Post by dockworker on Jun 18, 2009 7:26:39 GMT -5
Long Beach Port Chief Defends Truck Program
William B. Cassidy
The Journal of Commerce
Long Beach can 'live with' court ruling limiting trucking concessions, says Hankla, but needs drayage truck registry
The Port of Long Beach can “live with” a court order limiting its ability to impose concession plans on the harbor trucking industry, but will fight to keep what it considers key elements of the plans from being eliminated, said James C. Hankla, president of the port’s harbor commission.
A federal judge in April ruled portions of the clean-trucks programs at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach illegal, but left others in place. In dispute were concession plans for harbor truckers hauling containers to and from the San Pedro ports’ terminals.
Gone is a Los Angeles requirement that would have banned owner-operators from working at the port. That didn’t affect Long Beach, which didn’t mandate concessions only be granted to trucking companies with employee drivers.
The American Trucking Associations, however, believes the April 28 decision by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles didn’t go far enough. ATA argues the concessions are entirely illegal and filed an appeal challenging the district court decision.
Although the district court struck several elements of both the LA and Long Beach concession plans, “Where that case sits today, we can live with the outcome,” Hankla said at the National Press Club in Washington June 8.
However, the port wants to maintain a drayage truck registry it claims is critical to ensuring and enforcing motor carrier safety and its clean-trucks program. The decision allows the port to keep its registry, but not to charge a registration fee.
“We need to maintain the drayage truck registry in order to know who owns the trucks, how they’re insured,” said Hankla. “That’s a part of the program we need to have and will defend. We’re pursuing all means to meet legal challenges.”
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com
William B. Cassidy
The Journal of Commerce
Long Beach can 'live with' court ruling limiting trucking concessions, says Hankla, but needs drayage truck registry
The Port of Long Beach can “live with” a court order limiting its ability to impose concession plans on the harbor trucking industry, but will fight to keep what it considers key elements of the plans from being eliminated, said James C. Hankla, president of the port’s harbor commission.
A federal judge in April ruled portions of the clean-trucks programs at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach illegal, but left others in place. In dispute were concession plans for harbor truckers hauling containers to and from the San Pedro ports’ terminals.
Gone is a Los Angeles requirement that would have banned owner-operators from working at the port. That didn’t affect Long Beach, which didn’t mandate concessions only be granted to trucking companies with employee drivers.
The American Trucking Associations, however, believes the April 28 decision by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles didn’t go far enough. ATA argues the concessions are entirely illegal and filed an appeal challenging the district court decision.
Although the district court struck several elements of both the LA and Long Beach concession plans, “Where that case sits today, we can live with the outcome,” Hankla said at the National Press Club in Washington June 8.
However, the port wants to maintain a drayage truck registry it claims is critical to ensuring and enforcing motor carrier safety and its clean-trucks program. The decision allows the port to keep its registry, but not to charge a registration fee.
“We need to maintain the drayage truck registry in order to know who owns the trucks, how they’re insured,” said Hankla. “That’s a part of the program we need to have and will defend. We’re pursuing all means to meet legal challenges.”
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com