PierPass December 2015 Newsletter

Posted on December 29, 2015 by admin

PierPass Monthly Transaction Data
Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of November 2015.

Average in-terminal turn time:
50.3 minutes day shift
51.9 minutes night shift

For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in October 2015 was 46.3 minutes for the day shift and 48.3 minutes for the night shift.

In-terminal turn time is the average amount of time a truck is inside a terminal to complete a transaction. Truck activity information is derived from RFID data, and excludes lunch hour, breaks and trouble tickets. Turn time at individual terminals will vary depending on time of day and other factors. For more information about turn times and how we measure them, please see our Q&A at http://goo.gl/PiOjBp.

Average daily moves per truck for frequent callers* in November:
5 or more moves per day: 5%
4 moves per day: 12%
3 moves per day: 28%
2 moves per day: 36%
1 move per day: 19%

*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In November, 17% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.

Gate moves during Peak and OffPeak/exempt shifts in November:
Total Peak gate moves: 340,883 (57%)
Total OffPeak/Exempt gate moves: 261,599 (43%)

A gate move occurs when a container enters or leaves a marine terminal via the truck gates. Peak shifts are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. OffPeak shifts are Monday through Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday night and Sunday shifts, which are not regularly scheduled, are considered “exempt.”

Note:
Terminals were closed for the OffPeak shift on December 4 for an ILWU Stop Work meeting.

PierPass November 2015 Newsletter

Posted on November 30, 2015 by admin

Average in-terminal turn time:
46.3 minutes day shift
48.3 minutes night shift

For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in September 2015 was 47.0 minutes for the day shift and 51.2 minutes for the night shift.

Average daily moves per truck for frequent callers* in October:
5 or more moves per day: 7%
4 moves per day: 13%
3 moves per day: 28%
2 moves per day: 34%
1 move per day: 18%

*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In October, 20% of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.

Gate moves during Peak and OffPeak/exempt shifts in October:
Total Peak gate moves: 388,975 (58%)
Total OffPeak/Exempt gate moves: 286,600 (42%)

Note:
Terminals were closed for the OffPeak shift on October 1 for an ILWU Stop Work meeting.

PierPass Briefs Washington Regulators and Shipper Associations

Posted on November 23, 2015 by admin

Dear Users of OffPeak Gates,

PierPass Inc. issued the following press release this morning:

PierPass Briefs Washington Regulators and Shipper Associations

LONG BEACH, Calif., November 23, 2015—PierPass Inc. and marine terminal operator leaders conducted a series of meetings in Washington, DC last week with the Federal Maritime Commission chairman, commissioners and staff. The meetings reviewed how conditions at the marine terminals in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have rebounded strongly since the congestion crisis a year ago.

The 13 container terminals continue to provide extensive availability of service to cargo owners moving their containers through the two adjacent ports. The terminals provided an average of 82 hours per week of truck gates in August, 84 hours per week in September, and 82 hours per week in October.

These hours of service include daytime gates Monday through Friday; four to five OffPeak gates on nights and Saturdays; flex gates, where terminals hire extra labor to open before the start of a regular shift or remain open during contractually-mandated meal breaks; and ad-hoc gates, where terminals open up for an extra night or weekend to accommodate customer needs.

Improved Cargo Velocity

The time it takes for terminals to retrieve and load import containers onto trucks or receive export containers from trucks is down sharply from its peak a year ago. Cargo is moving through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach at velocities not seen since the first half of 2014, before the congestion experienced during the second half of 2014.

For trucks picking up or dropping off containers at port terminals, in-terminal turn time in October averaged 48.3 minutes on OffPeak shifts, the lowest it has been since August 2014. Daytime in-terminal turn time in October averaged 46.3 minutes, the second-lowest it has been since June 2014. That is a significant drop from late 2014 through early 2015, when daytime and OffPeak turn times exceeded 60 minutes in some months.

Washington Delegation Reviews OffPeak Costs with FMC

The delegation from PierPass and terminal operators also used the meetings with the FMC as an opportunity to review the finances of PierPass Inc. and the OffPeak program. PierPass recently published an in-depth review of the methodology it uses to calculate the cost for the terminals to operate the OffPeak gates. The review is available at https://www.pierpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/PierPass-Financial-Overview_10-21-2015.pdf. The document also reviews the methodology used to audit PierPass Inc.

Meetings with Shippers Associations

While in Washington, the delegation provided similar updates to trade associations representing cargo owners, including the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Waterfront Coalition.

