San Francisco Bay ports, especially the Port of Oakland, can anticipate steadily increasing levels of cargo, according to recent reports. This is good news for the region's economy, but could be bad news for the region's highways and air quality without some of the changes proposed in a recent conference. Titled "Faster Freight, Cleaner Air", conference cosponsors included the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District), the Port of Oakland (the Port), and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as shipping and engineering companies.
The air quality problem begins when ships enter the Bay, because their engines use heavy, dirty-burning fuel. Although much of the forklifts and other equipment used to move containers to and from the ships now operate on very clean diesel fuel and have advanced pollution control equipment, the many trucks that serve the Port use older, dirtier, but reliable, engines that are more economical to repair than replace. This is also true for freight locomotives on railroads serving the Port. Neighborhoods near the Port and along its access routes, particularly the I-880 corridor, are exposed to noise, pollution and congestion from the trains and trucks.
Trucks leaving the Port have a limited choice of routes, and some, like I-880, receive extremely heavy use by other traffic as well, creating conflict between trucks and other vehicles at peak traffic hours, and adding to congestion and the air pollution that results. Existing land uses make it difficult to expand these highways in many areas; railroads also face expansion difficulties in urban areas, while increased interest in passenger rail service to bypass highway congestion is creating competition for tracks. There is also significant truck traffic moving products from one part of the region to another, including cargo which arrives through one airport and is then transferred to another. Freight movement in and out of the Bay Area is being affected by this lack of capacity.
Nevertheless, more and more trucks will be using the limited highway capacity available, because warehouses and distribution centers are moving to the outer edges of the Bay Area, particularly east into the Central Valley. "Smart growth" policies emphasizing more intensive retail and housing use of inner Bay land are making land less affordable for space-consuming uses like warehousing, while response by neighborhoods to truck traffic may restrict areas available for distribution centers. The result is that goods move east from the Port to Central Valley warehouses, either by road or by rail, then often are trucked back to the Bay Area.
As one trucking representative noted, no trucker wants to sit in congested, rush-hour traffic. Commuters don't want their trips disrupted by an overheated truck blocking a freeway lane, either. Nobody wants the air pollution that results. However, trips from Central Valley distribution centers for delivery in the Bay Area during business hours may make these frustrating situations more common than anyone wishes, unless the region begins to plan with goods movement in mind. A Regional Goods Movement Study released at the conference by MTC summarized many of the problems and is the first step toward including these issues in the regional transportation planning process.
Several regional goals emerged from comments at the conference. A primary one was fewer miles traveled by "dirty" trucks. This can be accomplished either by reducing truck trips, which also helps congestion, or by using cleaner-operating trucks. A recent limit on truck idling and new emission standards adopted by CARB will contribute to this goal.
A second goal was fewer emissions in and near ports, whether from ships, railroad equipment or trucks. Mitigation measures for air quality impacts of the recent expansion at the Port have already begun to address this goal. The Air District has partnered with the Port on a $3 million effort to reduce truck emissions. Also, CARB has mandated use of cleaner fuel for harbor vessels and intrastate locomotives in the region by 2007.
The MTC Regional Goods Movement Study and speakers at the conference provided a number of specific suggestions for change:
Perhaps the most detailed proposal presented to the attendees at the conference was the Shafter Shuttle. This concept would provide an alternative to the congested ports in southern California by diverting some cargo to the Port of Oakland, which still has capacity, then moving the cargo south by rail directly to a distribution center in Shafter at the southern end of the Central Valley. From Shafter, goods would be moved by truck to Los Angeles/San Diego destinations and points in the Valley. The cargo containers would be refilled at Shafter with Central Valley products which must now be trucked to Los Angeles/Long Beach, and would return to the Port of Oakland for transfer either to ships or to rail lines running north and east. By renting space on existing rail lines between Oakland and Shafter, and running only between those two points, the proponents assert they can make the proposal economical and efficient. A similar shuttle is already used to move cargo between Seattle, Tacoma and Portland.
As Jim Ganduglia, President of Ganduglia Trucking, told the conference, "Ships, rail and trucking are joined at the hip." Economically and environmentally, they must be considered together. The conference was one opportunity for agencies and companies involved in shipping or in creating cleaner vehicles to share ideas and make connections that may improve both the environment and the economy.
Leslie Stewart
For more information:
Shafter Shuttle: John Guinn, City of Shafter, 661-746-6365
Gary Cardwell, Northwestern Container Services, 503-290-2214
Marilyn Sandifur, Port of Oakland, 510-627-1193; http://www.shafter.com/cilc/news.htm
New technology: Diesel Technology Forum, http://www.dieselforum.org
Clean Cities, http://www.ccities.doe.gov