Happy Spring to one and all. We are looking forward to meeting up with many of you in San Diego at the annual IMUA meeting in May.  Please stop by our table and visit and allow us to show you the CABAdvantage.

This month we report:

CERTIFIED MEDICAL EXAMINERS – The final rule to establish a national registry of certified medical examiners has been released by the DOT. The rule will take effect in May, 2014 and will require training, testing and certification to insure that the specific physical qualifications of interstate commercial truck and bus drivers are meet.

The DOT believes that 40,000 medical examiners are needed for commercial truck and bus drivers.

CARRIER SHUT DOWNS – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has declared New Jersey-based J&A Transportation, Inc., Oklahoma based Heartland Charters & Tours and Utah based Reliable Transportation Services imminent hazards to public safety, and ordered the companies to shut down their operations.

SPEED GOVERNORS – The FMCSA has released the results of its research on speed governors, concluding that using technology to electronically govern and limit the top speed of commercial trucks creates safer roads.  The study concluded that the potential problems with having governed vehicles on the road alongside ungoverned vehicles far outweighed the benefits of the systems.  A copy of the report can be viewed here.  

ATA TRENDS REPORT – The American Trucking Associations released its latest edition of “American Trucking Trends.”, concluding that trucking continues to dominate the transportation marketplace, hauling 67% of all freight in 2011. Trucking moved 9.2 billion tons of freight or $603.9 billion of the total freight bill.  Trucking employs 6.8 million people, 3 million of which are drivers. The report also concludes that ninety percent of carriers operate six or fewer trucks, and 97% of carriers operate fleets of 20 or fewer trucks. This will remain a viable insurance book of business for many years.

CHAMELEON CARRIERS™ – The GOA has released its report confirming that the FMCSA does not adequately detect Chameleon Carriers™. They conclude that it would require the FMCSA to investigate each of the tens of thousands of new applicants that register annually and then complete a legal process for some of these suspected chameleon carriers™, an effort for which FMCSA does not have sufficient resources. Premium Subscribers get to use our Chameleon Tracker™ to help you track possible chameleon carriers™. You can view the report here. 

CONTAINER VIOLATIONS – Beginning in July, the FMCSA will charge truckers with certain chassis safety violations, which is the next step toward full implementation of federal chassis safety rules. Carrier will be responsible for violations which should have been detected in pre-inspections.

FDA PROCEDURES ON CARGO THEFT – For our cargo underwriters and claims personnel, the FDA has released its standard operating procedures when there is a cargo theft of products under their jurisdiction and control. Those procedures can be viewed here.

BROKERAGE OPERATIONS – Transport Capital Partners reports that use of brokers by truckers as a way to solicit freight is on the increase.  Approximately 33% of motor carriers used freight brokers in February, up from 11% at the same time last year. TCP also found that 34% of larger carriers, with at least $25 million in annual revenue, used brokers, compared with 28% of smaller carriers.

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I can only assume that with the unexpected balmy weather in most parts of the country this month that focus has turned to other matters as there is not much happening in the industry.  Perhaps everyone is just out enjoying the sunshine.

I look forward to being part of the IMUA Transportation Seminar on April 3rd.  If you are interested and have not yet signed up, you can view the seminar registration at www.imua.org.  If you can’t make that, I look forward to seeing many of you again at the annual meeting in May.

We are excited to announce a new scheduled reports feature that is available to our Premium Subscribers.  This enhancement will allow you to customize the PDF version of the Submission Report™ and have it automatically e-mailed to you for any motor carrier on whatever frequency you choose.  For complete information about what is included, please feel free to e-mail Tiana Cain or call her at 212-244-6575 ext. 122.  You can also download a copy of the User Guide, which has been updated to include all the information about the new scheduled reports feature.

This month we report:

ANTI-INDEMNITY CLAUSES – Another state takes the plunge and invalidates shipper contracts which require a motor carrier to indemnify a shipper for all third party losses, even when the shipper is at fault. This month South Dakota joined the bandwagon, making it the 31st state to do so.  Alabama has introduced similar legislation and will hopefully be joining the majority rule soon.

NAFTA – The surface trade between the U.S. Canada and Mexico has increased by 14.3 percent to a record $904 billion, according to DOT statistics for 2011. That is the third largest year to year increase since 1994 when NAFTA was implemented.  In other NAFATA related news, the FMCSA is seeking more Mexican carriers to join the cross border program. The lack of interest from the Mexican carriers will result in a further delay in the border opening as there must be 4100 moves across the border in the 3 year pilot program for the DOT to move forward with its agenda to open the border.

FREIGHT VOLUME – The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry fell 3.6 percent in January, declining after five consecutive monthly increases, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.  But everything is relative as it all depends on how you look at it. Shipments in January 2012 were still at the second highest level since July 2008.

HIGHWAY BILL – The Senate has passed its version of the newest highway bill known as MAP-21.  The bill contains steps to address the need for increased safe truck parking, and also has a number of provisions further regulating freight brokerage operations, including an increase in the amount of the bond brokers are required to have, jumping the bond from $10,000 to $100,000.

OWNER-OPERATORS – Bills have been introduced in New York and New Jersey which would require port and package delivery companies to use only employees, preventing the use of owner-operators.  This will be a hotly disputed bill as the so called “Teamster Bill” will be fought by many who use owner-operators in these venues.

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