PierPASS OffPeak Program Diverts a Million Truck Trips from Daytime Los Angeles Traffic
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Thanks in part to the program's success, shipments flowed smoothly through the ports during the peak autumn shipping period, allowing retailers to keep their shelves well-stocked during the critical holiday shopping season. Prior to the introduction of OffPeak, a surge of imports created bottlenecks at the port complex in 2004, delaying Christmas shipments. This led some importers to threaten to bypass the ports and take their business elsewhere if the situation failed to improve.
OffPeak reached its million-truck milestone on Dec. 10, 2005. Since the start of the program, between 30 percent and 35 percent of container cargo at the ports has moved during the new OffPeak shifts on a typical day. The program is well ahead of its targets: when launching OffPeak in July, PierPASS said it aimed to shift 15 percent to 20 percent of all cargo movement to OffPeak shifts by the end of the first full year of operation, and 30 percent to 35 percent by the end of the second year.
"We are very pleased to have helped facilitate the better use of port facilities in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and we want to thank all those cargo stakeholders who have supported our efforts," said PierPASS Inc. President and CEO Bruce Wargo.
Area commuters have reported a noticeable decrease in traffic congestion on roads near the port. As of mid-October, northbound truck traffic on Interstate 710 during peak hours had dropped an estimated 24 percent since the introduction of OffPeak, according to a study by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA). On a typical day, more than 10,000 trucks use the new OffPeak shifts -- enough to stretch from Long Beach to San Diego if lined up end-to-end.
Taking trucks out of stop-and-go daytime traffic and letting them move at night in faster-flowing traffic is also expected to have a positive impact on air quality around the ports.
In addition to reducing gridlock, OffPeak has helped with job creation and retention at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Marine terminals operating at the ports have hired hundreds of additional workers to move cargo since the inception of OffPeak, including more than 300 new high-paying union jobs at the terminals.
The OffPeak program was launched with the support of state and local political leaders, local communities and cargo owners to reduce congestion in and around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest port complex in the United States and the fifth-largest in the world. In 2000, nearly $200 billion worth of goods moved through the ports, generating more than $16 billion in state and local taxes and creating 2 million jobs throughout the country.
Under the OffPeak program, all international container terminals in the two ports have established five new shifts per week (Monday through Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.). As an incentive to use the new OffPeak shifts, a Traffic Mitigation Fee is now required for most cargo movement during peak hours (Monday through Friday, 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.).
About PierPASS
PierPASS is a not-for-profit company created by marine terminal operators to reduce congestion and improve air quality in and around the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. Detailed information on PierPASS, the OffPeak program, the Traffic Mitigation Fee (including who must pay it, when it must be paid, payment methods, and credit account information) is available at www.pierpass.org.