b'20American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comLONG HAUL TRUCKING 2022 California truckers face clean truck challenges By Stas Margaronis, AJOTPeterSchneider,PresidentTGS Logistics,Fresno,Californiasays thatcleantruckrulesdevelopedby theCaliforniaAirResourcesBoard (CARB)willbartrucksbuiltfrom 2007 to 2009 accessing the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2023.Schneidersaid:ThePortsof L.A. and Long Beach are going to be policing this, and when trucks go to the gates at the terminals, they will be blocked if the truck was built during those years. Peter Schneider, President TGS LogisticsBi-State Motor Carriers President saysC leant ruCks& z eroe mIssIons agetrucksmustbecompliantwith theTruckandBusRegulationand things are better but still pretty tough AccordingtoaCaliforniaAirmeeta2010ornewermodelyear Lisa Yakomin, president of the Association of Bi-State MotorResources Board fact sheet: Drayageengine standard.truckstransportingcargotoandfrom Drayage trucks will be required to Carriers, says conditions have improved for truckers workingCalifornias intermodal seaports and rai- starttransitioningtozero-emission the Port of New York/New Jersey. Thats the good news, butlyards will be a part of a new rulemak- technologybeginningin2024,with falling cargo volumes are a worry. ing to support the goals toward reducingfull implementation by 2035.Californiaslong-termairquality,cli- Schneidersaystheresultcould By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT mate,andpublichealthimpacts. Thisbe that as many as 20% of the cur-requires a transition from the conven- rent drayage fleet in Los Angeles and Conditions for truckers at ports inTheemptycontainerfeecametional combustion technologies to zero- LongBeachwillbeblockedfrom the United States are easing from theabout to deal with the accumulation ofemission everywhere feasible. Drayageaccessing container terminals.worst of the supply-chain snarls andempty containers at NY/NJ port facil- truckswillbeincludedaspartoftheOnemitigatingfactoristhat freightvolatilityassociatedwiththeities. Under the ports container man- regulatory package under the Advancedbusiness right now at the two ports is COVID-19pandemic.Thatsgoodagement scheme, carriers are chargedCleanFleetsrulemakingfocusedondown by about 25%. However, once news, but its not all good news. if they fail to evacuate specified num- strategiestoensurethatthecleanesttheILWU-PMAcontractisratified, Chassis availability has improved,bersofemptycontainersbasedonvehicles are deployed by government,at least 10% of the business that has asconsumersspendrobustly,back- individual carrier histories. business, and other entities in Californiabeen lost to the East Coast ports will logged containers get emptied, and chas-Besides the empty container fee, ato meet their transportation needs. probablycomebackbuttherewill sis are returned to yards. Port conditionsspike in holiday-season buying is alsoBeginningJanuary1,2023,dray- (FACEcontinued on page 21)are also easing, on a macro level, thankscontributing to the easing of chassis to shippers having diversified their portsinventories. The Port of NY/NJ is still of entry in the face of congestion anddealing with freight that was brought other problems. The negative side to thein to satisfy the pandemic consumer improvement in conditions is the possi- spending surge, some of which is still bility that the industry is in the midst of asitting in containers outside of over-freight recession, foreshadowing a pos- stuffed distribution centers. sible general economic recession downSlowlybutsurely,saidYako-the road. min, those containers that have been sitting for a while are starting to get ny/nj b I -s tatem otor emptied,and,asthoseemptiesare C arrIersn oteI mprovement returned, we get the chassis back. At the Port of New York and NewJohn Rapczak, general manager Jersey,Thingshaveimprovedoverofwarehousingandfreightbroker-the last few weeks, said Lisa Yako- ageatWorldwideLogisticsGroup, min, president of the Association ofconcurred,sayingthatoneofour Bi-StateMotorCarriers,amember- largecustomershadagreatBlackTHE DEFINITIVE ship group representing 170 truckingFriday and were seeing a decrease and related companies at the port. Itsin their inventory. nottosaythatconditionsareideal.Chassis are available at NY/NJSUPPLY CHAINIts more a function of just how dif- terminals,Rapczakadded.Insome ficult conditions had become and nowyards, chassis are plentiful, leading to theyre better. Its still really tough.crazyturnaroundtimes,according theChassisinventoriesareimprov- to one driver Rapczak spoke to. toINTELLIGENCE ing,saidYakomin,duemostlytoRapczaksperchallowshim emptyreturnsbeingsteppedupassess the drayage situation at ports becauseoftheemptycontainerfeearoundthecountry.Fromthatper-that the [Port Authority of New York/ spective, Rapczak assessed that theGATHERINGNewJersey]PortAuthorityputinports are not in the terrible condition place. We saw empties being evacu- theywerelastyearandearlierthis ated in much larger numbers as soonyear.CargoshiftedtoSeattleand as they put that forward.Oakland, and eventually to East Coast ports,inthefaceofthecomplete congestion in the ports of Southern California. The last major hit we sawJANUARY 23-25, 2023was in Savannah, which had a mas-sive backlog, he said. At this point, drayage truckers areATLANTA, GAbegging Rapczak for more business. Theyre saying, I need more busi-ness to keep my drivers moving, he said.Itsaverydifferentscenario compared to what weve seen in the past two years. v olumed oWnturnLisa Yakomin, president of the Association ofRapczaks explanation: Its aboutwww.smc3jumpstart.comBi-State Motor Carriers (TOUGHcontinued on page 21)'