Op-Ed: Investing in clean trucks helps reduce supply chain air emissions in Puget Sound

A new report released this month by the Puget Sound Maritime Air Forum offers good news about efforts to reduce air pollution in the Puget Sound region.

The Puget Sound Emissions Inventory (PSEI) report finds an 82% decrease in diesel particulate matter and a 10% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from port and marine sources in the greater Puget Sound region since 2005. The PSEI is carried out every five years. The last inventory took place in 2021, in the middle of the COVID pandemic.

During this time, many people better understood the interconnectedness of our supply chain and the critical importance of a strong network for moving goods (including food, medicine and clothing) from one point to another. This is also where the commercial truck industry gained its indispensable industry status and faced the challenge of reducing emissions.

Although the commercial transportation industry – one of the largest links in the region's supply chain – is a key partner in the Air Forum initiative, it curiously mentions its investments in "cleaner engine technologies."

In fact, many owner/operators who regularly visit Puget Sound's ports have taken advantage of the opportunity to upgrade their trucks to newer, cleaner dump vehicles to work under the new port initiative. Unfortunately, things didn't go well.

Maintenance costs for new vehicles skyrocketed in the first year of ownership. George Mitchell, CEO of Mercer Logistics, was one of the WTA members that switched to a fleet of low-emission trucks.

In the first year of the new fleet, repairs increased by 168%. Over time, you would choose to lease trucks instead of buying them, which would reduce the initial financial burden.

"It was just one failure after another," he said of the new trucks. "It's not like we had a choice: [they] forced us. "Either we have the truck or we go bankrupt," he said. "The challenge now is to buy an electric truck for half a million dollars. How are we supposed to pay for this? said.

"As an entrepreneur, I am not against it, but the long-term economic aspects must be taken into account."

And therein lies the challenge: Transitioning to zero-emission vehicles requires significant capital, especially for small owner-operators who don't have the means to purchase multiple electric trucks (let alone one) for half a million dollars each. For many of the small operators who serve our ports every day, this is an important financial consideration.

Given the lack of charging stations for heavy vehicles and the time required to charge commercial vehicle batteries, infrastructure also remains a major issue. In this industry, time is literally money and this cost is likely to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

WTA remains an active partner in finding economical, sustainable and practical solutions to the challenges we face as we transition to the next generation of trucks. More resources (and a better understanding of the industry itself) will help make this transition easier for everyone.

Adblock test (Why?)