Have you finally finished the last of that turkey?  I gave up after day three.  I don’t think I want to see another turkey dinner for a while. I hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving repast.  It was especially thankful for many of us here in the Northeast as we continue the efforts to focus on recovery.  I am sure this month has been hard on underwriters and claims personnel throughout the country as everyone looks to see what accounts were impacted by the storm.  And in the middle of all this we re-elected President Obama and the national news has turned to how that will impact the coming years.  But we can save that for another day and limit this report to news in the transportation field.

OUT OF SERVICE ORDER – The FMCSA has declared Illinois-based C & D Transportation, Inc. (USDOT #2096634), an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered the motor carrier to immediately shut down its operations. The FMCSA reports that the carrier has willfully violated an out-of-service order and continued to operate by renting vehicles on the effective date of the out-of-service order, one of which crashed; has failed to ensure that its drivers comply with commercial driver’s license requirements, English proficiency requirements, and vehicle weight limits; and has committed records of duty status violations.

MEDICAL CERTIFICATES – The FMCSA has announced a new initiative in which inspectors will begin conducting random verifications of medical examiner certificates in mid-November during routine enforcement activities. Inspectors will contact the medical examiner’s office at the telephone number indicated on the certificate and seek confirmation that the doctor’s records conform to the medical certificate being presented by the driver. The effort is intended to crack down on the use of fraudulent medical certificates.  We will let you know the results of the initiative.

NTSB MOST WANTED LIST – The NTSB’s announced its top priorities for the coming year, which primarily focuses on addressing distracted driving at all levels of transportation.  The top priority of the NTSB is to mandate motor vehicle collision avoidance technologies, including lane-departure warning systems and forward collision warning systems that are available for cars, buses and big trucks, but only as optional add-ons. In addition to crash avoidance systems, the list includes improving safety of airport surface operations, preserving the integrity of transportation infrastructure; enhancing pipeline safety, implementing positive train control systems; eliminating substance-impaired driving; improving the safety of bus operations; eliminating distraction in transportation; improving fire safety in transportation; and finally improving general aviation safety.

APPEAL TIME LOST – The FMCSA announced that bus and truck companies can no longer seek a 10-day extension to resolve an appeal after they are ordered to cease operations for unsafe business practices. During fiscal 2011, 55 bus or truck carriers were ordered out of service, and eight 10-day extensions were granted.  FMCSA is required by law to review a motor carrier’s corrective actions within 30 days after the date the carrier makes a good faith request that its operating authority be reinstated. In the case of other truckers, the final order to cease operations would take effect on the 61st day.

ECONOMIC UPSWING FOR TRUCKING? – GE Capital’s sixth market survey of chief financial officers of 500 U.S. middle-market companies reports that 79% of transportation CFOs expect to increase staff in the next 12 months. Trucking CFOs saw the largest increase in credit availability across all industries – a 35 percent increase and up 12 points from the previous survey.  Transportation CFOs also indicate that 67% will increase equipment purchases.  The greatest business opportunities are expected to focus on increasing average revenue-per-loaded-mile and increasing tonnage volume from existing customers.

CHAMELEON® CARRIERS – The FMCSA has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that gives the agency the ability to more quickly shut down carriers.  The FMCSA will target carriers which have “egregious” disregard for safety compliance, and which permit persons who have shown egregious disregard for safety compliance to exercise controlling influence over their operations or which operate multiple entities under common control to conceal noncompliance with safety regulations.  Under the proposed rule, if the FMCSA suspects that an officer of a truck or bus company has demonstrated a pattern of avoiding regulatory compliance or ignoring civil penalties for safety violations the agency would investigate the carrier’s management structure and its operations to determine if it is deliberately concealing safety violations or a negative safety history. If a pattern of unsafe practices is found, FMCSA would suspend or revoke the company’s authority to operate.
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Where do we even begin?  This has, without question, been one of the most horrific events to ever hit the New York/New Jersey area and we face another storm this week.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has suffered far greater than we have.  Many of us remain without power, and with damaged homes, but thankfully everyone is safe.   Businesses and transportation are starting to resume and the recovery and rebuilding will begin as soon as possible.

I personally want to take a moment to express my gratitude to Shuie who worked around the clock coordinating with our engineers before, during and after the storm to ensure CAB’s services stayed up and running through this mess.  How he actually did that is beyond what I can describe here, but we are all so thankful that he was able to keep that going, even while he had no power and four young boys at home!  We hope to have everything and everyone back in operation quickly.

As this was already in the works before the storm hit we are still going to provide a limited Bits and Pieces this month.

BRAKE SAFETY RESULTS – CVSA results for Brake Safety Week, the annual enforcement and education campaign focused on regulatory compliance of truck and bus brake system maintenance, found at least one in seven vehicles chosen for inspection had brake-related out-of-service (OOS) violations. These rates are comparable to recent years, but slightly higher for the second year in a row. Of the vehicles inspected September 9-15, the OOS rate for all brake-related violations was 15.3%. This is higher than in 2011, 2010 and 2009 (at 14.2%, 13.5%, and 15.1%, respectively), but lower than in 2008 and 2007 (18.4% and 17.8% respectively).  They reported:

21,255 vehicles were inspected. This is fewer than the record 30,872 vehicles in 2011.

1,993 or 9.4% of vehicles were placed OOS for brake adjustment (8.4% in 2011, 8.9% in 2010).

1,664 or 7.8% of vehicles were placed OOS for brake components (7.9% in 2011, 8.0% in 2010).

3,248 or 15.3% of vehicles were placed OOS for brakes overall (14.2% in 2011, 13.5% in 2010).

Over 2.6 million brakes have been inspected in the 15 years since the program’s inception.

HURRICANE REGULATION MODIFICATIONS – Various states and the DOT have waived many regulations as they look to get trucks into effected areas.  A listing of all waived provisions is being maintained by the DOT and can be viewed here.

INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATIONS – I learned this month that the DOT Inspector General maintains a data base of fugitives involved in interstate transportation crimes, mostly involving household goods fraud.  You can check that website to see if any of the names ring a bell.  Speaking of HHG movers, the FMCSA has announced stiff penalties and suspensions under a new enforcement policy to get at rogue carriers.

TRUCKING FINANCIAL ISSUES – Truck failures are up slightly from a 25 year low according to Avondale Partners.  115 companies operating 2,020 trucks failed between July and September.  In other financial news initial third quarter results for publically traded companies are not great.  There are mixed results as soft demand and increasing costs have impacted the bottom line for many carriers.  On the plus side, 3600 jobs were added, with a total of 1.354 million jobs, up 3.6 percent year over year.

The economic impact of Hurricane Sandy on the transportation industry is now being considered.  The initial estimated loss is $140 million per day, although expectations are that the losses will be recouped with the growing need for trucks to move supplies back into these areas.
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