State of the Port of Los Angeles

By Karen Robes Meeks

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka will deliver the 2019 “State of the Port of Los Angeles” address on Jan. 24 at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro.

The event co-hosted by the port and the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association highlight the port’s successes, with Seroka discussing the seaport’s seven lines of business, environmental progress and community development initiatives.

“We are very excited to move into a larger venue for this end-to-end overview of the nation’s number one gateway of containerized trade,” said PMSA Executive Director John McLaurin. “Mr. Seroka is an exceptional leader and always eloquently reviews the breadth and depth of the Port of Los Angeles portfolio and business ecosystem inside a trade gateway that touches 1 in 9 jobs in the five-county region.”

The event will take place at 11:30 a.m. at the Port’s World Cruise Center, located at 100 Swinford Street, Berth 93, San Pedro, CA 90731.

PMSA Moves from SF to Oakland

By Mark Edward Nero

The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, an independent, not-for-profit association focused on global trade, has moved its Northern California office from San Francisco to Oakland. As of May 1, the new NorCal headquarters for the organization is at Jack London Square, one block from the Port of Oakland’s headquarters.

The Port of Oakland owns the Square, which is a mixed-use complex at the edge of the Oakland Estuary.

PMSA represents some of the largest container shipping lines and marine terminal operators serving West Coast US ports. It had been based in San Francisco until the move to Jack London Square.

The PMSA’s arrival puts two big players in West Coast container shipping on the same side of San Francisco Bay. The Pacific Maritime Association is headquartered in San Francisco, but also has offices in both Oakland and San Francisco. In addition to its new Oakland digs, the PMSA also has offices in Seattle and Long Beach.

The port is not a PMSA member, but in a statement, Port of Oakland Executive Director Chris Lytle indicated that that might change.

“We’ve worked well with the association on issues of importance to our industry and global trade,” Lytle said. “Now that we’re neighbors, we’ll seek new opportunities to collaborate and raise the profile of this region as a trade gateway.”

The address for the PMSA’s new location is: 70 Washington St., Suite 305 Oakland, CA 94607. The main phone number is (510) 987-5000.

PMSA Wins Public Records Lawsuit

By Mark Edward Nero

The San Francisco Superior Court granted the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association a significant victory on May 23 when it awarded the PMSA more than $260,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs against the State of California as a result of a Public Records Act lawsuit.

The PMSA had been seeking records documenting pilot assignments on the San Francisco Bay, and the Superior Court declared that PMSA’s case established that the Port Agent is a public official subject to the Public Records Act and that, as a result, the records he uses regarding the working hours and rest periods of the state-licensed pilots who navigate vessels in and around the San Francisco Bay must be made public.

“Our goal is to ensure that cargo vessels are safely and legally navigated in the San Francisco Bay, and for this to happen we need transparency and accountability in our state pilotage system,” PMSA General Counsel Mike Jacob said. “When assignment documents are made public anyone can see when state-licensed pilots are dispatched to ships, evaluate pilots’ actual working conditions, independently confirm pilots’ work hours, or verify minimum rest period violations. We are pleased that as a result of this action we have ensured the public’s right to access records used by the Port Agent and that the Superior Court has vindicated our efforts.”

The original case was filed in July 2012 in San Francisco Superior Court.

“Our efforts were supported by the ACLU, the California Newspapers Publishers Association, First Amendment Coalition, LA Times and McClatchy newspapers,” PMSA President John McLaurin told Pacific Maritime Magazine Online via email.

PMSA President to Receive Containerization Award

Pacific Merchant Shipping Association President John McLaurin has been chosen by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute to receive its 2013 Connie Award for his work in the industry.

“John McLaurin received many nominations and votes focused on his leadership and commitment of PMSA to the variety of issues with which all are involved,” CII President Michael DiVirgilio said. “This includes the environment, the citizens, community, economic programs, the California transportation policies-which also impact national subjects-and the lobbying he has led in these areas.”

The Connie Award was established by the Containerization & Intermodal Institute in 1972 to recognize individuals that have made extraordinary contributions to the evolution of containerized shipping and intermodalism.

The PMSA, which was founded in 1919 and has offices in San Francisco, Seattle and Long Beach, Calif., is an independent, not-for-profit shipping association that focuses on issues affecting international trade. On behalf of its members, the PMSA engages in community affairs and legislative and regulatory processes in California and Washington state. It provides members with an array of information services, including regular updates on matters of interest to the shipping industry, and serves as a clearinghouse for environmental practices across the industry.

McLaurin is expected to be honored during an event scheduled for Thurs., Sept. 26, at the Renaissance Hotel in Long Beach.

 

 

Truckers Conduct Work Slowdown at Washington Ports

Hundreds of truck drivers who normally haul goods to and from ports throughout Washington State stayed off the job last week to send a message in a dispute over pay and safety issues.

