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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I attended the National Cargo Theft Summit in Washington D.C. It was good to see a number of insurers attending the summit as the number of cargo thefts continue to grow. Ultimately it is the insurers who pay for these losses.

We’ve almost completed picking out the finalist entries for our contest. Check back on our website over the next week or two for a chance to vote on the name for our new Carrier Research and Analysis system.

This month we also report:

LOG BOOKS – The ATA won a victory this month against the FMCSA.   A Federal Appeals court has advised the FMCSA that they have until Dec. 30 to advise what documents trucking fleets need to retain to verify their drivers’ hours-of-service logbooks.  The rule was mandated by a 1994 statute and the FMCSA had never issued its required rulemaking.

FREIGHT FORWARDER PRICE FIXING – Six international freight forwarders admitted that they were guilty in fixing prices from 2002 through 2007. They have agreed to pay $50.3 million in fines. The Department of Justice has indicated that this is an ongoing investigation into price fixing in the freight forwarding industry. The six forwarders are EGL Inc., Houston; Kuhne & Nagel International, Schindellegi, Switzerland; Geologistics International Management, Hamilton, Bermuda; Panalpina World Transport, Basel, Switzerland; Schenker AG, Essen, Germany; and BAX Global, Toledo, Ohio.

EOBR – The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has filed a petition for review of the recently implemented on-board recorder rule.  The organization contends that the rule, which targets motor carriers who are found to be in violation of log and service requirements, is invalid and should be redrafted. The government has until early November to respond to the petition.  At the end of September, the Commercial Drive Compliance Act was introduced in the senate which would require EOBR’s on all trucks.

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