Ports clean-up plan threatened

My friend is a longshorman at Long Beach and always talks about the independant trucks coming in there. He's shocked that they are even allowed on the road they are in such bad shape. He said that occasionally law enforcement will come in there and setup a test site, which he said, ends up citing a large majority of them. Apparently though it does little to deter the drivers from bringing in their non-roadworthy trucks...

I think most of these drivers just go out and buy a used truck with a gazillion miles on it because they are cheap and it gets them into the container hauling business. I think the article is a little off base thinking they would replace their $5000 trucks with one that is brand new. I think they could probably spend $10-$20K and have a truck that would be 100% better than the piece of junk they are currently driving.

 

no they would not buy a newer truck. if the gov gave them 100,000 dollars. they would go buy another 5,000 dollar truck,hire a cowboy trucker,call him a contractor,don't take out taxes,pollute more air , and then he would say i'm a biiiiiiig time trucker trucking company.. oh .. the other 90,000 dollars would be gone in a few weeks after he pays for the damage from his newly hired cowboy trucker....

 

Cybergal this thread hits the target big time!

I wanted to link an article from the CDTOA's Transportation magazine but it is not out online yet.

Anyways it was quoting an article from the L.A. Times about some poor Port driver named Miguel and his concerns because if DOT catches him, he'll be shut down (those of you who know what goes on with the Port drivers are shedding tears with me...NOT!).

These guys want our sympathy but let's see why they deserve what they get:

• They drive like they are on the Fontana 200 without regard to other drivers
• They drive in the #1 and #2 lanes on the 710, the 405, and the 110 (on the 710 out of the harbor past Pico the trucks are 3 deep and the SOB's try to cut each other off and block other drivers as well)
• They have under-cut every other driver and in doing so, most of the trucks you see are POS COE Freightliners held together by baling wire and duct-tape; they'll hide frame cracks with mud (Miguel's admission)

I'm not against anyone who is out to make money but when someone under-cuts, drives a pos and gets caught by the DOT Tough S***. This is the same group who came in and basically F***** up the dump truck business in CA as well. This is one good thing about CARB. I hope every one of those thieving under-cutting Bas***ds are put out of business. Maybe one day the trucks will be clean, the drivers will drive safe, and the rates will once again be profitable for an O/O who wants to make a good living and not screw everyone else.

If the OTR drivers are considered to be the "Knights of the Highway", the port drivers who operate like the aforementioned are the "Highwaymen" or "Thieves of the Freeways"

/Rant off

 

An example of a "road worthy" Harbor rig: