New Trucking Company Touts Eco-Friendliness
A new California trucking company hopes to demonstrate that progressive policies can be profitable. Long Beach-based Allied Port Transporters is founded on a set of forward-thinking environmental and labor practices. It hopes to reduce air pollution by running a fleet of clean diesel trucks, and to ease traffic congestion by operating during off-peak hours. Instead of the traditional model of paying cargo fees to truckers operating as independent contractors, it will hire a fleet of drivers and offer them salaries and benefits, thus easing the pressure on drivers to cut corners on truck maintenance and make as many runs as possible in a day. (APT already has a huge waiting list of approved job applicants.) The company has received strong support from both labor and environmental groups. “We’re hoping to raise the bar for the industry,” said APT Vice President Anthony Traglia.
