A $10 clean truck fund fee at the Port of Los Angeles will continue being collected for the next three years — but at least two L.A. harbor commissioners indicated it perhaps warrants a closer look going forward as it continues to be only one part of a needed plan to eliminate all sources of pollution in the port.

In renewing the near-term clean truck spending plan during its Thursday, May 22, meeting, the harbor commission agreed unanimously to give the three-year short-term strategy another round as a way to put more zero-emissions trucks in port service by lowering the cost of buying them while also ensuring the charging and fueling infrastructure that is needed.

“Our Clean Truck Program,” said commission President Lucille Roybal-Allard, “is essential to our larger efforts to eliminate pollution from all sources involved in our operations.”

Commissioner John Pérez suggested the rate should be increased in later years.

“This is maybe not the time,” he said, adding that he supported the motion to continue the $10 rate for three more years. “We have a significant dollar amount (collected) but it’s insignificant in terms of moving the marketplace.”

The program has accumulated more than $120 million in its first three years.

Commissioner Ed Renwick reiterated his concerns that cargo owners, who are the ones on record paying the fees, may actually be passing on the costs to truck drivers or customers instead.

“My issue has been the source of this money,” Renwick said. “It’s a tax that is, in theory, paid by the beneficial cargo owner. But, in fact, it’s hard to imagine that the (retailers) aren’t pushing that cost back onto the truck drivers.”

Pérez agreed that an overall review of the program was warranted in the future.

A survey requested by Renwick when the program was first instituted found most of the truck drivers were new and recent arrivals into the United States, who were making no more than $51,000 a year and were the only wage earners for their families.

“This is a terrible policy,” he said.

The Clean Truck Fund, however, is intended to be a “short-term strategy to maximize results,” said port Executive Director Gene Seroka.

It was established to help operators afford ZE trucks, which are more expensive than conventional models. It also helps build charging and fueling depots needed to power the trucks.

The revenues come from cargo owners who pay $10 for every loaded twenty-foot equivalent unit hauled through the port by conventional drayage trucks, most of which run on diesel. The rate for larger containers is $20.

Since April 2022, the Port of Los Angeles has collected about $123 million in Clean Truck Fund revenues to help operators purchase ZE trucks and develop supporting infrastructure.

As of March, the port has spent or allocated $93 million to deploy ZE trucks and build charging and fueling depots. The total includes funding for projects subject to final approval by the harbor commission and covers:

• Incentive vouchers for up to 350 ZE drayage trucks, with 103 trucks delivered and up to 247 more on order.
• An additional 22 ZE trucks through two licensed motor carriers awarded funding in the port’s first request for proposals, with 10 trucks in service and 12 trucks ready to be deployed this quarter when in-house charging stations are operational.
• A regional project led by the South Coast Air Quality Management District that put 100 ZE trucks into drayage service at the San Pedro Bay ports (which includes the Port of Long Beach).
• A regional infrastructure project funding eight public charging stations that provide 207 chargers for battery-electric trucks across Southern California.
• Another proposed public charging station due to be located in Wilmington and currently under environmental review.

Over the next three years, the port expects to collect about $120 million in additional Clean Truck Fund revenues. The actual amount will depend on cargo throughput and the growing number of ZE trucks calling at the port.

Currently, 546 ZE trucks are in service at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. A majority were purchased with the help of Clean Truck Fund vouchers or similar incentives from other agencies.

But technologies are still growing and being developed — so they remain expensive. The entire trucking fleet serving both ports stands at about 20,000.