Appendix E 

Proposed Amendments to the Drayage Truck Regulation

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PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAYAGE TRUCK REGULATION

On December 12, 2007, the California Air resources Board approved a new regulation 

to significantly reduce emissions from drayage trucks operating at California’s ports and 

intermodal rail yards. The regulation became law in December of 2008 and saw its first 

emission compliance date on January 1, 2010. 

The proposed changes to the regulation are being brought forth to: 

• Close a loophole where noncompliant drayage trucks are avoiding the regulation’s 

requirements by operating outside port and rail yard properties. 

• Achieve the Air Resources Board’s goal of one statewide regulation for trucks in 

California. 

• Maintain the expected near term diesel PM emission reductions at the ports and rail 

yards. 

• Provide flexibility and relief to stakeholders. 

A. Current Regulation 

The regulation for in-use, on-road diesel-fueled heavy duty drayage trucks (Drayage 

Truck regulation) was adopted by ARB in December 2007 to reduce emissions from 

diesel-fueled heavy duty drayage trucks – described as trucks that predominantly 

transport containers, bulk, and break-bulk goods to or from ports and intermodal rail 

yards. The regulation is applicable to owners and operators of tractors with a gross 

vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 33,000 pounds. Staff estimated that initially 

there were approximately 25,000 drayage tractors in frequent or semi-frequent service 

at the major California ports and intermodal rail yards that were subject to the provisions 

of the regulation. The Drayage Truck regulation is expected to provide significant 

reductions in premature death, cancer risk, and non-cancer health impacts from the 

public’s exposure to diesel particulate matter (PM) in communities located near 

California’s major ports and intermodal rail yards. 

The requirements of the regulation are being implemented in two phases. In Phase 1, 

by December 31, 2009, all drayage trucks were required to be equipped with a 1994 to 

2003 model year (MY) engine and a Level 3 verified diesel emission control strategy 

(VDECS) for PM emissions or be equipped with a 2004 MY or newer engine. In Phase 

2, all drayage trucks are required to meet the 2007 MY engine standard by December 

31, 2013. Additionally, drayage trucks must be registered in the ARB’s drayage truck 

registry (DTR) before entering California’s ports and rail yards. 

Subsequently, on December 11, 2008, the Board approved modifications to the 

Drayage Truck regulation that were proposed during the hearing to consider the 

adoption of the Truck and Bus regulation. The modifications provided clarity on the 

applicability of alternative and duel-fueled diesel trucks, a change in the applicability of 

liquefied natural gas trucks, and added a Phase 1 requirement that mandated drayage 

trucks with 2004-2006 MY engines be retrofitted with Level 3 VDECS starting in 2012. 

These modifications became law in December of 2009. 
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B. Proposed Regulatory Amendments 

Staff is proposing modifications to align the Drayage Truck regulation’s requirements 

with those of the Truck and Bus regulation. The modified regulation will facilitate the 

transition to one statewide truck and bus regulation in 2017. Key elements of the 

proposed amendments include the delay of the Phase 2 compliance requirement that all 

trucks in California port and intermodal rail yard service meet or exceed 2007 model 

year California or federal engine emissions standards in 2014, additional requirements 

for Class 7 vehicles (GVWR greater than 26,000 pounds but less than 33,001 pounds) 

to be retrofitted with a PM filter by 2014, and formal provisions to sunset the regulation 

at the end of 2016. The text of the proposed amended drayage truck regulation is 

contained in Appendix B. 

In developing the amendments for the Drayage Truck regulation, staff’s main objectives 

were as follows: 

• Harmonize the requirements of the Drayage Truck regulation with those of the Truck 

and Bus regulation to facilitate the transition into one statewide rule. 

• Provide flexibility to ease the burden of compliance, wherever possible, in 

consideration of the current economic climate. 

• Ensure the requirements and goals that reduce exposures of diesel particulate 

matter emissions to communities near ports and rail yards remain in effect. 

• ‘Level the playing field’ between owners of compliant drayage trucks that have 

invested significant funds modernizing their fleets with owners of noncompliant 

drayage trucks circumventing regulatory requirements by engaging in dray-off 

activities outside of port and intermodal rail facilities. 

Staff is proposing several amendments to the existing Drayage Truck regulation. The 

proposed changes are designed to synchronize the regulation with the Truck and Bus 

regulation, provide compliance relief to drayage truck owner-operators as well as lower 

the annualized compliance cost of the regulation by extending the period during which 

drayage vehicles with retrofitted equipment will remain compliant, improve the 

enforceability of the regulation by minimizing the impacts from dray-off activities 

occurring near port or rail facilities, formally sunset the Drayage Truck regulation 

facilitating the transition to one statewide truck and bus regulation, and ensure that 

diesel PM exposure reduction goals for communities located near port and rail yards are 

continually being met. The proposed amendments are discussed further as follows. 

1. Delay Phase 2 Requirement 

Extend the compliance period for vehicles with retrofitted PM filters by delaying the 

Phase 2 requirement that drayage trucks meet California or federal 2007 model year 

heavy-duty engine emissions standard by January 1, 2014. The proposed changes 

would allow trucks to operate with Level 3 VDECS until Truck and Bus regulation 

requirements mandate modernization – in the 2020 timeframe. 
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2. Sunset Drayage Truck regulation 

Staff proposes to sunset the Drayage Truck regulation on December 31, 2016. This 

corresponds to the date after which Truck and Bus regulation requirements effectively 

require PM controls on trucks in California. After this date, requirements of the Drayage 

Truck regulation will cease and all trucks in California will fall under one rule – the Truck 

and Bus regulation. 

3. Mitigate Dray-Off 

Mitigate dray-off activities by expanding the definition of a ‘Drayage Truck’ to include 

trucks hauling cargos, containers, or chassis that are either bound from or destined for a 

port or intermodal rail yard. These proposed modifications will allow enforcement to 

curtail dray-off activity occurring off of port and rail yard properties and hold 

noncompliant drayage trucks and their dispatching motor carriers accountable. 

4. Include Class 7 Trucks and New Phase 2 PM Emissions Control 

Requirement 

To ensure that the Board’s goal of effectively reducing diesel PM exposures at 

communities located near the ports and rail yards is upheld, staff is proposing 

amendments to expand the definition of a drayage truck to include Class 7 trucks and 

require them to operate with a Level 3 VDECS for PM emissions by 2014. Class 7 

trucks are vehicles with GVWR greater than 26,000 pounds but less than 33,001 

pounds and are currently exempt from the requirements of the Drayage Truck 

regulation. Originally, the Truck and Bus regulation required all Class 7 trucks 

statewide (with few exceptions) to operate with a model year 2004 or newer engine 

equipped with a Level 3 VDECS by January 1, 2014. The proposed changes to the 

Truck and Bus regulation would now allow certain Class 7 trucks to extend their 

operations until 2017 without additional PM controls. The proposed amendments to the 

Drayage Truck regulation would keep the original 2014 PM emission control 

requirements for Class 7 drayage trucks. Additionally, staff’s proposed amendments 

would eliminate the increasingly popular practice of operating older and dirtier Class 7 

trucks at the ports and rail yards in place of emission compliant Class 8 drayage trucks. 

Therefore, to achieve the Board’s goals of quickly reducing PM emissions exposures to 

communities located near the ports and intermodal rail yards, staff is proposing 

modifications to the Drayage Truck regulation to require PM emission controls on Class 

7 trucks.