Drayage Trucks

• Who is covered by the regulations?
• What is the purpose of the regulations?
• Regulations
• More Resources

Who is covered by the regulations?

Owners and operators of short-haul trucks that transport goods between ports, warehouses and local stores.

What is the purpose of the regulations?

Prior to 2007, drayage trucks tended to be older vehicles with little or no emission controls. Reducing emissions from these trucks is necessary to meet federally imposed clean air standards and to reduce adverse health effects - especially to nearby communities.

Regulations

A number of programs that affect drayage carriers have been underway since 2007. These programs, aimed at reducing air emissions, include both mandatory regulations and voluntary programs such as grants and financial incentives. Examples include:

• In December 2007, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) approved a State-wide Drayage Truck Regulation to reduce emissions from drayage trucks transporting cargo to and from California’s ports and intermodal rail yards. In general, the regulation required emission reductions from drayage trucks, as well as recordkeeping and reporting to help monitor compliance and enforcement efforts. But a coalition of 17 states and several trucking industry groups challenged the law, and in May, 2025 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) agreed to repeal the requirements.

• Although the lawsuit involved California directly, eleven other states have also been affected. These states had previously agreed to voluntarily follow California's clean truck rules. In addition, recent cuts to anticipated funding to provide low-cost loans for conversion of drayage truck fleets to electric, and to improve charging infrastructure have increased the expected time needed to transition away from fossil fuels. As a result, at least three states are extending their timelines. They include:

  • Oregon Through model years 2025 and 2026, Oregon DEQ will refrain from pursuing enforcement or assessing civil penalties against any manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles who does not meet previously specified ZEV sales percentages.

  • Pennsylvania The Heavy-Duty Diesel Emissions Control Program has been suspended until January 2, 2028. The Department of Environmental Protection will reevaluate this suspension of enforcement no later than July 31, 2027.

  • Vermont For model years 2025 ans 2026, the Agency for Natural Resources (ANR) will exercise compliance discretion in enforcing previously required ZEV sales ratios on dealerships in Vermont.

• The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach implemented a clean-truck program in 2008 with a scheduled set of truck bans aimed at reducing truck-related air pollution by 80 percent through 2012. The plan required each truck working at the port to register and meet clean air standards. By the end of 2011, the port complex reported it had reduced trucking pollution by more than 80 percent, with 14,000 trucks replaced.

• The ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Metro Vancouver all adopted similar clean-truck programs in 2008 when they signed the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy.

• The Massachusetts Port Authority sponsored a clean-truck program that replaced 60 drayage trucks at the Port of Boston through $1.5 million program. In April 2025, MassDEP announced that the agency will exercise enforcement discretion to exempt on-road medium- and heavy-duty vehicles from Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) requirements for Model Years 2025 and 2026, provided that manufacturers supply internal combustion (ICE) engines to distributors seeking those vehicles, without restriction.

• The Port of New York-New Jersey enacted a truck replacement program in 2010, which covered the cost of replacing trucks through a $28 million partnership between the EPA and the port authority. The program ended in 2013 with 429 trucks scrapped and replaced with newer models. New York-New Jersey will stop receiving trucks made before 2007 in 2017.

• The Port of Virginia works with the Virginia Green Operator Program, started by the Virginia Port Authority in 2006, which not only replaces trucks but retrofits those that don't meet the 2007 EPA standards. As of 2025, the Green Operator Program was fully subscribed. All interested dray truck owners are being placed on a waitlist.

More Resources

• Emodal Port Community System for Drayage