Port of LA Awards $6 Million Toward Zero-Emissions Trucking

Image via Port of Los Angeles.

Two Los Angeles area trucking firms have each received $3 million from the Port of Los Angeles to hasten the move to zero-emission drayage trucks, the port announced Dec. 20. 

To be eligible for the incentive, MLI Leasing in Gardena and Performance Team in El Segundo are each working with an equipment manufacturer.

MLI, with Peterbilt, plans to spend more than $3.4 million to make and put out 12 ZE trucks. Performance Team, with Volvo, is spending over $5.6 million to produce and deploy 10 ZE trucks, according to the port.

The port’s grants are expected to offset the cost of putting into service 22 pre-production emissions-free models at the port next year, with each vehicle required to perform at least 50 drayage trips a year to port terminals.

“This is just one of the incentives we are offering to accelerate zero-emission technology and drive stakeholder investment,” Port Executive Director Gene Seroka said. “We have a long way to go but with our private and public partners, we can reduce greenhouse gases and meet our 2035 goal of transitioning the entire fleet serving our port complex to zero-emission trucks.” 

The grants come from money collected through the Clean Truck Fund. In April, the port began collecting $10 for every loaded TEU processed through the port by truck. Los Angeles anticipates raising $45 million within the first 12 months.

ZE trucks are exempt from the rate, while trucks with low emissions of nitrogen oxides are exempt until Dec. 27, 2027, as long as they are registered in the San Pedro Bay Ports’ Drayage Truck Registry by the end of this year. 

As of Jan. 1, 2023, all trucks coming to the San Pedro Bay ports must be 2010 or newer.

By Karen Robes Meeks