The 'Clean Trucks Program' introduced at the Port of Long Beach in California to enforce the use low exhaust emission trucks, has yielded a sharp drop in particulate matter in the local atmosphere. A recent report shows a cut in diesel particulates of 81 per cent since 2005.
The results for 2012 mark six straight years of improving air quality in the harbour area thanks to the Port's efforts to reduce air pollution caused by goods movements. January 1, 2012 was the deadline for full implementation of the Clean Trucks Program, under which the Port of Long Beach terminals began banning older rigs on October 1, 2008.
The first ban included trucks with 1988 or older engines. On January 1, 2010, the Port banned 1993 and older trucks. Trucks manufactured between 1994 and 2003 were allowed to continue doing business at the Port if they were equipped with exhaust filters which significantly cut their emissions. Nearby, the Port of Los Angeles had the same bans under its own Clean Truck Program.
By 2012, the program banned permanently the last remaining older, more polluting trucks from Port terminals. In 2013 virtually all of the 11,000 trucks entering the Port on a daily basis are 2007 models or newer.
Compared to 2005 emissions levels, all of the key air pollutants from port-related sources were reduced in 2012. In addition to the drop in diesel emissions, smog-forming nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides reduced 54 per cent and 88 per cent respectively. Greenhouse gases were lowered by 24 per cent. The reduction in pollutants has outpaced a 10 percent decline in containerised cargo over the same period.
“We've been aggressively pursuing cleaner air for a long time and as you can see from these numbers, we are succeeding,” said Thomas Fields, President of the Long Beach Board of Harbour Commissioners. “We’ve committed to do even more, to continue to reduce air pollution and its health effects.”
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