Operate Ports During Extended Hours

Conceptually, the easiest way to move more freight through our ports is to begin the process of moving marine terminal operations to twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Today, it may be that many terminals do not have enough cargo to actually justify 24/7 operations, but in the port complex of Los Angeles and Long Beach, marine terminals offer a series of off-hour truck gates available through a program called PierPass. The Waterfront Coalition has been a long supporter of extended hour truck gates and worked hard to make sure that the PierPass program was implemented successfully.

The Waterfront Coalition worked diligently with marine terminal operators, shippers and truckers to address the many operational and cost concerns associated with offering off-peak truck gates in southern California's twin ports through the PierPass program. For example:

• Labor agreements make off-hour operations exceptionally expensive for marine terminal operators.
• Off-hour operations on the trucking side are particularly difficult to implement unless there is cooperation about hours of operation among all the terminal operators at a specific port.
• Truck driver availability and federal hours-of-service rules also put constraints on off-hour gates.
• Cargo owners have not uniformly shown a willingness to keep their warehouses open to receive cargo after hours.

The PierPass project in Los Angeles/Long Beach addresses all of these constraints by making it more expensive to move freight during day-time hours for cargo owners. The program induces shippers to change business practices in order to move a critical mass of container pickup and delivery to non-peak hours by charging shippers $100 per container moved during daylight hours. Revenue generated through the program is recycled to terminal operators to defray the added labor costs of opening off-hour gates. The PierPass project required terminal operators to use their anti-trust immunity to cooperate on hours of operation and collection of the day-time fee.

Since the PierPass program went live in July 2005 it has diverted over 30% of truck trips through marine terminals in San Pedro Bay to off-peak hours. This shift reduces congestion for commuters and truckers and helps improve air quality by reducing congestion and idling emissions. Shippers taking advantage of the off-hour truck gates also benefit through much more reliable delivery times needed to make guarantees shipment deadlines.

Unfortunately, marine terminal operators in San Pedro Bay have begun to scale back the highly successful program. Citing a sudden decline in cargo volumes and revenue since January 2009, terminal operators can no longer afford to offer off-peak gates despite widespread popularity of the program among shippers and truckers. Marine terminals instituted a rolling gate closure system after working with port users and other stakeholders that greatly reduces the effectiveness of the program. Click here to read the Waterfront Coalition's letter to PierPass.

The Waterfront Coalition supports the use of extended hour truck gates in other maritime gateways where capacity and throughput issues demand that shippers change their business practices.