SB 974, authored by state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, proposes a fee (fine) of $ 30 on each TEU moving through the ports of Long beach, Los Angeles and Oakland. The bill is aimed at easing congestion and pollution in California port communities, but is threatened by a Governor Schwarzenegger veto. Word has it that the governor doesn’t want to antagonize the retail industry while he is promoting a package of changes in the state’s healthcare system.

Those in favor of the fee (fine), for one reason or another …

• Senator Lowenthal, of course …
• The Coalition for Clean Air …
• The California Air Resources Board …

Those opposed to the fee (fine), for one reason or another …

• Governor Schwarzenegger …
• Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa …
• The Waterfront Coalition …
• Retailers (e.g. Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, etc.) …
• International ocean carriers …
• Agricultural interests …

Everyone seems to have a dog in this fight, and no matter who wins, the losers will have permanent scars. It all comes down to health and wealth, of course, and in neither case is there much room for compromise. The sure loser, however, will be the ones at the end of the supply chain. Right?

With this questionable fee (fine) being debated, here’s something we found on March 31, 2000, in one of the industry’s most reliable periodicals, “The Journal of Commerce”:

“At West Coast ports,” the writer states, “ the labor cost involved in moving a single container from the vessel to the chassis is about $ 60. The container is then ready to be picked up by a trucker.

“However, if the container is moved from the ship to a stack, it costs the terminal operator an additional $ 40 in labor costs to sift through the stacks and deliver the container to the trucker …

“Also, since each trucker arrives at a terminal to pick up a specific loaded import box, longshoremen usually must move containers around to get to the one that is needed.”

[Those $ 40 labor cost add-ons are the key. By retrofitting our patented storage, retrieval and delivery systems at California terminals, there’d be no need to argue about container fees (fines). Because our systems require no container shuffling, unnecessary $ 40 labor costs would not be incurred, and the money saved could properly be diverted to combat congestion and pollution.]