Happy Holidays Everyone!

Dreaming of a white Christmas took on a whole new meaning here in the Tri-state area. As I write this newsletter I am looking out the window at 30 inches of snow. I am glad Santa could get here before the storm hit, but I do not think it did much for the post Christmas shoppers. 

We here at CAB would like to take a moment to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.  We look forward to working with you to help that happen.

I will keep this short as I have to quickly move on to writing the yearly report That report will be coming your way in the next few weeks.

CSA 2010 –  The FMCSA has no need to change the name of its newest system as it was able to roll out CSA2010 before the end of 2010.   It was touch and go at the end as some industry groups tried to block the roll-out.  That effort was denied by the court.  The first few days that the site was active saw hits of over 22,000 per hour, swamping the system. SafeStat numbers are gone, replaced now with the BASIC system.  Our premium subscribers can already get the information on our site, along with a comprehensive analysis of the carrier’s operations.   

BROKER REGULATIONS – New FMCSA rules will go into effect at the end of January which will require brokers, among other things, to utilize only authorized carriers, to physically survey shipments within 50 miles of the mover or the broker and  only advertise the use of carriers for which the broker has a contract. In 2012 the bond requirement will also go from $10,000 to $25,000. A copy of the final rule can be viewed  here.

HOURS OF SERVICE.- The FMCSA has been busy this month. The new proposed hours of service rules have now been released.  There is not much that was changed.  While the hours have been reduced to 13 hours, a driver can now take a one hour rest and then continue to complete 14 hours of service. The 34 hour restart rule also applies, provided that there are 2 rest periods – from midnight to 6 a.m.  A restart will only be allowed once in a seven day period. The proposed regulations, which are not open to comment can be viewed here.

FOOD SAFETY AND MODERINIZATION ACT – The Act has passed Congress and has gone to the President for signature. Under the new act, the FDA will be able to recall products if there is suspected contamination and will also have control over goods being imported from other countries. It is expected that the FDA will follow with additional regulations which will impact the transportation industry.

DISTRACTED DRIVERS – The DOT has issued new proposed regulations which prohibit commercial vehicle operators from using hand held cell phone devices.  Each offense will bring a $2,750 fine and possible suspension of the driver’s CDL after additional violations.  The proposed regulations can be viewed here.

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I hope you are all full and content after eating a big holiday turkey.  The holiday season is now fully upon us all and everything seems to slow down considerably – perhaps it is the after effects of tryptophan?  I hope you enjoy the season and take time out for friends and family.

After weeks of deliberating the many wonderful suggestions for the new CAB online analysis system, the time has come to pick a name to etch this new product’s place in CAB’s lineup of services. With the much touted public launch of the FMCSA’s CSA2010 coming shortly, understanding the impact of our new system, and how to use it effectively is more critical than ever. We’ve already received numerous reports of how the new Carrier Search page has allowed our users to identify ‘Chameleon Carriers’, unreported vehicles, shell companies, carrier fraud and so much more than you can get from a simple review of the DOT / Docket number.  We received so many great suggestions for names that it was hard for our judges to pick out the top five finalists. We graciously acknowledge everyone who took the time to contribute to help us name the new system and we now turn to you to vote on your favorite.  The nominees are (drum roll please!):

CAVIAR (the Carrier and Vehicle Inspection Analysis Research System)

START (Sophisticated Trucking Analysis & Research Tool)

TRAC (Trucking Research and Analysis Center)

SIMON (Simultaneous Information Merged by One Number)

TASER (Trucking Analysis & Safety Enhanced Research System)

While our judges picked the finalists we now turn to our loyal subscribers for the final vote!  Please enter your vote by December 3, 2010 so that we can pick the winner!

***WEBSITE UPDATE***

On a different note, we’ve just recently added in new features to the Carrier Search page and the Submission Report™  which will make your job even easier. With the initial launch of our new system, Premium Subscribers were able to search for motor carriers by phone number – one of the most powerful means of identifying affiliated entities such as carriers and brokers, entities with multiple shell companies and chameleon operations.  Now, rather than having to search, every phone number that is registered to another entity will be highlighted in bold and marked with an asterisk and an alert identifying how many additional entities share that number. At a glance you will know whether there is any further digging to be done on the phone number and simply clicking on the phone number will list all the entities that share that number. In addition, we’ve added an alert to the Submission Report™  to let you know that some other regulated entity is using that same phone.  We are working on building a similar feature for registered addresses as well. Thanks to Wayne Ricci of Lancer Insurance Company for suggesting this enhancement – keep ’em coming!

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