West Coast Ports to Make Drivers Display Licenses

WASHINGTON — All truck drivers doing business at West Coast ports will be required to display their commercial driver licenses to get onto port property, according to interim security guidelines soon to be announced by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The guidelines requested by port captains along the Pacific coast will require thousands of truck drivers to display or turn over for inspection their CDLs, intermodal experts said last week at a Coast Guard conference dealing with port security.

Currently, getting permission to access maritime facilities can vary from port to port, but most truck drivers can enter without showing any identification, said Gregory Owen, president of Tri-Modal Distribution Services in Long Beach Calif.

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