California Carrier Ordered To Pay $300K Fine To CARB

An Otay Mesa, California, carrier has been slapped with a $300,000 fine by the California Air Resource Board for dispatching “non-compliant vehicles that serve regulated intermodal rail yards in 2011 and 2012,” a CARB press release states.

The carrier, Mex-Cal Truckline, has been previously cited for violating the state’s Periodic Smoke Inspection Program.

Mex-Cal Truckline provides regional trucking services and intermodal trucking service from Mexico to California.  According to the FMCSA, Mex-Cal Truckline has 6 trucks and 6 drivers.

“In the not too distant past, the short-haul trucks that picked up cargo from our busy ports and rail yards were among the oldest and dirtiest on the roads,” said ARB’s Enforcement Chief Jim Ryden.  “But thanks to the Drayage Truck Regulation adopted by the ARB in 2007, these vehicles must be upgraded according to a strict timetable.  This company learned an expensive lesson and we are hopeful that they will never have to pay us another fine.”

The fine will go to the California Air Pollution Control Fund to help fund air quality research.