|
After consideration of public comments and in consultation with federal agency partners, EPA is issuing a targeted, time-limited Public Interest General Applicability Waiver of Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) provisions for certain mobile source equipment purchased under the Clean Ports Program. EPA believes that the limited scope and duration of this proposed waiver incentivizes manufacturers to invest in increasing domestic production capacity, while helping to ensure a sufficient supply of mobile port equipment available for Clean Ports Program projects in the near-term.
The waiver applies to certain Clean Ports Program grantee expenditures for zero emission (ZE) mobile port equipment that meets each of the following criteria:
- the contracted order date for the equipment is on or before December 31, 2027;
- the contracted delivery date for the equipment is on or before December 31, 2028;
- and the equipment is delivered no later than July 1, 2029.
- NOTE: yard trucks and ship-to-shore cranes have different timelines than other equipment covered by the domestic content waiver provision. See details in the 55 Percent Domestic Content Waiver Provision section of the waiver.
Applicants to the ZE Technology Deployment Competition should consider these waiver provisions, if applicable, when describing their domestic sourcing implementation plans in the Project Summary section of your workplan (Section 1.a.) and technology availability in the Risk Mitigation section of your workplan (Section 1.d.).
Project-level waivers remain an option for grant recipients should the provisions established by this waiver prove inadequate.
You can view the final waiver on EPA’s BABA Waivers webpage.
You can also view questions and answers about the final waiver on EPA’s Clean Ports Webpage. If you have additional questions about the waiver, please email BABA-OTAQ@epa.gov.
Key elements of the finalized BABA waiver are as follows:
55% Domestic Content Waiver Provision
The waiver allows Clean Ports Program grantees to purchase certain types of zero-emissions mobile port equipment that does not meet the 55% domestic content BABA requirement. This equipment must still be manufactured in the United States.
Equipment Covered by the 55% Content Waiver Provision
The following zero-emission mobile port equipment is covered by the 55% domestic content waiver provision described above:
- Zero emission cranes:
- Rubber tire gantry cranes
- Mobile harbor cranes
- Rail-mounted gantry cranes
- Automatic stacking cranes
- Ship-to-shore cranes (note that the domestic content waiver provision for this equipment is more limited than others; please see for more details 55 Percent Domestic Content Waiver Provision section of the waiver)
- Other zero emission cargo handling equipment (with the exception of equipment types listed below that are excluded from this waiver provision):
- Bulk cargo handling equipment
- Containerized cargo handling equipment
- Straddle Carriers
- Mobile shore power cable management systems
- Zero emission class 3-8 vehicles:
- Drayage trucks
- Yard trucks (also known as terminal tractors, yard tractors, or yard hostlers)
- Zero emission locomotives:
- Switch locomotives
- Zero emission vessels:
- Tugboats
- Push boats
- Pull boats
- Ferries
Equipment Excluded from the 55% Content Waiver Provision
The zero-emission cargo handling equipment that are not covered by the waiver of 55% domestic content requirement are:
- Battery electric (BE) heavy forklifts 36,000lbs 24” & 48” Load Center (L.C.)
- BE heavy forklifts 55,000lbs 48” L.C.
- BE heavy forklifts 65,000lbs 48” L.C.
- BE heavy forklifts 92,500lbs 48” L.C.
- BE heavy forklifts 100,000lbs 48” L.C.
- BE loaded top-pick container handler (up to 6-high-stack and 90,000lbs)
- BE empty side-pick container handler (up to 8-high stack and 20,000lbs)
- BE reach stacker (up to 5-high stack and 99,000lbs)
Supplemental De Minimis Waiver Provision
EPA is also finalizing a supplemental de minimis waiver provision, which waives BABA compliance requirements for 15 percent (%) of the material costs associated with the purchase of mobile zero emissions port equipment. This provision does not apply to cranes.
EPA’s existing public interest De Minimis waiver allows up to 5% of total project costs to be used on items that are not required to demonstrate compliance with BABA requirements; this existing 5% waiver will remain applicable to the Clean Ports Program. EPA is now also waiving BABA requirements for an additional 15% of the total material costs associated with zero emission mobile port equipment (other than cranes) purchased under the Clean Ports Program that do not meet domestic manufacturing requirements (i.e., are not domestically manufactured and do not meet domestic content requirements for manufactured products).
The EPA encourages grant recipients to seek out domestic suppliers prior to using the supplemental de minimis to maximize the use of domestic equipment.
| 
