PierPass Says Night Hours Working Well at So. Calif. Ports

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or a second straight week, PierPass Inc., a company created by marine terminal operators at the Ports and Long Beach and Los Angeles, reported that new night-shift hours at the ports has helped efficiency and has the support of truckers at the ports.

PierPass said Friday that trucks arriving to pick up or drop off containers during “OffPeak” night shifts are spending less than 30 minutes on average inside the terminal gates, comparable to peak-hour turn times.

Once outside the gates, the trucks are able to travel in relatively light nighttime and Saturday traffic during the OffPeak shifts, PierPass said.

PierPass created the OffPeak program in late July to relieve congestion in and around the ports. In its first four weeks of operation, the program diverted more than 188,000 truck trips out of peak-hour weekday traffic, PierPass said.

In a separate survey, a majority of the 126 truck drivers interviewed by PierPass said they have experienced an improvement in traffic flow since the OffPeak program began on July 23, and said the program has allowed them to make more cargo deliveries in a shift.

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