OffPeak Program Successful

By Karen Robes Meeks

Over 40-million weekday truck trips have been diverted off Los Angeles area roads since the OffPeak program started 12 years ago this week, removing hundreds of tons of truck-spewing air pollution, according to PierPass Inc.

The program, which creates weeknight and Saturday delivery shifts to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, removes more than 12,600 additional truck trips that would otherwise congest the roads between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the week.

“In southern California, heavy-duty trucks are the single largest source of both the pollutants that cause smog and exposure to toxic diesel particulates,” said Wayne Nastri, Executive Officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “By reducing the amount of time that trucks spend trapped in terminal queues or traffic jams, OffPeak has made a big contribution to addressing our region’s air pollution problem.”

OffPeak also offers financial incentives for curbing weekday daytime truck trips and funding for night and Saturday shifts.

“Efficient goods movement enables a crucial jobs engine for Southern California’s economy to continue thriving,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, who serves as chair of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. “The PierPass OffPeak program seeks to maximize the efficient use of existing transportation infrastructure and demonstrates the potential for private-sector innovation to tackle public policy problems. I encourage stakeholders to continue working together to strengthen the program to ensure goods can move as efficiently and safely as possible.”

The OffPeak program was established in the early 2000s after cargo volume surges led to increased traffic congestion, and air pollution and public outcry for solutions.

“Over the last 12 years, OffPeak had diverted more than 40 million trucks off our roads and freeways during the busiest times of the day,” said David Pettit, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “By reducing truck congestion at the marine container terminals and on the Harbor and Long Beach Freeway, the program has helped reduce pollution and increase mobility for the communities in and around the ports.”

LA-LB Ports Container Fees Rising

By Mark Edward Nero

On July 8, the 13 marine terminal operators at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex announced a 1.9 percent increase in the traffic mitigation fee at the ports. Beginning Aug. 8, the container fee will be $70.49 per twenty-foot equivalent unit or $140.98 per forty-foot container.

The increase goes toward sustaining continued operation of off peak gate hours amid labor cost increases, according to the terminal operators collective.

The adjustment falls under the rules of the West Coast Marine Terminal Operator Agreement, which state that the container fee shall be adjusted annually to reflect increases in labor costs based on maritime labor cost figures.

The Pacific Maritime Association negotiates and administers maritime labor agreements with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

PierPass, a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the LA and Long Beach ports to address multi-terminal issues such as congestion, air quality and security, launched the off peak hours program in 2005 to reduce cargo-related congestion on local streets and highways around the ports.

The “OffPeak” program established regular night and Saturday work shifts to handle trucks delivering and picking up containers at the 13 container terminals in the two adjacent ports.

Using a congestion pricing model, PierPass charges a fee on weekday daytime cargo moves to incentivize cargo owners to use the OffPeak shifts. The fee also helps pay for the labor and other costs of operating the OffPeak shifts.

According to an analysis by maritime industry consultants SC Analytics, the costs incurred by the terminals to operate the OffPeak shifts in 2015 totaled $236.2 million. During the year, the terminals received $168.9 million from the traffic mitigation fee, offsetting only part of the OffPeak program’s costs.

Since 2005, OffPeak has taken more than 35 million truck trips out of daytime Southern California traffic and diverted them to less congested nights and weekends. About half of all port truck trips now take place during the OffPeak shifts, according to terminal operator data.

LA/Long Beach Container Fees to Rise

A 2.5 percent increase in the traffic mitigation charge placed on containers moving through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will be implemented beginning Aug. 1, 2012, the West Coast MTO Agreement, which administers the fee, has announced.

Starting in August, the fee will rise to $61.50 per 20-foot-equivalent unit and $123 per forty-foot container, from the current rates of $60 and $120, respectively.

The WCMTOA, a collective of terminal operators, says the increase is being put into place in order to address increases in labor costs that take effect July 1.

The mitigation fee, which dates back to 2005, helps pay for the night and weekend marine terminal shifts created by the PierPass OffPeak program to relieve daytime congestion in and around the ports.

It also provides a financial incentive to move cargo during less congested times. The fee is charged for non-exempt containers moving during the peak hours of Monday through Friday from 3 am to 6 pm.

On Aug. 1, 2011, the fee increased for the first time since 2006. The $10 per TEU upsurge came after hourly labor costs increased more than 31 percent for the same period. It was at that time that the WCMTOA announced that beginning in mid-2012 it would begin adjusting the fee annually to address labor cost increases.

The terminal operators say they’ve operated the OffPeak program at a loss since the program’s 2005 inception, when they doubled the number of shifts per week, thereby essentially spreading the same number of containers over twice the working hours.

The shortfall between traffic mitigation revenues and OffPeak gate costs was $55 million in 2011 and $52.3 million in 2010, with cargo volume having been essentially flat since 2005, according to the terminal operators group.

However, also since 2005, the PierPass OffPeak program has helped achieve the goal of reducing traffic congestion in and around the ports during daytime business hours. Off hours gates have grown to handle about 55 percent of all container traffic at the ports, according to the WCMTOA.

For more information on the traffic mitigation fees or PierPass program, visit www.pierpass-tmf.org.