Top Trans-Pacific Carriers and Ports

Special Report

terminal operators to streamline their approach to trucker appointments. Because each terminal uses a slightly different functionality within eModal’ s CargoSprint product, truckers and their customers often have to search five different screens to find the information they are looking for, he said.

But this issue is by no means limited to Seattle-Tacoma. Smith said reaching a consensus on trucker appointment systems remains a challenge for all West Coast ports, in part because terminal operators and the trucking community have completely different views of what appointments are meant to accomplish.

Terminals see appointments as a way to minimize congestion by spreading truck traffic evenly throughout the day. Truckers say existing systems fail to recognize the difficulties they face in making scheduled appointment times, many of which are completely outside their control. They want the flexibility to immediately re-book their arrival on the same day when those delays occur, Smith said.

“ Yes, it would be nice to standardize them or have them on one portal, but a higher priority is actually getting more flexibility into the appointment systems,” he said.

email: bill. mongelluzzo @ spglobal. com

Long Beach port rewarding drayage operators for purchasing EVs

By Bill Mongelluzzo

Awards for early adoption of zero-emission trucks will range from $ 8,000 to $ 10,000 per rig. Mindy Schauer / MediaNewsGroup / Orange County Register via Getty Images

The Long Beach Harbor Commission on June 8 approved the creation of the $ 4.8 million“ Zero-Emission Truck Early Leaders” program that will pay monetary awards to drayage operators who introduced zero-emissions trucks into port operations between January 2024 and December 2025.

The awards, ranging from $ 8,000 to $ 10,000 per truck, will be made in early 2027 and aim to accelerate the adoption of clean trucks in the harbor in the coming years.

“ Zero-emissions trucks can cost more than twice the equivalent diesel model,” Noel Hacegaba, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said in a statement.“ They’ re also essential to reach our goal of becoming the world’ s first carbon-free port.”

“ Zero-emissions trucks can cost more than twice the equivalent diesel model.”

While the awards will not cover the cost differential between diesel-powered and zero-emission trucks, they will help drayage operators make their monthly truck loan payments and assist with insurance and maintenance costs, which can be“ super high,” Robert Loya, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association( HTA), told the Journal of Commerce.

Loya expressed gratitude for the“ great gesture” and said there are more than 600 zero-emission trucks registered to operate in the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex.

Long Beach will pay for the new program using money from the Clean Truck Fund managed jointly by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Under that program, which was initiated in 2022, each port has been charging a fee of $ 10 per TEU or $ 20 per FEU on loaded containers hauled to and from marine terminals. The revenue is used to develop electric charging infrastructure and for grants that help truckers purchase zero-emissions trucks.

Assisting drayage operators to purchase and operate zero-emissions trucks should eventually help reduce the cost of each truck because it will encourage manufacturers to mass produce the vehicles, Loya said. He added that the prospect of a growing market in Southern California for zero-emissions trucks will give developers of EV charging infrastructure the confidence to build more charging stations throughout the region.

The existing charging infrastructure is probably adequate for the 600-plus EV trucks on the Long Beach registry right now,“ but if you want to scale up, the adoption has to step up,” Loya said.

email: bill. mongelluzzo @ spglobal. com

20 Journal of Commerce | July 6, 2026 www. joc. com