Seaport Truck Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS)

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency recently concluded its Seaport Truck Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS) Program, funded by the Port of Seattle and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).  Launched in late 2009, this innovative program replaced 280 of the oldest, dirtiest heavy-duty diesel trucks that haul containers to and from our major regional ports. The program also installed exhaust system retrofits on 89 of the cleaner replacement trucks purchased by ScRAPS Program participants, further reducing their emissions of toxic diesel pollutants.  Scrapping 280 trucks and installing exhaust retrofits on 89 replacement trucks resulted in significant annual emission reductions: 5 tons of diesel particulate matter, 80 tons of nitric oxides, and 4 tons of hydro carbons. 

Dirty Trucks ScRAPped: 280  Replacement Trucks Retrofitted: 89

To fund the program, the Port of Seattle provided $1.5 million for scrap bounties and program administration, and Ecology provided $350,000 for exhaust system retrofits on replacement trucks.  The Agency and Program partners designed the ScRAPS Program to help drayage truck owners meet the 2010 goal of the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, which was that no trucks with pre-1994 engines would be operating at the ports by the end of 2010.  By the end of 2017 under the Strategy, the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma will require 100% of these drayage trucks to have particulate matter emissions equivalent to a 2007 or newer engine model year.

Non-profit Cascade Sierra Solutions administered the program for the Agency, assisting truck owners through the scrapping process and helping them identify and finance suitable replacement trucks.  Truckers who scrapped their old, pre-1994-engined trucks received at least $5,000; most participants used the scrapping bounty to help purchase replacement trucks with significantly cleaner engines (engines built in 1994 or later emit up to 90% less fine particulate pollution than pre-1994 engines), and a few chose to leave the container-hauling (drayage) industry. 

Participating truck owners who purchased a newer, cleaner truck could also receive a diesel exhaust retrofit for their replacement truck through the program. Cascade Sierra Solutions coordinated the installations and Ecology’s grant funds paid for the retrofits, which further reduced diesel emissions from each replacement truck by 25 to 60%.

The City of Tacoma will launch a similar scrap program in the near future after receiving $2.5 million from the Congestion Mitigation for Air Quality (CMAQ) program of the federal Department of Transportation and $400,000 in matching funds from Ecology.  More details on this program will be posted once it is available.