Ports’ Off-Peak Cargo Program Gets a Strong Rollout

A plan designed to move more cargo through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach at night and on Saturdays is off to an unexpectedly brisk start.

Officials are counting on the program, which began Saturday and is known as OffPeak, to reduce the number of trucks trundling to and from the ports on local freeways during daytime rush hours. It’s also aimed at speeding the movement of cargo through the nation’s busiest seaport complex and curtailing seaborne traffic jams.

From 6 p.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Wednesday, about 29% of truck-borne cargo movement at the complex -- or about 23,200 truck trips -- shifted from day to night hours.

The number far exceeded even the most optimistic expectations for the program, which is the first of its kind at a major U.S. port. PierPass, the nonprofit group created to administer the program, had hoped to shift 15% to 20% of the truck traffic to night hours by the summer of 2006.

“I think we’re in pretty good shape. We are very, very encouraged by the numbers,” said Bruce Wargo, chief executive of PierPass.

The promising results were achieved even though PierPass decided to waive a new $40-to-$80 surcharge for peak-hour cargo movement to avoid complications during the first few days. The surcharge, designed to give shippers an economic incentive to join the program, is set to begin today.

“I think it’s pretty impressive for just getting started,” John Husing, an Inland Empire-based economist familiar with the area’s network of warehouses and distribution centers, said of the initial results. “The companies are responding to it.”

Fears that some truckers would refuse to work at night and that few businesses would be open to receive cargo have been unfounded.

For neighboring residents, however, concerns over nighttime noise and pollution from diesel trucks appear to have some merit.

“There was a noticeable increase in the noise level,” said Roger Holman, past president of the Coolidge Triangle Homeowners Assn., whose members live between the 91 and 710 freeways, popular routes for port-bound trucks.

“When are they going to stop expanding to the detriment of the community?”

OffPeak was a response to last year’s massive traffic jam that kept as many as 94 ships waiting for as long as a week to unload their goods at the ports. Besides hiring thousands of dockworkers, officials also decided to keep the complex’s gates open virtually around the clock weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. Previously, the gates were open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and were locked weekends.

Currently there is no congestion at the twin ports, even though the amount of cargo they are handling is running ahead of last year’s record pace.

There were 38 ships at the ports Thursday morning, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. That’s far fewer than the 87 that were there a year ago -- most of them waiting at sea for space at the docks to open up.