International Warehouse Logistics Association

Chairman Cordero spoke at the 2013 Fall meeting of the California International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) on September 26, 2013. The IWLA is a trade association for third-party logistics providers whose member companies provide warehousing, transportation, freight forwarding and brokerage services, and inventory and supply chain management capabilities.

Discussing his experience at the Port of Long Beach, specifically the Port’s Green Port Policy and its Clean Trucks Program, the Chairman described various aspects of each and what the Port did to foster their success. The Green Port Policy is aimed at reconciling economic growth and environmental stewardship to achieve long-term, sustainable port development. Truck emissions were one of the first areas the Port of Long Beach addressed under the Green Port Policy – reducing port air pollution by more than 90 percent under the Clean Truck Program.

Chairman Cordero spoke in depth regarding the Harbor Maintenance Tax and pending national legislation. He discussed the FMC’s Study of U.S. Inland Containerized Cargo Moving Through Canadian and Mexican Seaports, and its conclusion that the HMT created a vulnerability for U.S. seaports, and the need for a national freight policy. The legislative options range from a resolution to fully spend the HMT collected, replacing the HMT with a tax applicable at any port of entry, and a bill calling for a national freight policy. In conclusion, Chairman Cordero noted that just as the Port of Long Beach’s Green Port Policy helped it strategically coordinate its environmental programs to achieve great success, a national freight policy could help the country strategically coordinate all the pieces of our intermodal freight transportation network.