
extended hours.
"It would be important for me to know who pays, through what
mechanism, and who benefits," he said. "These are the delicate issues
- and I emphasize, delicate issues - that are being considered by all
parties right now."
Teofilo expressed concern about the potential impact of late-night
shipping on small and medium shippers that - unlike Wal-Mart - might
not be open to receive shipments from the ports at night or on
weekends.
He added, however, that port interests are working together to find a
solution.
"The marine terminals want to do what's right," Teofilo said. "They
recognize the congestion on the freeways must be addressed in some
way, and they're willing to do their part."
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