A much-anticipated truck driver demographics survey carried out by the Port of Los Angeles was released on Thursday, Aug. 19, showing what some harbor commissioners say they fear — that many of the drivers would be financially harmed if cargo owners pass down the costs of a new cargo fee set to go into place soon.
More than a year after the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach signed off on what amounts to a $20-per-load cargo fee to meet a 2035 zero-emissions truck fleet goal, the proposal remains controversial for how it could impact truck drivers, among the lowest paid workers in the twin port complex.
The commissions each voted in favor of the fee — Long Beach 3-2 and Los Angeles 5-0.
Those votes set in motion the infrastructure development needed to create the Clean Truck Fund rate collection service. The fee will be charged to what the ports call beneficial cargo owners, or BCOs — the party that ultimately owns the product being shipped.
But L.A. harbor Commissioner Edward Renwick has long argued that the charge will likely be passed on to the truck drivers picking up the cargo.
The trucker survey completed by the Port of Los Angeles only confirmed what Renwick says is his belief that the fee will unfairly harm drivers.
The survey didn’t bring any major surprises. Questions were answered by 407 drivers out of a pool of about 12,000.
The survey found the median driver age to be 47, with 97% of them male and about three-quarters Latino or Hispanic; more than two-thirds are immigrants and most have one to two dependent children.
Most also reported being the sole family supporters and making $57,000 a year.
The fee would charge $10 per twenty-foot unit container, though most regular loads consist of 40-foot containers.
While drivers are not the designated payers of the fee — the cargo owners are — the concern is that the extra costs will be passed down to the employees who can least afford it.
If that happens, Renwick said, “We’re talking about taxing them about $20 per trip, or almost a third of their income.”
“The players at the port involve two railroads, nine shipping lines, 13 terminal operators and 18,000 truck drivers,” Renwick said, adding that the first three categories are limited to the few who can acquire those higher positions. “It’s easy to become a truck driver, so there’s more of them than anyone else and no barriers to (job) entry. So most likely, the person who’s going to ‘eat it’ is the truck driver.”
Michael Keenan, director of port Planning and Strategy who presented the findings, said the suggestion that the costs ultimately may be passed down to truckers by cargo owners isn’t far-fetched.
“I’d say that is a potential outcome,” Keenan said. “We can’t say for certain who’s going to accept responsibility for these fees.”
While fellow commissioners were sympathetic, a reversal of the earlier vote doesn’t appear likely as of now.
“I don’t think a lot of people have changed their minds,” said commission President Jaime Lee. “It’s incumbent upon us to mitigate (problems) and find solutions.
“With all of our heads together,” she added, “we will find ways to stem any losses for these families.”
Renwick didn’t budge.
“These truck drivers are not organized, they have no power,” he said.
“I did not become a commissioner,” he added, “for the privilege of depriving a decent living standard to hard working (Americans) who are struggling to feed their families. I care about doing the right thing.”
Environmentalists, meanwhile, have lobbied for a higher fee, saying the current rate is too low if ports are going to reach zero-emissions for trucks by 2035.
Two joint-port workshops will be held to discuss the upcoming fee. The first is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, where policies related to low-NOx trucks and a spending plan are on the agenda. The second is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Sept. 1, where the equity issues raised by surrounding impacts on drayage truck drivers will be the topic. Both meetings are accessible to the public via Zoom from port websites.