VANCOUVER — As it said it would do earlier this year, the Vancouver Port Authority is implementing tough environmental standards for truckers applying for a licence to access the ports.

The (VPA) says its new policy, which kicks-in Jan. 1, 2008, is the “most demanding container truck safety and environmental licensing standard in North America.”

The port’s Truck Licensing System (TLS) will prohibit “substandard” trucks on port property.

New port rules also include a
mandatory idle reduction provision.

After Jan. 1, the VPA will no longer allow access to container trucks older than 1989. By Jan. 1, 2009, the VPA will prohibit container trucks older than 1994 from entering the port.

Enforcement will be three-tiered, based on warnings and then suspensions, and, for the most serious offences over time, cancellation of a company’s truck licence.

Other provisions address opacity, idling and driver education. To qualify for a TLS after Jan. ’08, trucking companies will be required to pass increasingly stringent annual opacity checks conducted by provincially certified facilities and pass random checks throughout the year.

The Port will also enforce a new mandatory idle reduction provision on and around port property and introduce a compulsory annual driver education component to the truck licence.

The TLS will include an appeals process to consider older trucks that have been retrofitted to meet acceptable alternatives to reduce emissions.

“With our new TLS version, the VPA is following through on the promise we made in April 2007 to introduce industry-leading container truck safety and environmental standards,” said Chris Badger, VPA president of Customer Development & Operations. “This new version of the TLS exceeds existing provincial environmental standards and raises the bar for container truck safety at the Port of Vancouver.”