Photo by Sarah Bennett.
Back in 2006, PierPass’s OffPeak program was created in response to the congestion crisis that occurred at the Ports of Long Beach (POLB) and Los Angeles (POLA) two years prior. Shifting some daytime traffic to night or weekend trips, PierPass has announced a milestone: the 30-millionth truck was just diverted.
An average OffPeak weeknight sees a staggering 17K trucks visit the container terminals at POLB and POLA. That’s a line of trucks 170 miles long, were the trucks put bumper-to-bumper. Were it not for the OffPeak program, those trucks would be on the 710 daily.
“The terminals here have been delivering cargo reliably and without major disruptions since the 2004 congestion crisis that led to the creation of PierPass,” said PierPass President and CEO Bruce Wargo in a statement. “Terminal operators continue to innovate to keep cargo moving quickly as industry conditions change.”
Thirteen international container terminals agreed to operate additional hours to help the OffPeak program become a reality—and all with no taxpayer funding. According to PierPass, the OffPeak program has nearly doubled capacity at the ports while alleviating traffic on the 710.
“While port congestion has increased worldwide, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are handling these pressures better than most of the other major ports in North America and Europe,” Wargo said. “One reason LA/Long Beach works is because the OffPeak program nearly doubled the capacity of the ports in 2005.”