At the Port of Seattle alone, about 300 to 400 truckers chose not to work delivering cargo containers at the port and nearby BNSF Railway yard last week. Of those, an estimated 120 missed work to make a trip to the state capital, Olympia, to witness and participate in hearings the state Legislature has been conducting on two statewide pieces of legislation.

One bill, House Bill 2395, would reclassify drayage truckers as employees, instead of the current independent contractor designation; another, HB 2527, would make shipping companies responsible for any defects in chassis and containers, rather than truckers.

HB 2395 doesn’t outright ban owner-operators from ports, but would allow the Washington Department of Labor to reclassify independent contractors as employees if they enter port property.

Some truck drivers and supporters say the legislation is needed to protect drivers, who have little rights and independent contractors and must carry an inordinate amount of the burden in event of an accident or other event that causes damage to a cargo container or its contents.

The truckers, many of whom are immigrants from other countries, have the support of various community groups, such as Puget Sound Sage, a coalition of labor, faith and community organizations.

“They are at the fulcrum of our economic recovery,” David West, executive director of Puget Sound Sage, said of the drayage truckers. “But they do not share in industry prosperity because the system is fixed against them. They work in sweatshops on wheels.”

There has been industry opposition to both bills, however. Capt. Michael Moore, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, said in a letter to Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma executives that HB 2527 would “threaten the future viability of both ports” and “result in confusion and inefficiencies while increasing congestion, emissions, costs and liabilities.”

Also, the Washington Trucking Association, which opposes the employee mandate in HB 2395, contends that any attempt by a state to regulate the rates or services of trucks engaged in interstate commerce violates federal law and that if the state Legislature approved either bill, the WTA would challenge it in court.

HB 2395 is similar to an employee mandate that the Port of Los Angeles attempted to enact in recent years as part of an anti-air pollution program. Last September, however, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the mandate.

GreenPacific Conference Completes 2 Day Run

Challenges facing the marine transport industry’s implementation of green technology, and potential solutions to those challenges, were discussed by a wide array of industry experts during the third annual GreenPacific Conference in Long Beach, California this week.

During the conference, which was held Jan. 17-18 and attracted about 100 attendees, the over-arching topic was zero emissions technology. More than a dozen speakers addressed issues associated with it, including its promises and challenges, pending projects, fixed rail applications and legal and regulatory implications.

“What we’re seeing is a march toward zero emissions,” Thomas Jelenic, the assistant director of environmental affairs and planning for the Port of Long Beach said during a panel discussion on container handling and shore power projects at Southern California container terminals.

“We’re looking at a complete shift in the way that terminals do business in the future,” Jelenic said.

Among those in attendance to witness the proceedings was Federal Maritime Commission member Mario Cordero who, before being confirmed to the FMC in the spring of 2011 and subsequently relocating to Washington DC, spent eight years as a member of the Port of Long Beach’s Board of Harbor Commissioners.

“This is now a national discussion about greening the ports, not just Long Beach and Los Angeles,” Cordero said. “For the Federal Maritime Commission, obviously it’s an important issue with regard to not only the environmental aspect, but when we talk about sustainability and efficiency, that’s the mission of the FMC, to have us both competitive and move goods, international cargo, in an efficient manner.”

During his Long Beach tenure, Cordero helped launch and oversee many of the port’s green initiatives, including vessel speed reduction measures and the Clean Trucks Program.

“This is a very important dialogue to continue to be involved in,” he said.

The GreenPacific conference, now in its third year, was produced by Pacific Maritime Magazine in association with the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. Sponsors included BNSF Railway; Union Pacific railroad; the law firms of Flynn Delich & Wise and Keesal Young & Logan; facility planning and design company Moffat & Nichol; and the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Seattle.

The 2013 conference is already being planned for the fall of 2013.

A full wrap-up of the 2012 conference is scheduled to appear in the February edition of Pacific Maritime.

Appeals Court Upholds California's Low-Sulfur Maritime Fuel Regs

A federal appeals panel on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that allowed California air quality regulators in 2009 to impose regulations requiring commercial maritime vessels headed for California ports to use low-sulfur fuel within 24 miles of the state's coast.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that despite California only having legal jurisdiction over coastal waters out to three miles, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) maritime fuel-use regulations that were approved April 19, 2009 – designed to dramatically reduce air pollution from ocean going vessels – can legally be enforced by the state out to 24 miles.

"In the end, we acknowledge the unusual characteristics and circumstances of the [CARB regulations]," the Ninth Circuit said in its ruling. "We are clearly dealing with an expansive and even possibly unprecedented state regulatory scheme. However, the severe environmental problems confronting California – especially Southern California – are themselves unusual and even unprecedented."