“These shipper meetings continue the extensive and ongoing outreach that the marine terminal operators and PierPass conduct with industry partners,” said PierPass Inc. President John Cushing.

Among other activities, the terminal operators and PierPass participate in the Supply Chain Optimization initiative of the two ports, working with cargo owners, trucking companies, various associations and the ports to share information and initiate programs.

About PierPass
PierPass is a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach to address multi-terminal issues such as congestion, air quality and security. To learn what it takes for a truck to drop off or pick up a container at a marine terminal, please see http://youtu.be/P9IJN1yIIJ4. For additional information, please see www.pierpass.org.

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California Political and Environmental Leaders Laud PierPass OffPeak Program for Decade of Impact

Posted on July 23, 2015 by admin

Program Diverts 34 Million Truck Trips From Los Angeles / Long Beach Peak Traffic Since 2005

LONG BEACH, Calif., July 23, 2015 – PierPass Inc. today celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the OffPeak Program, which established regular night and Saturday work shifts at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach, and pledged continuing efforts to minimize cargo-related congestion in and around the ports. Since July 23, 2005, OffPeak has taken 34 million truck trips out of daytime Southern California traffic and diverted them to less congested nights and weekends.

PierPass created OffPeak as a private sector solution to what was then a critical public problem: after a rapid rise in cargo volume in the early 2000s, drayage trucks were causing severe congestion on the roads and highways and in the neighborhoods around the ports, while thousands of idling trucks caught in this traffic every day added to air pollution. The ports came under strong community and political pressure to find a solution.

PierPass effectively doubles the capacity of the nation’s largest and busiest port complex without taxpayer money and without waiting for new infrastructure to be built. It enables the economic benefits of cargo transportation – which provides nearly 700,000 Southern California jobs and generates more than $10 billion in state and local taxes annually – while greatly mitigating the traffic and air quality impacts of the ports’ operations. OffPeak now regularly diverts about half of the roughly 150,000 weekly truck trips to nights and Saturdays.

“Heavy-duty trucks are the largest source of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions in our region,” explains South Coast Air Quality Management District Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein. “By decreasing the time that trucks are idling and stuck in traffic, the OffPeak program has helped to significantly improve air quality.”

The mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach hailed the OffPeak program’s achievements on its 10th anniversary.

“The OffPeak program has facilitated the continued growth of the Port of Long Beach,” said Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, “while lowering the adverse environmental impacts of their operations.”

“For the last decade, PierPass has instituted innovative and creative problem solving for the goods movement industry in Southern California,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Their program has helped to bring jobs to America’s #1 port, while helping us reduce our environmental footprint in the Harbor area.”

Congressman Alan Lowenthal, who introduced legislation to address truck congestion at the ports when he was an Assemblyman in the California Legislature, said, “Given the success of OffPeak, many don’t remember how bad it was at the ports in the years before the program’s creation. The OffPeak program really helped reduce the stress on port-adjacent communities and traffic on key freeways.”

Using a congestion pricing model, PierPass charges a Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) on weekday daytime cargo moves to incentivize cargo owners to use the OffPeak shifts. The TMF also helps pay for the cost of operating the OffPeak shifts, which upon introduction in 2005 roughly doubled the labor cost to handle the same amount of cargo. Container volume rose only 6% between 2005 and 2014.

On an average OffPeak weeknight, 13,500 trucks visit the marine container terminals at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. If all of these trucks were lined up bumper-to-bumper, they would form a line 145 miles long, stretching halfway to Las Vegas. Without the OffPeak program, this cargo would be crammed into a single day shift, doubling daytime volumes and once again causing severe congestion.

“We are proud of what we have accomplished with the OffPeak program, but we aren’t resting on our accomplishments,” said PierPass President John Cushing. “PierPass and the terminals are constantly working with our partners at the ports and others in the supply chain to improve the velocity of freight and reduce the environmental impact of port operations.”

About PierPass
PierPass is a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2005 to address multi-terminal issues such as congestion, air quality and security. To learn what it takes for a truck to drop off or pick up a container at a marine terminal, see http://youtu.be/P9IJN1yIIJ4. For additional information, please see www.pierpass.org.

