Happy Halloween.  Here’s hoping you all get treats and not tricks.

CAB’s LABS – This month we released a few new and exciting features that will improve your ability to analyze radius and historical trends.  On the Radius tab, you now have the option to modify the default date range of the inspections that are included in the all the radius analyses to see how things may have changed in this carrier’s operations over time. The second new feature is the ability to change the intervals and time frames used in the CAB-ISS and BASIC history trend graphs. Lastly, for those of you who enjoy working with the data, the full CAB-ISS and BASIC score history can be downloaded to Excel directly from the report. We will be hosting a CAB Focus session in November to cover how to use these new features. If you are interested in attending you may register by clicking here.  In the meantime if you have any questions or if we can assist you please contact us.

This month we report:

INSURANCE LIMITS –  The move to increase mandated insurance limits is underway and under attack.  The FMCSA has fast-tracked what it has deemed a “high priority” rulemaking to increase the current minimum levels of liability insurance. The amount of the increase is currently unknown. The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is currently under review by the OMB and should be released shortly.   A group of eight associations are urging Congress to step in and “halt” the attempt.   Section 425 of the Department of Transportation fiscal year 2015 appropriations contains a provision that would prohibit the agency from moving forward with increasing the required minimum level of liability insurance. Signing onto the letter are the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association; National School Transportation Association; United Motorcoach Association; American Bus Association; National Federation of Independent Businesses; Petroleum Marketers Association of America; American Truck Dealers; and National Ready Mixed Concrete Association.  There is also a move to repeal the self-insurance plan for motor carriers.  President Obama’s Grow America Act — the four-year, $302 billion transportation plan— calls for repealing the government’s self-insurance program for carriers.

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Welcome to Fall.  Now that we are finished with the heat of the summer it is back to business.  This month we report:

CARGO THEFT – Freightwatch has released its latest quarterly report and Florida and Texas have taken the lead as the target cargo theft areas, beating out California. The report states that there were 185 reported incidents of cargo theft during the quarter.  The average loss-value per load increased roughly 5.6 percent, to $17,415. Florida had 45 of the 185; Texas had the second-most theft incidents with 29, with California following closely behind with 28. The top five included Georgia and Illinois with 15 each.   Unsecured parking once again topped the list of locations where theft was most likely to occur, accounting for 113 reported incidents, primarily at truck stops. Thefts of trailers and containers accounted for 75 percent of all reported incidents. The product type most often stolen was food/drinks with 19% of all incidents.   Electronics regained its position at the second place spot with 32 thefts, or 18% of the total, while the personal care category recorded triple the amount of thefts year-over-year, with 15 thefts or 8% of the total. The building/industrial sector experienced the third most thefts with 19 or 11% of total thefts. The category of pharmaceuticals had by far the highest of any category when it came to the average value of each heist at $2.8 million, while the electronics category was ranked second at nearly $305,000.

VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED – The Federal Highway Administration says that we are all on the road.  The FHA reports that miles traveled from July 2013 to June 2014 were at their highest point since 2008 with travel of 2.97 trillion miles. In the first half of this year, 1.466 trillion miles have been driven, the largest number since 2010 and the fourth-highest in the report’s 78-year-history. FHWA’s report “Traffic Volume Trends” reveals that 261.7 billion vehicle-miles traveled were driven in June 2014. June has not hit such numbers since 2010, and June 2014 marks the largest single-month gain this year.

DELAYED RULEMAKING ON INSURANCE LIMITS – The DOT is not yet ready to announce its proposed rules on raising the minimum insurance requirement for interstate motor carriers and whether to require speed limiters on new heavy trucks. The proposal to raise the insurance minimum, originally scheduled for publication later this month, has been delayed until Oct. 22 and the proposed speed-limiter rule has been delayed until Jan 12. The minimum financial responsibility rule has been fast-tracked by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration since the agency released a study in April indicating the required minimum insurance for most carriers is not adequate to cover many fatal and serious-injury crashes.

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