EPA Pushes for Newer Trucks at Port

The Environmental Protection Agency wants truckers to ditch their older, exhaust-belching semis in an effort to improve air quality at the nation’s ports.

To make that happen, the federal agency, along with the South Carolina State Ports Authority and port customers, are putting up millions of dollars in incentives to push drayage truckers at the Mount Pleasant Wando Terminal, as well as all its other terminals, to spend major cash on new rigs.

“By helping the trucks that service our ports become cleaner, we can make the air in and around our nation’s ports – and that the truckers themselves breathe – healthier for everyone,” said Gina McCarthy, EPA assistant administrator, during an announcement Tuesday in Mount Pleasant.

The EPA is targeting dray trucks, the diesel semis that haul multiple loads daily from boats to storage yards. Port officials believe at least 250 dray trucks that service Wando are 17 years old or older, and are likely contributing to poor air quality.

The SmartWay Drayage Program encourages retailers, that have goods shipped into the port, to do 75 percent or more of their business with SmartWay approved truckers by 2014. Those retailers will pay a premium for truckers who have newer, less-polluting trucks.

“We’re going to work with truck owners to find the rationale to upgrade to a 2004 model year or newer,” said Jim Newsome, port president and CEO. “They’ll get a combination of some upfront money for a down payment and then … low-interest loans and favorable financing.”

The goal is to cut particulate matter pollutants and nitrogen oxide emissions over the next three years, according to the EPA. The initiative has eight retailers on board, including Target, Home Depot and Walmart.

“It’s as simple as matching green suppliers with green demand,” McCarthy said. “We found retailers who are concerned about their environmental footprint who are willing to make a commitment to do business, even at slightly higher costs, with those truckers who are willing to clean up their vehicles.”

The retailers do not get a government incentive, but McCarthy said some will see reduced costs because newer diesel trucks are more fuel-efficient.

Older trucks won’t be barred from the port. The partner retailers can still do some business with older dray truck operators. The port needs plenty of dray trucks as it continues to grow, but port officials want to provide an incentive to upgrade.

“Older trucks tend to gravitate to the ports. … We need that truck capacity,” Newsome said. “We’re doing this in the mindset of assisting them, not just saying their trucks can’t come in the port any more.”

The Wando Terminal is the first U.S. port to take part in the SmartWay Drayage Program. Officials hope it will be duplicated elsewhere.

Truckers who want to particpate must operate a vehicle made after 2004 and they must over three years track and reduce particulate matter pollutants by 50 percent and nitrogren oxides emissions by 50 percent below the industry average.

One trucker said earning more money, along with the financial assistance, makes upgrading his truck attractive, though he estimates a new rig could cost him $80,000 or more.

“It doesn’t sound like a bad deal,” said Kenneth Scott, a Ravenel trucker who hauls loads from the Wando Terminal daily in his 1995 Freightliner. “Making more money at the port could help, especially since so many people aren’t paying as much as they used to.”