Coalition for Responsible Transportation Commends the Port of New York and New Jersey for Dirty Truck Phaseout

Port's Clean Air Initiative Will Significantly Reduce Diesel Pollution and Improve Air Quality in the Port Region

NEWARK, N.J., March 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Members of The Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT) joined the leadership of the Port of New York and New Jersey at a press conference today to announce CRT's strong support for the Port's adoption of an aggressive emission reduction program requiring the retirement of high-polluting trucks serving Port facilities.  

CRT is a national organization of leading importers, exporters, trucking companies and ocean carriers who represent the largest and most progressive customers and service providers at our nation's ports.  CRT member companies are committed to responsible stewardship of the environment and to taking leadership roles within their respective industries in the development of transportation related environmental initiatives.

When the Port announced plans to develop its Truck Emission Reduction Program (TERP), CRT began working collaboratively with the Port to support the adoption of hard targets for emission reductions to minimize health risks from diesel pollution.  CRT also worked with the Port to generate support from shippers and their providers to privately fund the replacement and retirement of older, more polluting trucks at our nation's ports with clean trucks based on the CRT clean truck financing model.

"We are very grateful for the CRT's support for our Truck Replacement and Phase Out Plans," said Port Commerce Director Rick Larrabee. "The CRT financing model achieved great success in helping truckers acquire new vehicles to meet the requirements of the Clean Truck Plans in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  We have been in contact with the CRT throughout the development of our own truck plan, and we look forward to their financing model achieving similar success at the Port of New York and New Jersey."  

"Since we use these ports every day, it is important to retailers like Lowe's that successful clean truck programs are enacted at our nation's ports," said Dean Tracy, Director of International Transportation for Lowe's, which is a CRT member.  "This initiative has our full support as we feel it is another important way companies can reduce their footprint by replacing high-polluting trucks at the ports with cleaner solutions to transport products from the shore to our distribution facilities," Tracy continued.

"The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has done an excellent job of working with their customers and stakeholders to adopt a truck program that will reduce pollution while providing flexibility and incentives to port users to deploy clean equipment in a manner that works best for their specific business models," said Peter Keller, Executive Vice President of NYK Group Americas, Inc., which is also a CRT member.

Gerry Coyle, Vice President of Environmental and Sustainable Operations for CRT member Evans Network, has over 200 drayage trucks in service at the Port, and described how trucking companies will be working to support their drivers' transition to clean equipment: "We believe that our owner operator partners will be excited about this opportunity. For the most part, they live and work in or near the port community. As a result, they are very interested in the health issues caused by lower air quality and want to help improve the environment," said Coyle.

The dirty truck ban announced by the Port will have the dual benefit of reducing air quality impacts on human health and the environment from diesel particulate emissions while also reducing maritime-related contribution to greenhouse gas emissions like nitrogen oxide (NOx) that are associated with climate change.

It is important to note that the TERP was developed in coordination with both industry and community, and recognizes the urgent need to take aggressive steps towards improving the air quality from maritime activities at the Port.  

Just as importantly, the TERP also recognizes the need for New York and New Jersey to remain an economically attractive gateway for maritime trade in order to attract the needed private sector investment to deploy the clean equipment that will be needed to reach the TERP's emission reduction goals.

Now that the Port has adopted its Truck Emission Reduction Program, CRT and its members look forward to continuing to work with the port to demonstrate our full commitment to meeting the air quality goals that have been adopted by the Port.  

About the Coalition for Responsible Transportation:

Since its inception in 2007, the Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT) has grown to include leading importers, exporters, trucking companies and ocean carriers who represent the largest and most progressive customers and service providers at our nation's ports.  

CRT member companies are committed to driving change that will result in significant improvements in air quality and has been involved in the development and implementation of industry-supported clean truck programs around the country. The private sector members of CRT are investing millions of dollars in the deployment of new, clean equipment in partnership with federal and state governments, and local ports around the country.

CRT's membership in comprised of national shippers including Target, Best Buy, Converse, Dunavant Enterprises, Gap Inc., The Home Depot, HP, JC Penney, Lowe's, Nike, and Wal-Mart Stores; ocean carriers including NYK Group Companies, Hanjin Shipping, and "K" Line America; and drayage providers and equipment manufacturers including California Multimodal, LLC, Container Connection, Expeditors International, The Evans Network, Green Fleet Systems, GSC Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport, PDS Trucking, Performance Team, Southern Counties Express, Total Transportation Services, Inc., and Westport.

SOURCE Coalition for Responsible Transportation