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PierPass Customer Service Numbers:
877-863-3310 (from inside the United States)
1-973-355-3575 (from outside the United States)

PierPass Meets with Federal Maritime Commission and Industry Stakeholders To Address Congestion

Posted on November 18, 2014 by admin

LONG BEACH, Calif., November 17, 2014—PierPass Inc. executives have concluded meetings with the five Federal Maritime Commissioners (including Chairman Mario Cordero) and with FMC staff, briefing them on measures the marine terminal operator (MTO) members of PierPass are taking to address the current congestion issues in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. In a series of meetings late last week in Washington, D.C., PierPass also met with representatives from the National Retail Federation, the National Industrial Transportation League, the Waterfront Coalition, and the Agriculture Transportation Coalition to provide them with these updates.

PierPass Chairman Bruce Wargo and President John Cushing reported that the MTOs have been spending $3 million per week on additional and unbudgeted costs since September 1 to manage congestion. These expenditures include adding unscheduled gates and shifts; working overtime and through lunch and breaks; and paying truckers to move containers between terminals to load on-dock trains. The MTOs operated 73 additional gates (shifts open to truck traffic) in September, a 30% increase compared to the number of scheduled OffPeak gates, and 86 additional gates in October, a 33% increase.

PierPass also shared new initiatives its members are deploying to address chassis availability issues and to expand container delivery options to increase terminal productivity. These initiatives include the Free-Flow Program, which pre-positions large blocks of containers to enable quicker turn times for trucks picking up containers headed for a common destination.

The meetings provided an opportunity for PierPass to discuss recent calls for it to waive its Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF). The TMF offsets part of the cost of running the OffPeak Program, which has essentially doubled the capacity of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by running regular night and Saturday shifts. Charging the TMF on daytime cargo movement also provides the incentive to use the second shift.

The OffPeak program has successfully balanced the flow of trucks to the ports, which prior to OffPeak’s introduction in 2005 was causing severe daytime congestion on Southern California roads. In the meetings, PierPass cited its concerns that by waiving the TMF, the previous congestion problems would be reintroduced and would exacerbate the current congestion caused by a range of factors including shortages of available chassis.

“The meetings with the FMC were very constructive,” Cushing said. “We also found the meeting with the stakeholder representatives to be productive. Such discussions with a broad array of industry stakeholders, similar to meetings with our own Advisory Committee, help us focus on the real impediments to our common goal, which is to move cargo as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

PierPass October News and Updates

Posted on October 16, 2014 by admin

PierPass Monthly Transaction Data

Each month we provide a summary of the latest transaction data from marine terminal operators (MTOs) at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Below please find data from the month of September 2014.

Average in-terminal turn time:

52.1 minutes day shift
54.7 minutes night shift

For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in August 2014 was 49.1 minutes for the day shift and 48.1 minutes for the night shift.

September was a particularly difficult month. Truck turn times increased due to cargo volumes increasing, chassis shortages, and rail availability causing cargo delays and an increase in the average in-terminal truck turn times.

For more information about turn times and how we measure them, please see our Q&A at http://goo.gl/PiOjBp.

Frequent callers* average moves per day:

9% trucks 5 or moves per day
16% trucks 4 moves per day
31% trucks 3 moves per day
28% trucks 2 moves per day
16% trucks 1 move per day

*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In September, 25 percent of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.

Day vs. Night Gates:

Average daily number of day gate moves: 15,404
Average daily number of night gate moves: 18,079
Number of day shifts open: 25
Number of night shifts open: 15

The number of unique trucks calling on the ports in September was 10,389.

Note:

All terminals were closed for the Labor Day Holiday. Several terminals were closed due to the port fire September 22nd and 23rd.

To learn what it takes for a truck to drop off or pick up a container at a marine terminal, please see http://youtu.be/P9IJN1yIIJ4.

PierPass Names John Cushing as President

Posted on September 17, 2014 by admin

LONG BEACH, Calif., September 17, 2014 – PierPass Inc. has named as its new president John Cushing, a veteran transportation industry executive and leader.

Mr. Cushing’s role gives him responsibility for PierPass programs to relieve congestion and improve air quality at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Mr. Cushing takes over the role of president from Bruce Wargo, who has led PierPass since its founding in 2004 and remains CEO.

Mr. Cushing founded eModal in 1999 and served as its president through 2009. Under his leadership, eModal developed widely used online services to coordinate activities between marine terminals and trucking companies, beneficial cargo owners, and others in the supply chain. Mr. Cushing grew eModal into the nation’s largest port community system, used at 41 marine terminals in 14 ports on both U.S. coasts.

