LA container fees set to go this week

LOS ANGELES — The planned container collection fee at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach will start being collected this Wednesday, Feb. 18.

The Federal Maritime Commission cleared the plan to proceed — for now — but warned that it will keep a close eye on the process.

The money from the fees ($35 for a twenty-foot container) — to be collected by PortCheck — will go towards helping truckers retrofit older trucks under the ports’ Clean Trucks programs.

However, the FMC can still issue an injunction against the Clean Truck programs. Urged on by the American Trucking Associations, the FMC says it believes that the concession requirement for carriers to hire only company drivers with approved equipment, will result in less competition and reduction in services at the ports.

Critics also insist that the fees and the Clean Port program will deter shippers away from the ports.