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Bits & Pieces

Volume 16, Edition 8

Well here we are again, summer is at an end and the kids are heading back to school Where did the time go?  Long gone are the slow days of summer. We continue at the speed of light 24/7.

This month we report:

HOURS OF SERVICE – It would appear that after all these years, the Hours of Service rules are now set.  The final court decision can be viewed here …and the buzz is that the main opposition is now ending the battle. It has been many years, and many battles for these final rules to come into place.   The only change to the current rules relates to short haul drivers, who will not be subject to the 30-minute off-duty break requirement. FMCSA issued guidance stating that “effective immediately’ the agency will no longer enforce the 30-minute rest break on short-haul drivers. The agency is defining short-haul operations as those that operate in a 100 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location and non-CDL drivers that operate within a 150 air-mile radius of the location where the driver reports for duty. Now that the rules are set, members of congress are pressing the Department of Transportation for a firm date to finish a field study on the newly revised 34-hour restart provision of the hours-of-service rule. The study was due before the new HOS rule became final on July 1 but it has not yet been released.

UNIFIED REGISTRATION SYSTEM – The FMCSA rulemaking has been released which amends its regulations to require interstate motor carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, intermodal equipment providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) applicants, and cargo tank facilities under FMCSA jurisdiction to submit required registration and biennial update information to the Agency via a new electronic on-line Unified Registration System (URS). FMCSA establishes fees for the registration system, discloses the cumulative information to be collected in the URS, and provides a centralized cross-reference to existing safety and commercial regulations necessary for compliance with the registration requirements. The final rule implements statutory provisions in the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, 2005 (SAFETEA-LU). The URS will streamline the registration process and serve as a clearinghouse and depository of information on, and identification of, motor carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, IEPs, HMSP applicants, and cargo tank facilities required to register with FMCSA.  The effective date of the rule is October 23, 2015 and can be viewed here in its full splendor.

CSA CHALLENGE – The Federal Court will hear arguments in September on whether the federal government followed the law in implementing and publicizing the new Compliance, Safety, Accountability program for trucking and bus company safety rankings. The Alliance for Safe, Efficient and Competitive Truck Transportation (ASECTT), a group of brokers, shippers and carriers, filed the lawsuit last year, contending that the FMCSA failed to follow the rulemaking process when it informed shippers and brokers to consider CSA scores when hiring carriers.  Argument is set for September 10.

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Volume 16, Edition 7

Off to the green mountains of Vermont so I am finishing this month’s report a bit earlier.  Hope you to taking some time to enjoy summer, although with the heat we have seen here in the Northeast we seem to spend more time inside then normal for the summer months.

Just a reminder that the IMUA webinar on Truck Broker’s Legal Liability will be held on August 13, 2013. You can view the program and register at
www.imua.org

CABs LABs – One of the popular features on the CAB Report, the interactive Radius Map tool provides users with a geographic view of where and when a motor carrier’s vehicles were inspected as well as the ability to confirm the true extent of the carrier’s operating radius. Until now, the map was limited to displaying the states in which the inspections occurred. This month we’ve rolled out the option to drill down into an individual state by clicking on the state’s truck icon to view the specific counties where the incidents took place. Users who would like to quickly view a detailed list of the occurrences can do so by clicking on the county markers. As an added benefit, for those users that have identified specific hot zone areas, the markers showing the location of the inspections or accidents will be red in cases a hot zone occurrence. As always, to learn more about these new features please download a copy of our new user guide or contact us.

This month we report:

DOT SECRETARY FOXX –
Anthony Foxx, the former Mayor of Charlotte, N.C. is now the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.  Secretary Foxx has indicated that safety will remain the top priority of the department and indicated that he looks to improve the efficiency and performance of the current transportation system while building a better infrastructure. In other political news, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C., will take over for Peter DeFazio of Oregon as the ranking Democrat on a congressional subcommittee that oversees trucking and surface transportation in the U.S. House.

FILING LIMIT INCREASE
? – Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Penn., has introduced legislation that would raise the required insurance minimum for motor carriers from $750,000 to $4,422,000 per truck, an increase of almost 500 percent. According to Rep. Cartwright the current minimum of $750,000 fails to perform the basic functions that Congress intended: to promote safe operations by holding insurers responsible for inspecting trucking operations prior to underwriting policies and to protect the public. He stated that a recent study conducted by the Trucking Alliance, showed that 42 percent of the dollar settlements paid by trucking companies between 2005 and 2011 for motor vehicle accidents exceeded the minimum insurance requirement.  The bill would also tie the future insurance minimum requirement to the cost of medical care inflation.

CARGO THEFT
– FreightWatch International has updated its 2nd quarter report due to delays in incident reporting.  Totals for this quarter are expected to surpass those of the first quarter of 2013. In the second quarter of 2013, FreightWatch recorded a total of 194 thefts in the U.S., with 45 instances in April, 66 in May and 83 in June. The average loss value per incident during the quarter was $164,594, a 27 percent increase in value and a 12 percent decrease in volume, compared with the same timeframe in 2012. Compared with the first quarter of this year, it represents a 4 percent increase in value and a 15 percent decrease in volume.

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