The ongoing lawsuit by the American Trucking Associations against a trucking program at the Port of Los Angeles could see some resolution next week, if a judge finds in favor of an ATA motion seeking summary judgment for portions of the suit.
The case began in September 2007 when the ATA sought an injunction to block the implementation of a truck program jointly developed but separately implemented by the neighboring ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. While the initial moves for an injunction to prevent the truck program from being implemented in October 2008 failed, a federal court in March 2009 ruled that portions of the truck program likely violated federal law and thus issued an injunction on those portions of the plan until a full court hearing on the matter. In October 2009, the ATA and he Port of Long Beach reached a settlement, which removed the Long Beach port from the lawsuit. The Los Angeles port remains committed to fighting the suit and the full case is due before the court in March. The ATA motion for summary judgment is expected to be heard by the U.S. District Court on Jan. 11.
The ATA plans to ask the court to decide certain issues if there is no legitimate dispute as to the material facts surrounding those issues. The ATA is also planning to ask the court to find in its favor on the legal issue of whether the Port's Concession Agreement has a sufficient impact on motor carrier rates, routes and services to fall within the federal pre-emption provision.
The Concession Agreement, which forces motor carrier to abide by port-created rules to gain access to the port, is at the heart of the original suit by the ATA. The association alleges that the concession plan imposes a broad range of operational requirements that create a regulatory environment very similar to state intrastate economic regulation. The association has also argued that the plan would result in far fewer trucking companies being able to service the ports, reducing competition.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Horizon Shifts to Ports America Terminal at Oakland Port
Jones Act ocean carrier Horizon Lines has shifted its mainland US to Hawaii, Guam and Micronesia operations at the Port of Oakland to a terminal operated by Ports America, the largest independent terminal operating firm in North America.
Charlotte, NC-based Horizon announced Monday that it had signed a deal to move its Oakland operations to the 160-acre terminal at 1599 Maritime Street, effective immediately.
Horizon had been using the Oakland terminal at 1425 Maritime Street operated by APM Terminals.
According to the Charlotte, NC-based carrier, service enhancements at the Ports America terminal include extended gate hours for early deliveries and lunchtime deliveries on Horizon Lines’ ship days with dedicated truck lanes. All transactions are processed via Electronic Data Interchange, with shipment status updates available through Horizon Lines' online shipment management portal NetCaptain.
The Iselin, NJ-based Ports America signed a 50-year lease for the terminal last year, a deal which also gave the firm an equity stake in the Oakland terminal.
Fidley Watch: Doublethink
(As seen in the January 2010 issue of Pacific Maritime Magazine)“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” George Orwell
In 2008, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accepted half a million dollars in campaign contributions from Change to Win, a Washington, D.C.-based labor coalition substantially funded by the Teamsters. Change to Win has long fought to disenfranchise independent truckers at the Port of Los Angeles. In our March Fidleywatch we suggested that Change to Win’s campaign contribution might influence the Mayor to opt for organized labor’s Clean Trucks Program that had independent truckers forced out of their jobs at the Port.
Last week the City of Los Angeles reported that Mayor Villaraigosa spent $120,000 on a nine-day trip to meet with world leaders and European dignitaries in Copenhagen, Berlin and London to discuss global warming. According to the City, part of that trip was paid for by the Port of Los Angeles.
Change to Win has calculated that independent truck drivers (those forced out of work at the Port of Los Angeles) earn an average of $6 an hour, after expenses.
According to Change to Win’s calculations, the port-funded Mayor’s trip would have paid the wages of an independent truck driver for 10 years.
Not only can the Mayor bask in the glow from all the international stars with whom he mingled in Copenhagen, he can absorb some reflected light from the recently bestowed Orwellian-sounding “Environmental Justice Achievement Award” recently awarded him by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
According to the EPA, “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.”
The most recent award was given to the Mayor-supported Clean Trucks Program (CTP), “for significantly reducing the impact of diesel truck pollution on economically disadvantaged people living near port facilities.”
The CTP Partnership includes the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles and the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) Stakeholder Group. The CAAP Stakeholder Group, includes, among others: The Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for Clean Air, the Port of Los Angeles, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.
The City of Los Angeles recently reported a $400 million deficit, and the Mayor can spend $120,000 to fly to Copenhagen for nine days, come back to accept an award for working to furlough port-area wage earners making $6 per hour …the very people he claims to want to help.
Justice? More like doublethink.
Chris Philips, Managing Editor
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
NRDC Files Suit Against Long Beach Port Over ATA Lawsuit Settlement
The National Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club filed suit last week against the Port of Long Beach, alleging that a federal court-sanctioned agreement that removed the port from ongoing litigation by the American Trucking Associations over the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports' Clean Trucks Program could "reverse efforts to improve air quality in communities surrounding the Port of Long Beach."
