California ports delay collection fee

Collection of the Clean Truck Fee (CTF) assessed by the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach scheduled to have begun November 17 will be delayed pending resolution of outstanding regulatory issues, Penton Insight reported.
An agreement filing relating to the ports’ arrangement with PortCheck is still pending with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), and the fee collection will be delayed while issues relating to that filing are resolved.
Under the Clean Trucks Program, all trucks 1988 and older are banned. Trucks 1989 and newer are subject to the fee, with some exceptions.
The Clean Trucks Program is part of the Clean Air Action Plans of the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which have the goal of reducing emissions of harmful pollutants by 45 percent by 2012.
The Clean Trucks Fee is the charge in the ports’ tariff for cargo entering or leaving the port terminals, and will be used to fund the purchase of new, clean trucks through the ports’ grant program.
The new start date for fee collection is not yet clear, but PortCheck strongly urges cargo owners to complete preparations for claiming cargo online and paying the fee.