(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on November 20, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Surface Transportation Board approved an equipment-pooling plan at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for a group of motor carriers operating in the Clean Truck Coalition.
The pooling plan has been opposed by the Teamsters union, among others, on grounds that it would allow the CTC member motor carriers “to coordinate and set prices both for what they charge and what they pay to drivers,” the STB said in its decision.
Other comments showed a concern that a sharing of CTC’s 626 trucks that meet port requirements for low-emission vehicles could allow it to restrain competition within the larger clean truck program those ports are pursuing, in which over 6,000 trucks have been registered by many participants.
One issue was whether the STB should have a hearing before deciding the case, but the three-person board unanimously ruled it did not have to, since the members concluded that “the proposed agreement is not of major transportation importance” at those ports and “would not unreasonably restrain competition.”
CTC has just a small market share of clean trucks at the ports, the board said, and its 10 member carriers haul less than 10 percent of truck-carried containers for those facilities.
The STB also rejected arguments that CTC members could collude to fix prices, but said it will “retain jurisdiction to require the submission of additional information should the board find it necessary in the future.” If it at some point finds the pooling arrangement hurts competition unduly, the board could suspend all or part of it down the road.