The suit, filed Dec. 29, centers around an Oct. 19 agreement reached by port officials and the ATA that effectively ended the Long Beach Port's involvement in litigation brought by the ATA against portions of both ports truck plans in September 2007.
The truck plans, which took effect in October 2008, were designed to reduce ports-generated diesel emissions from ports-servicing trucks that haul containers. The original truck plan, developed and envisioned as a single plan for both ports, eventually morphed into two distinct versions, with each port seeking to approach the truck pollution problem in slightly different ways.
The ATA argued in federal court that a major component of the plan, an access license system that essentially allowed the ports to determine which trucking firms could and could not service port terminals, violated federal law which takes precedence in matters of interstate commerce.
The federal courts agreed and injuncted the concession portion of the truck plan, pending a full court hearing on the matter.
Following this, Long Beach officials determined that their version of the truck plan could move forward without the access license component and still achieve the stated pollution reduction goals, leading to the agreement with the ATA.
The neighboring Port of Los Angeles maintains that the access license component is critical to their version of the truck plan and continue to fight the ATA lawsuit, set to go to court in the next several months.
The Dec. 29 lawsuit by the NRDC follows after an unsuccessful attempt by the group to reverse the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission agreement at the City Council level, claiming that the agreement violated city law. The Long Beach City Attorney refused to hear the NRDC appeal of the harbor Commission approval of the agreement and stated at the time that the agreement does not violate city law as the NRDC claimed. The NRDC is also alleging in their new suit that the agreement violates Long Beach city law.
Oakland Port Drivers Granted Short Reprieve
A potential shutdown of the Port of Oakland threatened by a Jan. 1 ban on older port-servicing trucks was averted by a marathon weekend negotiating session between the State of California, the City of Oakland and trucking industry officials.
The last minute deal gives Port of Oakland-servicing truckers two weeks to apply for grants to upgrade their trucks and avoid the ban permanently. During the negotiations, a pool of $11 million in state Proposition 1b funds were identified for the truck upgrades. An original pool of $22 million was essentially used up by the early part of this year, leaving many drivers with no way to pay for the retrofit devices, which typically cost between $15,000 and $20,000.
However, while the newly available grants will provide up to $5,000 per trucker for the retrofits, the drivers will still be required to pay for the remaining cost of the upgrades.
In the initial $22 million round of funding, about 1,000 trucks received funds. However, another 1,300 were rejected for grants in the initial round. Port estimates suggest that between 2,000 and 3,000 trucks make up the port-servicing truck fleet.
Under the terms negotiated over the weekend, truckers will have two weeks to apply for the new round of grants and provide proof that they have the financing for the remaining funds to purchase a retrofit device.
The goal of the ban on non-retrofit trucks, which took effect Jan. 1, is to reduce the amount of diesel pollution being generated by port-related activities.
However, according to the pollution reduction program schedule, even the retrofit trucks will be banned within four years and all drivers will be required to operate less polluting model year vehicles.
Vancouver USA Port Finds New Funds For Rail Project
The Washington State Port of Vancouver has secured another round of funding to continue work on its West Vancouver Freight Access project.
The $2.9 million in federal funding, part of the final 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, brings the total now secured by the port for the project to $10.2 million, with just under $8 million remaining to be raised.
The project, which began construction in November 2009, is designed to reduce congestion and improve train speeds and efficiencies on the BNSF rails in and around the port.
When completed in 2017, the project will triple the rail car capacity of the port-area BNSF tracks.
State Report: $100 Million Wasted By Seattle Port Will Not Be Recovered
A new report from the Washington State Auditor's office has found that performance audits conducted of state agencies and local governments have saved taxpayers $3.6 billion since voters approved the audits in 2005.
However, the report also confirmed that some of the waste found in the audits, such as nearly $100 million lost by the Port of Seattle between 2004 and 2007, would never be recovered.
The state auditor's office released the 350-page audit of the port in December 2007, finding nearly 50 indications of financial and contracting irregularities or fraud at the port. While the state audit did not detail any cases of suspected fraud in 2007, the state found that the port had “no controls in place to prevent a variety of fraud schemes.”
In addition, the state auditors found that the port wasted nearly $100 million in taxpayer money through improper construction contracting.
The audit led to a United States Department of Justice investigation into the accusation of fraud at the port. However, the state auditor’s office was unable to prove fraud due to state regulations putting the collection of substantiating evidence outside the legal mandate of the office.
A port-generated internal review completed in June 2008 gave the port’s financial accounting since the period covered by the state audit a “clean, unqualified” bill of health. In the commissioned report, port-hired accountants “noted no significant deficiencies nor material weaknesses” in the port's internal controls in the period following that analyzed by the state audit.
In passing the new slate of procedures, the port commissioners acknowledged the connection to the state and internal audit.
The state auditor's latest report also confirmed that since December 2007, the port has put into place policies and regulations that should prevent problems such as those uncovered by the original audit.
