Waynes World - August 2009
NEW TRIP PERMIT REQUIREMENTS, EOBR
UPDATE, HAZMAT REVIEW, AND...
CARRIERS PROPOSE TO
CREATE COOPERATIVE
by Wayne Schooling
SMALLER CARRIERS IN PORT TRY TO UNITE
Americans have always believed in working together to solve their problems. That’s the whole idea behind a cooperative. Cooperatives have helped Americans meet their needs for such things as credit, housing, child care, food, consumer goods, services, utilities and health care. From America’s first successful cooperative – a mutual insurance company formed by Benjamin Franklin – to a group of west coast carriers in 2009.
Ten motor carriers serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California are currently seeking approval from the Surface Transportation Board to pool their operations together to create a cooperative. The small to midsize carriers said they believe their proposed joint venture would allow them to compete better against larger operators. By sharing freight and equipment opportunities among them to enhance these operations, the participating motor carriers expect to expand their own equipment utilization, load factors, operating efficiencies and related revenue within this market area, particularly when circumstances prevent or compel direct service by one or more of the applicants.
The motor carriers, calling their “joint agreement” the Clean Truck Coalition LLC, said they would accomplish their goals by combining their information technology, operations, equipment, vendor contacts and resources, maintenance facilities, vehicles and related administration. The operators said the “preponderance” of clean trucks among the estimated 1,200 carriers serving the ports are currently owned by the larger trucking companies. This arrangement, if approved, would allow these smaller carriers greater access to the new clean trucks.
The motor carriers include Green Fleet Systems, Fox Transportation, Golden State Express, Harbor Division, Oversea Freight, California Intermodal Associates, Pacific 9 Transportation, Progressive Transportation Services, South Counties Express and Total Transportation Services. The agreement calls for each of the carriers to have an equal ownership in the entity. In effect, the Clean Truck Coalition LLC would operate as a joint venture with a limited liability company (LLC) structure. Together, the ten carriers say they have 625 trucks and pick up or deliver nearly 37,000 containers a month, which comes to approximately 2.96 moves per truck based on 20 working days in a month. Allegedly, this represents less than 10% of the overall monthly truck moves in the harbor.
HAZMAT DOCUMENTS RETENTION REVIEW
The current hazmat regulations require shippers and carriers of hazardous materials to retain a copy of the paperwork. Carriers must retain a copy of the shipping papers for one year after the material is accepted, while shippers must retain a copy of the papers for two years. In both cases, the paperwork can be retained as a paper hardcopy or as an electronic image, and it must include the date of acceptance by the initial carrier.
Hazardous waste shipping papers (waste manifests) must be retained for three years. The shipper, initial carrier and each subsequent carrier must retain a copy for three years after the material is accepted by the initial carrier. Each copy must bear all the required signatures and dates up to and including those entered by the next person who received the waste. The papers must be accessible at or through the principal place of business. The papers must be available, upon request, to an authorized official of a federal, state or local government agency at reasonable times and locations.
CANADA TO DEVELOP “EOBR” STANDARDS
Yes, our northern neighbors are poised on the brink of developing a national safety standard for electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) and some stakeholders there say instead of trying to prevent the inevitable, why not use it as a catalyst to bring real issues to the table, such as unpaid time that the driver is expected to “eat” when waiting at the dock, or encountering unexpected traffic and the like. Here in the States, the FMCSA submitted a final EOBR rule to the Office of Management and Budget in late 2008, but when the Obama administration took over, the rulemaking was stalled. The rulemaking was under discussion in U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood’s office at press time. In the meantime, a regulatory guidance issued back on January 4, 2002 states that a driver may use a computer and software to generate the graph grid and entries for the record of duty status or logbook, provided that the computer-generated output includes the minimum information required by rule 395.8 and is formatted in accordance with the rules. NTA offers an excellent software program for computer-generated logbooks for only $59.99 plus tax and S/H. Contact NTA at (562) 279-0557 for a FREE 30-day trial copy of the software.
NEVADA CHANGES TRIP PERMIT RULES & MORE
Commercial motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or greater, operating without valid Nevada registration, are now required to get a 24-hour temporary registration trip permit before entering or operating the vehicle in Nevada. This new law went into effect on July 1, 2009. Before this new requirement was passed, vehicles were allowed to travel to the first available vendor within the state to buy a permit.
The state also passed new penalties for any person failing to properly declare their vehicle weights. Any person who is cited for operating a vehicle or combination of vehicles weighing more than the registered weight will have to reregister the vehicle at the actual weight and pay the additional
registration fees. The registered owner also will be subject to a minimum administrative fine of $500. This fine is in addition to the criminal penalties resulting from the citation and/or any increase in registration fees, and can go up to $2,500 for repeat offenders. These penalties do not apply to tow trucks or persons with approved exemptions.
~ NTA remains a name you can trust. Our website (www.ntassoc.com) is your official U.S. DOT Internet Training Site and we are administrators of a Nationally Accredited Drug and Alcohol Program. If you have any questions, call me at (562) 279-0557 or send me an e-mail to wayne@ntassoc.com. Until next month, “Drive Safe – Drive Smart!”