Truck Project FAQ
Responses provided by The International Council on Clean Transportation
Q: What is the Current state-of-affairs in drayage trucking
Conventional drayage operations
Drayage trucks are often purchased second- or third-hand from other trucking companies
The vast majority (>99%) of these trucks currently run on diesel fuel
Drivers are often paid per load versus per hour, so their time spent waiting in trucking queues is not compensated
Port operations are complex and involve many different players including the Port itself (the Northwest Seaport Alliance, also known as the NWSA), the terminal operators, the marine shippers, the longshoremen, the truck drivers, the warehouse operators, and so on
Q: What is a zero emission truck?
Zero-emission vehicle = a vehicle with zero tailpipe emissions
In practice, this means a battery electric or fuel cell electric vehicle. Both are considered “electric vehicles” since both use batteries and electric motors. Fuel cell electric vehicles have a much smaller battery, however, and store most of their fuel as compressed or liquid hydrogen.
Drayage truck: typically carrying a shipping container (or an empty trailer platform made to carry a container), often seen parking without a trailer in Georgetown
Q: What does it look like to bring facilities to the neighborhood and what would new infrastructure attract. How would it change things?
Electrification facilities include charging points at the location where the truck is parked overnight. Charging points could be installed in other locations where trucks are stopped during the day for fast re-charging such as at truck stops. These vary in size and can look like a small cabinet with a cable located next to the truck.
Placement: Since the installation of these facilities is linked to where trucks park during the day or overnight, any decisions about infrastructure for electric trucks are connected to decisions around where trucks should park. The community has an opportunity to shape what electrification looks like by clearly communicating where trucks can or should be parking.
Opportunities: Electrification can be an opportunity to decrease truck traffic and/or parking in the Duwamish Valley by providing dedicating truck parking outside the community. For example, the city is exploring some public parcels for on- and off-street parking in SODO and near the port terminals. It’s not clear how this may change the current status quo in Georgetown and South Park given the surge in port activity during the pandemic, but we hope it could reduce trucks parking on neighborhood streets. Any charging infrastructure that is located in the Duwamish valley – which is not our goal but could be an outcome of the transition at large – would likely look like overnight truck parking. It could potentially include electric truck maintenance facilities, as well: Andrea is exploring the possibility of workforce training in support of electrification to recruit from the Duwamish Valley, which could put DV residents in a position to own/work at some of these facilities.
Q: Is freight centered or is community, is a community like GT not going to be prioritized, again?
Community, with a focus on equity; we are of course also working to bring everyone to the table, including those more focused on freight and container throughput (i.e. the ports, shippers, and drivers/fleets).
Q: pavement: can we humanize the infrastructure and bring trees, etc. How can we address the whole ecosystem Impact of charging infrastructure
This is a good point. There is already talk about pairing charging infrastructure with amenities that support drivers (bathrooms, safe parking, food options) and it’s worth emphasizing community-friendly and human aspects in the discussion. We are focusing on parking / charging solutions that are not located in the community but thinking holistically about the impacts is still relevant.
What would community priorities be for any parking / charging infrastructure located in the Duwamish Valley?
Q: Is this enough to solve the expansion worries (T5) that will be more good and less trucks? We can’t lose sight of that.
This is a tricky question. We at the ICCT don’t have all the background on T-5 and it’s hard to know how this terminal expansion will change activities – data on terminal gate activity from the port was only provided to us for 2021, while T-5 was not operational. It’s also unlikely that the data we gather as part of this project will capture T-5. Broadly our goal is to move truck activity away from the Duwamish Valley, but this issue intersects strongly with port expansion and increasing port activity.