Marine terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach plan to speed up the start of their PierPass program, which will open the terminals during some night and weekend hours to help cut daytime truck traffic on highways near the ports.

The plan – announced Monday, Nov. 8, by a consortium that operates the program – calls for terminal operators to phase in five additional off-peak shifts during the first month of the PierPass program. When the program was first announced in August, the proposal called for terminals to add one new off-hours shift each month for five months.

The start of the program will be delayed till early 2005 to allow for training of waterfront workers, according to the PierPass release.

The ability to get truckers to cooperate with the program was a key factor in the change.

“After a great many meetings with members of the trucking community, a common thread of concern was voiced again and again,” Scott Smith of terminal operator Eagle Marine Services, said in a statement. “Truckers made it clear that a sufficient number of evening shifts must be available to them each week before they will adjust their lives to working nights.

“Adding just one night shift a month is not likely to be attractive enough to entice truckers to make the transition to working nights.”