Port of Charleston Increases Incentive for Truck Replacement
April 17, 2012
Pre-1994 Trucks Eligible for $10,000 Financial Incentive to Upgrade
CHARLESTON, SC – April 17, 2012 – The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) is encouraging local truck owners to replace their older trucks with newer, cleaner rigs and is doubling the financial incentive for their participation. Eligible truck owners can now get a $10,000 incentive, plus the scrap value of their pre-1994 truck, to use toward the purchase of a 2004 or newer model.
There also will be a mobile office set up at the port’s Wando Welch Terminal each week to make it even easier for truckers to learn more about the benefits of upgrading their rigs, such as improved fuel efficiency, lower maintenance costs and decreased air emissions.
Seaport Truck Air Cleanup Southeast, or STACS, is a voluntary truck replacement program launched last fall that provides truck owners who are frequent port users a financial incentive to replace pre-1994 model trucks with 2004 or newer models.
The incentive for the program is funded by the SCPA, along with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant.
This is the first such truck replacement program in the region, making upgraded equipment attainable and financially viable for all truck owners, both companies and independent owner-operators. Twenty-four trucks already have been replaced in the local drayage fleet.
The program is being administered by Cascade Sierra Solutions, which has managed similar programs in other ports on the West Coast. Cascade Sierra Solutions’ local office is at the SCPA’s Columbus Street Terminal, and the company is establishing a mobile office at the Wando Welch Terminal once a week. The mobile office will offer regular hours of 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Tuesday, starting April 24.
According to a truck survey commissioned by the SCPA, about two percent of the trucks that frequent the Port of Charleston are 1993 or older model years. Based on EPA estimates, moving from 1993 or older trucks to 2004 or newer trucks reduces emissions by about 60 percent.
The STACS program is part of the SCPA’s Pledge for Growth environmental program that has already helped fund $5 million in retrofits, upgrades and replacements to trucks, tugs and other port equipment.
About the South Carolina Ports Authority:
The South Carolina Ports Authority, established by the state’s General Assembly in 1942, owns and operates public seaport facilities in Charleston and Georgetown, handling international commerce valued at more than $58 billion annually while receiving no direct taxpayer subsidy. An economic development engine for the state, port operations facilitate 260,800 jobs across South Carolina and nearly $45 billion in economic activity each year. For more information, visit http://www.scspa.com.
