What is Pier Pass?
Pier Pass is a not-for-profit organization founded by marine terminal operators at the Los Angeles pier and the Long Beach pier. The main mission of Pier Pass is to mitigate port congestion, security and air quality at these ports. The organization is also responsible for launching the OffPeak program, imposing the Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF).
More regulations about Pier Pass Fee
To fulfill its mission, the organization started the OffPeak program in 2005, establishing regular night and Saturday work shifts for trucks delivering and picking up containers. Moreover, Pier Pass Fee or Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) are imposed on cargo that were moved out of the ports during weekday daytime. OffPeak was developed as a market-based solution to the rapid rise in cargo volume in the early 2000s. The TMF discouraged truckers from moving their cargo in peak weekday hours (Monday through Friday, 3 a.m. to 6 p.m.). This helped reduce port congestion that resulted in severe air pollution and other problems in the neighborhood. OffPeak successfully doubled the potential capacity of ports, using TMF as an incentive to use OffPeak shifts.
OffPeak 2.0
Despite its accomplishments, the initial shift-based program was not able to evolve with the industry’s growth and technological advancement. As a result, Pier Pass decided to launch OffPeak 2.0 in late 2018.
Contrary to the previous program, OffPeak 2.0 imposes a single flat fee, $31.52 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent feet) and $63.04 for all other sizes, on containers that are moved out of the ports during both daytime and nighttime. Therefore, instead of the incentive-based pricing model, an appointment based system will be used. Truckers will be able to book appointments to move out their cargo using the appointment system portals of individual terminals. TMF will now be a lower fee constant across all hours of operations. Pier Pass claimed that a single or several common portals might be possible in the future and the pier pass 2.0 system will be able to evolve with the industry.
GoFreight
TMF charges often appear on quotes or invoice as a destination charge. It is important to be aware of charges and fees associated with shipments as freight forwarders. GoFreight is a cloud based software-as-a-service that contains all freight forwarders need to manage and track shipments and cargo. With GoFreight, charges such as TMF and Pier Pass can be added to your shipment. Staying on top of your shipments has never been easier!
See how GoFreight can help you!
