AWO cries foul over Newsom administration decision to enforce emissions rules for harbor craft but not truck and rail

On January 30, American Waterways Operators (AWO) sent a letter to controversial Governor Gavin Newsom urging him to withdraw 2022 environmental amendments to the commercial harbor craft (CHC) rule.

Earlier in January, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) withdrew its requests to enforce emissions rules for the state’s truck and rail industries, but continue to apply them to harbor craft.

"CARB’s stringent regulations will now apply only to harbor craft, which comprise the most sustainable mode of freight transportation, but not its two modal competitors," said AWO.

"California boasts one of the nation’s most economically prosperous ports and is critical to the national and global supply chain, yet this decision to withdraw emissions rules with the exception of those for the maritime industry places vessel operators at a competitive disadvantage – one that will cripple California’s marine sector and economy and threaten both mariner safety and the environment."

Burdensome regulations in the climate change-obsessed jurisdiction include requiring the installation of diesel particulate filters (DPFs) onboard vessels even though no such technology certified as suitable for marine vessels currently exists, and despite US Coast Guard concerns over the safe installation of the technology.

New vessel designs must accommodate risky DPFs, potentially subjecting all vessels to costly retrofits. With only five drydocks in California that can conduct retrofit work, and factoring in procurement delays due to supply chain interruptions, the AWO estimates that, at a minimum, an additional 18 months will be needed to comply with DPF installation.

At an estimated $5 million per vessel, such retrofits would likely prove too costly for smaller operations.

" A recent survey by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association found that there has already been an exodus of harbor craft since the regulations were adopted, resulting in a lack of ship-assist tugboats necessary to keep deep-draft vessels operating safely and efficiently and threatening cascading problems for California’s supply chain," added AWO.