From 2009 through 2013, Mr. Cushing led development of SSIT, a greenfield container terminal project on the Cai Mep River in the south of Vietnam. Since returning to southern California, Mr. Cushing has been involved in various maritime business development projects, both domestically and internationally.

Mr. Cushing’s extensive experience in the transportation industry began when he worked as a steamship line agent with Barwil Agencies. Later, as marketing manager at the Port of Los Angeles, Mr. Cushing helped establish the Port’s heavy container corridor, including leading the effort to pass a state law enabling the corridor. Other initiatives included his role in developing the Port’s first on-dock intermodal facility.

“John’s leadership in services for terminal operators, trucking companies and cargo owners, along with his experience developing and managing a new international container terminal, put PierPass and the OffPeak Program in able hands,” Mr. Wargo said. Mr. Wargo has taken on the additional role of PierPass board chairman.

Under the OffPeak program, the 13 international container terminals at the two adjacent ports operate additional shifts on nights and Saturdays. Since 2005, PierPass OffPeak gates have grown to handle about 55 percent of daily truck-borne container traffic at the ports, diverting more than 30 million truck trips from weekday, daytime traffic in Los Angeles and Long Beach. OffPeak has greatly eased congestion on city streets and nearby freeways, and has reduced emissions from trucks idling outside of terminals and in traffic.

PierPass September News and Updates

Posted on September 16, 2014 by admin

PierPass Monthly Transaction Data

Average in-terminal turn time:

49.1 minutes day shift
48.1 minutes night shift

For comparison, the average in-terminal turn time in July 2014 was 48.7 minutes for the day shift and 49.2 minutes for the night shift.

For more information about turn times and how we measure them, please see our Q&A at http://goo.gl/PiOjBp.

Frequent callers* average moves per day:

9% trucks 5 or moves per day
18% trucks 4 moves per day
30% trucks 3 moves per day
27% trucks 2 moves per day
16% trucks 1 move per day

*The ports define frequent callers as trucks making one or more moves per weekday. Average moves per day by frequent callers tells us how many moves a truck can make if it is working every day. In August, 27 percent of frequent callers made four or more moves per day.

Day vs. Night Gates:

Average daily number of day gate moves: 14,605
Average daily number of night gate moves: 16,887
Number of day shifts open: 26
Number of night shifts open: 15

The number of unique trucks calling on the ports in August was 10,313.

Note:

All terminals were closed one night for the second shift for an ILWU Stop Work meeting on August 7.

To learn what it takes for a truck to drop off or pick up a container at a marine terminal, please see http://youtu.be/P9IJN1yIIJ4.

Marine Terminals at Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports to Power Docked Ships with Electricity by Year-End

Posted on May 20, 2013 by admin

LONG BEACH, Calif., May 21, 2013 – PierPass Inc. today announced that all 13 international cargo terminals at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach will be ready to deliver shore power to ships at berth by the end of this year, an investment that will significantly reduce air pollution in and around the ports.

The infrastructure to supply shore power – also known as cold ironing or Alternative Marine Power (AMP) – is being installed in support of clean air initiatives led by the two ports and the California Air Resources Board (ARB). ARB has mandated that by Jan. 1, 2014, half of all visits by container cargo, refrigerated cargo and cruise vessels must be powered by electricity. The rule applies to fleets making at least 25 visits per year to California ports.

Currently, most ships power themselves while at berth by continuously running on-board auxiliary diesel engines, during visits that typically last about 24 hours. Ships are the single largest source of port-related pollutants including particulate matter, oxides of sulfur and oxides of nitrogen. Shore power cuts air pollution from a ship at berth by 95 percent, according to the Port of Long Beach.

“Terminal operators are working hard to help the ports and ARB implement this important clean air measure,” said Bruce Wargo, president of PierPass. “As part of the ongoing innovations and investments that have made the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach the cleanest and most efficient in the country, the shore power initiative will deliver significant air quality benefits to port workers and nearby communities.”

Nearly half the terminals in the ports are already offering shore power in at least some of their berths. These include WBCT, TraPac, YTI and STS at the Port of Los Angeles, and Pier C60 (SSA) and ITS at the Port of Long Beach.

Working with the ports and ARB to enable shore power is only the latest measure taken by the marine terminal operators (MTOs) to improve air quality around the ports. PierPass and its member terminal operators continue to offer night gate operations that move truck traffic out of peak daytime hours, reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality. Terminals are currently offering 55 OffPeak gates across 13 terminals, in addition to 65 daytime gates, for a total of 120 gates per week for cargo pickup and delivery.

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