A coalition of shipping industry customers and service providers are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in clean trucks at ports in Southern California and across the nation to improve air quality, said the Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT).

"It has therefore been disappointing, in the wake of the recent legal settlement between the Port of Long Beach and the American Trucking Association, to read the assertions made by critics of the shipping community that private industry is somehow opposed to efforts to improve air quality at ports in Southern California," CRT said in an Oct. 26 press release.

Labor unions and allies in the environmental community have spread false statements about the Long Beach Clean Truck Program because Long Beach did not adopt a Port of Los Angeles requirement that would make it easier to unionize port truck drivers. The Port of Los Angeles never implemented the mandate because a U.S. District Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that it was illegal.

CRT noted overwhelming support for the Ports' environmental goals. "As a result of industry efforts, dirty trucks are being taken off the road and the air is getting cleaner - years ahead of the Ports' very aggressive timelines," said CRT. What's more, the overwhelming majority of the cost of truck replacement has been absorbed by the shipping community through higher trucking rates, instead of incentive programs sponsored by the Ports.

"In fact, in a recent press release celebrating the first anniversary of the Clean Truck Program, Mayor Villaraigosa commended the private sector investment being made at the Ports, saying 'We very much appreciate the support and cooperation of the port trucking companies who have aggressively accelerated their investment in clean truck fleets,'" said CRT.

CRT companies have instituted innovative practices that have provided the financial support to finance truck replacement for both employee drivers and for the thousands of small business owners who serve our port as independent drivers. These programs range from down-payment assistance and forgiveness programs to low-interest lease-to-own programs that provide independent drivers to with a lower truck payment than they would have been able to find on their own, said CRT.