Fourth Port Fee Would Add to Shipping Costs
The concern about crumbling infrastructure and clean air prompted the California Assembly to pass a $60-per-container fee to be imposed on the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.
The bill, which passed the Assembly July 16 on a 45–24 vote, would generate about $400 million a year. Smaller 20-foot containers would be charged a $30 fee.
The state Senate must now vote on the bill, SB 974, sponsored by state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D–Long Beach). Lowenthal’s office believes the Senate will approve the issue soon. Currently, the legislature is on summer break until Aug. 11. If the legislation does pass, the fee wouldn’t be levied until Jan. 1, 2010.
The bill is the latest round of container fees passed by various entities to clean up the air around the ports, buy cleaner trucks to pick up cargo containers, and revamp the decaying streets and bridges around the ports.
On Oct. 1, a $70-per-40-foot-container fee goes into effect at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to pay for their new Clean Truck Program, a $2 billion plan the ports devised to get rid of old polluting trucks and buy cleaner trucks that meet more stringent air-quality standards.
On Jan. 1, a $30-per-40-foot-container fee starts at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to fund a program to improve the infrastructure around the two ports. They sit side-by-side in a large complex that handles more than 40 percent of all the container traffic coming into the United States.
In addition, companies that want to pick up or drop off their cargo containers during daytime peak hours must pay an additional $100-per-40-foot-container fee under the PierPass program. —Deborah Belgum
