Port of Seattle may offer $7M in rent breaks to help cut diesel soot

The Port of Seattle wants to give $7 million in rent breaks to companies that run its cargo terminals in exchange for help in banning the dirtiest trucks from Port property.

The rent concessions are crucial to the Port's long-awaited plan to cut diesel soot from 1,800 short-haul trucks that move freight from the Seattle waterfront to nearby rail yards and warehouses.

Neighborhoods near the Port of Seattle, such as Georgetown, want the big rigs to stop idling on their streets. Port commissioners want drivers — most of whom are immigrants and low-wage independent contractors — to buy newer, cleaner trucks.

But for two years Port officials have struggled with a dilemma: how to get drivers out of their old trucks and into less-polluting ones; and how to keep dirty trucks from working the waterfront.

The Port proposal calls for three terminal operators to become gatekeepers who would prohibit the most polluting trucks, those built before 1994, from picking up and delivering Port cargo. The plan also creates a fund for buying and scrapping old trucks.

"This proposal protects jobs and our environment," said Port Commission President Bill Bryant. The panel is to vote on the plan Tuesday.

But critics say the Port plan is a giveaway to profitable companies and an unfair burden on low-wage truckers, who might just take their diesel soot to ports in Tacoma, Olympia and Everett.

"We think it's well-intentioned but a waste of taxpayer money," said Heather Weiner, spokeswoman for the national Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, which is led by unions and environmental groups.

The King County Labor Council, People for Puget Sound, Sierra Club and two dozen other labor and social-justice groups have joined Weiner's coalition in criticizing the Port proposal.

"We are disappointed that the Port's proposed clean-truck plan puts ultimate responsibility on people with the least money and market power in Port trucking, that's the drivers," said Karen Deal, political director of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21.

Port officials say the rent breaks are needed because the recession has reduced Port cargo 37 percent from a year ago. Shipping lines, terminal operators and big retailers they serve — such as Target and Wal-Mart — want financial relief and already are getting it from ports such as Los Angeles, which recently trimmed some of its cargo-handling fees.

The Port hopes the rent breaks will lure cargo to Seattle; or, at least keep the Port from losing freight to West Coast competitors.

More importantly, Port officials also hope to use the $7 million in concessions as a lever to get cleaner air.

The $7 million is divided into two parts: $2.5 million in direct rent cuts; and $4.6 million in deferred rent payments, money the Port would eventually get.

Keeping pre-1994 trucks out of the Port is just one piece of the plan.

The Port wants to buy about 300 old trucks and scrap them. It has proposed a $1.5 million fund — to be doled out in stipends of up to $8,300 — to purchase polluting trucks from drivers.

It's hoped the buyback plan would lead some drivers to change careers, which could thin the fleet of short-haul trucks and make the work more profitable for the remaining drivers.

For drivers who want to stay in the business, the Port wants to contribute about $800,000 to a nonprofit program that would retrofit post-1994 trucks with cleaner technology and then sell or lease them to drivers at low interest rates.

The plan has several flaws, according to critics.

Port officials admit they have no guarantee rent concessions would attract more cargo or result in lower rates from terminal operators.

At the same time, the Port's plan may not appeal to drivers.

The $8,000 stipends in the buyback program aren't enough, Weiner said. Some drivers still owe more than that on their truck loans and wouldn't want to quit their jobs and still be in debt.

For others who take the stipend and want to stay in the business, the retrofit program would still leave them owing sizable amounts at a time when their incomes are shrinking. Moreover, the Port proposal skirts the main issue for Weiner's coalition. It wants trucking companies to take on the responsibility of buying and maintaining clean trucks. It also wants the firms to hire the drivers as employees, which would make it easier for the Teamsters to organize drivers.

Critics might be right that rent concessions won't do much to attract cargo, says Paul Bingham, a trade analyst with IHS Global Insight, an international economic-forecasting firm. Bingham says $7 million in concessions probably isn't enough to prompt shipping lines to change cargo routes.

But it is a potentially valuable gesture by the Port. "Some of this is less about actual dollars and more about the perception of the way Port authorities are interacting with customers, saying 'OK, we're going to share your pain and tighten our budgets.' "

Port Commissioner Lloyd Hara said he's sympathetic to truckers. "Especially to immigrant truckers because they probably have more limited ability to secure other jobs," Hara said.

But like Bryant, Hara said he's waiting for more details and answers from Port staff before he would decide on the plan.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com