CARB Backs Down

ATeam · Jul 4, 2009

From Land Line magazine (full story):

"The California Air Resources Board has delayed enforcement of its rule restricting reefer units hauled by commercial trucks in the state...."

“'The reasons for this include lack of timely action by TRU owners, higher costs for compliance than originally anticipated, some retrofit systems not becoming available until May 2009, tightening of credit, and longer lead times for delivery of systems,' CARB said in a statement. 'Given these factors, ARB has determined that a two-phase enforcement schedule would allow for more complete registration and provide some additional time for pre-2002 TRUs to come into compliance in an orderly manner.'”

Maybe, just maybe, CARB is figuring out that it's rules will create a reefer shortage in California that will leave produce growers and other users of reefer trucks with no trucks or a shortage of trucks such that the price of reefer freight would soar.

layoutshooter · Jul 4, 2009

ATeam said:
From Land Line magazine (full story):

Maybe, just maybe, CARB is figuring out that it's rules will create a reefer shortage in California that will leave produce growers and other users of reefer trucks with no trucks or a shortage of trucks such that the price of reefer freight would soar.

I read a different artical this morning Phil, it stated that this was temperary mainly due to a shortage in parts etc. I will see if I can find it again.

ATeam · Jul 4, 2009

layoutshooter said:
I read a different artical this morning Phil, it stated that this was temperary mainly due to a shortage in parts etc. I will see if I can find it again.

They can claim anything they want. There is no shortage of parts. The shortage is in trucking companies that are ready, willing and able to comply with the CARB rules. The rules have been announced since December of last year. That is plenty of time to order parts or new equipment and comply.

My guess is people aren't complying because they cannot afford to. As you know, we recently applied for a grant for funds that would be used to bring our small, straight-truck reefer up to CARB standards. A new reefer engine is needed to do so. The bids for the job ranged from $6,000 to $7,000. The other choice is to buy a brand new reefer at three times that cost.

What a choice, eh? Put thousands of dollars into a piece of equipment that does not have enough life left in it to make that a wise financial choice, or buy a new reefer to replace one that works perfectly well and will continue to do so for several years.

Back to the parts delay claim, if we ordered a new engine, it would arrive at the shop in a week or two at the outside.

Notice that the CARB quote in the Land Line piece did not say they are extending the enforcement date because reefer shops are backed up with people waiting in line to get the upgrades done.

Reefer freight is not so great these days that truck owners can just rush right out and upgrade their equipment because CARB thinks they should. CARB can pass whatever rules it wants. Economic realities continue to apply.

Of course, economic reality has never concerned California governemt agencies much. Witness the IOUs the government is now issuing instead of paying the state's creditors with real money. I wonder if CARB grant money will be paid as IOUs too?

If the California grant programs are structured like Minnesota's is, it would be the cruelest of deeds. Truck owners that apply for and receive the grants are required to make and pay for the upgrades or repowers up front. After the upgrade or repower is verified, the grant money is sent. How would like it if you proceeded in good faith with an upgrade and got an IOU in return?

mjolnir131 · Jul 4, 2009

What produce? 90% of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Inland Valleys area are a dust bowl with no crops.nothing to haul if they are not being allowed to grow anything. It's the ugliest most sicking thing i have ever seen.

layoutshooter · Jul 4, 2009

I cannot find that artical now, it was on yahoo around 3am EDT. It does not really matter, I was not able to afford to do it any way. Just like many others. I did find one place that is selling re-built carrier engines that were now CARB compliant. About half the cost of new. Only problem was they were only selling trailer reefer engines.

ATeam · Jul 4, 2009

The new CARB-compliant engines are very new. Where would the cores come from to rebuild them? On older engines, how would they turn a non-compliant engine into a compliant one on a rebuild?

When an engine is replaced, whether by grant money or otherwise, I believe the rules require the old engines to be destroyed such that they cannot be salvaged or rebuilt.

If there is a supplier out there that can turn an old reefer engine into a rebuilt CARB-compliant engine, I'd love to know more about it. Do you have specifics?

layoutshooter · Jul 4, 2009

ATeam said:
The new CARB-compliant engines are very new. Where would the cores come from to rebuild them? On older engines, how would they turn a non-compliant engine into a compliant one on a rebuild?

When an engine is replaced, whether by grant money or otherwise, I believe the rules require the old engines to be destroyed such that they cannot be salvaged or rebuilt.

If there is a supplier out there that can turn an old reefer engine into a rebuilt CARB-compliant engine, I'd love to know more about it. Do you have specifics?

Check out the links below.

www.reviva.com

Reman'd CARB-compliant reefer engines | Reviva, a company that specializes in remanufacturing gas and diesel engines, is now offering remanufactured diesel-fueled transport refrigeration units (TRU) that exceed the Tier 2 emissions standards required

moose · Jul 4, 2009

You can try this guys :

IRONMANPARTS.COM

or this one :

https://secure.cascadesierrasolutions.org/products/detail.php?prodId=0047

http://www.donaldson.com/en/engine/contactus/index.html

greg334 · Jul 4, 2009

I am thinking this is due to the push back form the agriculture and Mexican industries. Even if the San Joaquin valley is a dust bowl, there are the big money near I10 and up into Napa that use trucks from independents and they will not take a loss on their need to get to market produce and other things. They know there isn't enough time to retrofit the trucks to cover the harvests. This info is from some of the napa producers, when they were complaining to Arnold in March.

And by the way, the complience engines are now 4 years old.

ATeam · Jul 4, 2009

layoutshooter said:
Check out the links below.

www.reviva.com

Reman'd CARB-compliant reefer engines | Reviva, a company that specializes in remanufacturing gas and diesel engines, is now offering remanufactured diesel-fueled transport refrigeration units (TRU) that exceed the Tier 2 emissions standards required

Tier 4 is required to meet CARB standards, not Tier 2.

nobb4u · Jul 5, 2009

Actually if you stop and think about it as they are handing out IOU'S to state employees making them take days off without pay who is still there to enforce the rules anyway? So why bother with enacting the regulation?

piper1 · Jul 5, 2009

Any engine will meet CARB requirements if it has the right aftertreatment devices installed, the issue becomes the cost to apply these technologies to older engines that polluted more in the first place. You can make an NH220 Cummins from the 50's compliant, with a LOT of aftertreatment.

Most reefer engines are still using technology from the 60's and have awful particulate counts, I suspect the resistance is coming from within Cali as the farmers (who are not exactly big spenders on modern equipment) cry foul about having to update the old equipment they have.