Two U.S. major ports impose fee on cargo containers

　　The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Wednesday began to impose a 35-dollar fee on cargo containers entering or leaving the ports in a bid to help subsidize the replacement of thousands of polluting trucks.
　　The fee is expected to raise about 1 million dollars a day, or about 1 billion dollars over the next few years, at both ports to finance 80 percent of the cost to replace many of the 17,000 trucks that are a leading source of air pollution in the region, said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Richard D. Steinke.
　　"It is imperative that we begin collecting the fees so we can move forward and achieve our clean-air goals," Steinke said.
　　"The truck financing fee is a critical, long-planned part of our Clean Trucks Program to protect public health and improve air quality and security. With the current credit crisis, it will be impossible for most truckers to replace all their trucks without our financial assistance program."
　　Cargo owners are responsible for paying the fee before a container enters or leaves the port complex.
　　Starting Oct. 1, 2008, the ports banned all pre-1989 trucks due to the amount of pollution they generate. On Jan. 1, 2010, the ports will ban all pre-1994 trucks, as well as model year 1994 to 2003 trucks that have not been retrofitted to meet the port's emissions standards. www.hxen.net
　　"It's imperative that we start the program and continue the progress we have made to date in terms of banning pre-1989 trucks and accelerating the deployment of more than 2,200 2007-compliant trucks through our '2007 Compliant Incentive Program'," said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.
　　Collection of the clean-trucks fee was scheduled to begin in November but was delayed due to a review by the Federal Maritime Commission, the government agency that oversees the ports.