First west coast test of CNG yard Hustler

Ken Pope, Ports America Southern California area maintenance manager, recently attended a special inspection of 61 hustlers at Capacity of Texas’ facility. Three of the alternative fuel hustlers were being prepared for a special showing. These hustlers, which were built to Ports America’s specs, are the first off-road CNG hustlers in any West Coast port, and one was selected for this trial at TTI’s Long Beach terminal.

However, there is a major obstacle in testing of the CNG machines – there are no off-road fuelling stations or infrastructure support. CNG and LNG (liquid natural gas) need a fuelling station with special lines, which can run more than US$1m per station. Since the beginning of October 2008, the Capacity CNG testing machines have relied on fuel obtained from on-the-road stations. This limits the usable running time to one shift at the longest. To resolve the issue, Pope has arranged access to a compressor for on-terminal usage.