The 2009 regulations were a rewrite of 2007 CARB regulations that sought to address marine-generated diesel emissions by setting specific emission levels permitted by ocean-going vessels. The 2007 regulations were challenged in court by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) and eventually determined by the courts to be preempted by the federal Clean Air Act.

In an effort to work around the court ruling, CARB rewrote the regulations to specify the type of fuel to be used by ocean-going vessels, instead of specifying set emission standards as it did in 2007.

The PMSA, which represents nearly all of the shipping lines calling at North American West Coast ports, sued CARB again in late-April 2009 to block implementation of the newly rewritten fuel regulations arguing that the state does not have jurisdiction beyond the three-mile coastal zone. While not objecting to the environmental goals of the regulations, the PMSA also argued that more universal nationwide and international regulations were the more appropriate way to tackle ocean-going vessel pollution and prevent, in the PMSA's opinion, a patchwork of regulations that differ from state to state.

The day before the CARB regulations were set to go into effect on July 1, 2009, the US District Court for the Eastern District of California turned down the PMSA request for an injunction and request for summary judgment. CARB subsequently implemented the regulations as planned.

In mid-July, 2009, the PMSA filed with the District Court seeking to modify the court's ruling and allow the trade group to seek an immediate appeal. The lower court approved the PMSA modification, citing that there was "substantial ground for difference of opinion" within the case. After nearly a year of preparatory legal action, the Ninth Circuit heard arguments on the appeal from both sides in early December 2010.

In their ruling issued Monday, the appellate panel found that the PMSA failed to support its two main points: that the 2009 CARB regulations are preempted by the federal Submerged Lands Act of 1953, and that the regulations are preempted by the US Constitution's Commerce Clause, as well as, general maritime law.

In response to the Ninth Circuit ruling, PMSA President John McLaurin expressed his disappointment with the ruling.

"The state’s requirements on how vessels must be operated 24 nautical miles off-shore, when the state’s jurisdiction ends only three miles beyond the coastline, remains a unique attempt to expand its authority. The ruling handed down today by the Ninth Circuit panel is without precedent and only reaffirms that this is a novel application of state authority."

McLaurin added that the maritime industry will meet all state, federal and international laws and will continue "working in earnest" to reduce environmental impacts.

"Even after this ruling," McLaurin said, "it is only through the application of consistent and harmonized federal and international standards that meaningful and sustainable emission reductions from ships engaged in international trade on the high seas will be obtained.”

In the end, though, the nearly four-year effort to impose California-specific standards on ocean-going vessels may be somewhat of a short-lived victory.

Almost a year to the day before Monday's ruling, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved a Canada/US joint proposal to set up an Emissions Control Area (ECA) along the East and West coasts of both countries under Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). This treaty, among other things, specifies fuel sulfur-content for ocean-going vessels. MARPOL Annex VI regulations are now accepted as the base minimum for permissible vessel fuel quality and air emissions by 136 signatory countries representing 98 percent of the world’s shipping tonnage. The Annex VI regulations apply to all vessels traveling into MARPOL signatory-member waters and to all vessels flying under signatory nation flags. Even a non-signatory nation’s vessel entering the national waters of a MARPOL signatory state are required to adhere to the Annex VI regulations.

The 2009 CARB regulations upheld Monday currently require ocean-going vessels headed to California ports to use fuel with sulfur content between 0.3 percent and 1.5 percent when within 24 miles of the coast. This standard drops to 0.1 percent as of January 1, 2012. The CARB regulations also do not apply to vessels transiting within 24 miles of the coast that are not calling at California ports.

When the IMO's North American ECA goes into effect in August 2012, all ocean-going vessels within the 200-mile ECA will be required to use fuel with no more than 1 percent sulfur. This drops to 0.1 percent on January 1, 2015.

Even the Ninth Circuit noted in its ruling that the CARB regulations are most likely to be superseded by the kind of universal solution originally argued for by the PMSA.

"The [CARB regulations] also contain a sunset clause, and it is reasonable to predict," said the court, "that once the heightened standards established by the ECA go into effect, the [CARB regulations] will be terminated."

While the aggregate costs to the shipping industry to comply with the CARB rules will be large, the Ninth Circuit pointed out that there was no dispute among the litigants that the health benefits to the residents of the state will also be dramatic.

During testimony, CARB estimated that compliance with the CARB fuel standards would cost vessel operators $30,000 per California port “call,” amounting to an industry-wide aggregate incremental cost of approximately $360 million annually and $1.5 billion through the end of 2014. The court noted, however, that CARB found that individual cost per container would amount to about $6 per TEU.

On the other hand, CARB also testified that their fuel regulations would prevent 300 premature deaths each year in the state and 150,000 cases of respiratory illness.