Oakland, Calif., Port Opens Terminal for Night Hours

Aug. 25–The Port of Oakland, a key destination for much of California’s farm products, will open one of its terminals during some night hours in a move aimed at coping with peak-hour traffic congestion and concerns over air quality.

The proposal drew strong support from a half-dozen Valley truckers and an air district official who talked with port officials by phone Wednesday at offices of the Nisei Farmers League in Fresno.

Much the same response occurred when about a dozen farm leaders met in the same conference room with port officials this month.

Ray King, director of the port’s maritime division, on Wednesday asked the truckers if they supported the pilot program called “night gate.”

“One thousand percent,” replied Peter Schneider, vice president and general manager of TGS Transportation Inc. in Fresno.

“Anything you can do to get [truckers] in and out quicker will be like a gold mine,” said Jim Ganduglia, operations manager for Ganduglia Trucking in Fresno and chairman of the environmental policy committee of the California Trucking Association.

The port is the nation’s fourth largest. More than $1 billion of agricultural products are shipped through it each year, about 75 percent of the state’s produce.

King emphasized that “night gate” is an exploratory effort that will last “two or three months.”

The port has eight terminals. Only one — SSA Terminal 57-59 — will be open from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Monday through Friday starting Sept. 6.

“We will monitor this weekly,” King said. “It could continue if there is sufficient volume, about 300 transactions per day. If we determine the trial is not getting the level of support we need, we may have to terminate it.”

The cost of the added hours is $100,000 a week, he said, and the port “is underwriting this effort.”

In July, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach added night and weekend shifts under a program called PierPASS. But those ports began charging a “traffic mitigation fee” for cargo movement during peak hours. The Port of Oakland does not plan to charge such a fee.

King said that if the port’s experiment and its outreach to agricultural shippers proves successful, another section of the port would open to night handling of cargo for “big-box retailers.”

Truckers raised some concerns about the night operation. They want to assure port workers will be available to respond to paperwork glitches that may happen when a delivery is made. Some questioned how responsive steamship lines will be to early morning inquiries.

They also were uncertain whether drivers would welcome the idea of a change to night hours, despite the apparent promise of less time spent idling in traffic and jockeying through crowded freeways. Some talked of the prospect of paying a night differential as an enticement.

Manuel Cunha Jr., who heads the Nisei Farmers League, said a funding source will likely be sought to help with added costs that could develop, such as night pay or compensation to the port for maintaining the added hours.

Cunha said he has talked with Steve Johnson, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about the “night gate” effort, as well as with representatives of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the San Francisco Bay Area Air Quality District.

Tom Jordan, project adviser with the San Joaquin Valley district, told those at Wednesday’s meeting that some money could be sought from the West Coast Diesel Emission Reduction Collaborative.

“We should be able to find funds for such an innovative program,” he said.

David Jackson, a principal in Family Tree Farms in Reedley who attended the Aug. 12 meeting, said night deliveries should cut down on use of fuel, reduce traffic jams and take less of a toll on equipment.

“This should be a win for everybody,” he said. “Some are wondering why it was not done years ago.”

Fresno County Farm Bureau President Pat Ricchiuti said the plan should “get perishable commodities to the port in a more efficient manner.”

He said there have been times when truckers delayed in traffic and had to “sit overnight until 7 the next morning.” Generators were used to keep fruit cool during the delay.

“It’s up to us and it’s up to the port to make this work,” Ricchiuti said.

Dean Nelson, general manager of Harris-Woolf California Almonds in Coalinga, said the trial program “is a great example of how those in agriculture work with other industry members to be good stewards of the land and the environment, and to be more efficient.”

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