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August 8, 2006
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Headline
News
FedEx Ground Seeks Clarification of “On-Duty” Time
FMCSA announced on Monday, July 31, that it has received an application from FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (FedEx) is requesting an exemption from the on-duty time definition under the Federal drivers hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for drivers who operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). If granted, the exemption would allow FedEx's home-delivery drivers to operate property-carrying CMVs to and from their residence, without being considered “on duty”. FedEx states the subject property is normally a package or packages, which were expected to be delivered during the workday, but for one reason or another, could not be delivered that day. Thus, the drivers would operate laden CMVs from the point where the final home delivery was made for that workday to their residence, and from their residence the following workday to a FedEx terminal. FMCSA requests public comment on the FedEx application for exemption.
FedEx requested an exemption to modify the hours-of-service (HOS) standard for determining whether the final “leg” of a FedEx driver's day, driving the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) from the point of the last delivery to the driver's residence, as well as the first leg of the following day driving the CMV from the residence to a FedEx terminal, is “on duty time” as defined in 49 CFR 395.2.
The HOS rules define “on-duty time” as “all time from the time a driver begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the time the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work'' (49 CFR 395.2). FMCSA permits time spent going to and from a residence in a CMV to be treated as “off-duty time” if two conditions are met. First, the driver must be relieved from work and all responsibility for work while operating the CMV. Second, the CMV must be “unladen,” or empty.
Click Here for a copy of FedEx Ground's request as it appears in the Federal Register
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“Catch-22” for TCA Member Between FMCSA HOS Regs. and DoD Regs.
FMCSA announced that it has received an application from Landstar System, Inc. (Landstar) for an exemption from the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers' hours-of-service regulations for its drivers when transporting high-security cargo that requires constant attendance. The HOS regulation requires that CMV drivers using the sleeper-berth exception remain in the sleeper berth for at least 8 consecutive hours during one of the 2 rest periods used to accumulate the equivalent of 10 hours off duty. Landstar states that, for team-driver operations, this prevents the driver in the sleeper berth from attending to the cargo while the other driver takes a restroom break, and conflicts with requirements for all persons to exit the vehicle for a security inspection when entering certain military installations. FMCSA requests public comment on the Landstar application for exemption.
The hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers in 49 CFR part 395 apply to motor carriers and drivers operating CMVs in interstate commerce. Landstar transports sensitive cargo for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and states this high-risk cargo must be attended at all times as required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (49 CFR 397.5) and DoD regulations.
Landstar states that, during team-driver operations, the sleeper-berth requirement for at least 8 consecutive hours, would not allow the driver to stop for a comfort break because the second operator (in the sleeper) would not be allowed to attend the vehicle without interrupting his or her 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth.
Landstar also states that security procedures at military installations require both drivers to exit the vehicle for a security inspection when the vehicle enters the installation. For team drivers using the sleeper-berth HOS exception, the second operator would have to interrupt his or her 8 hours of sleeper-berth time to accommodate these military security procedures. By all accounts, Landstar has found itself in a proverbial “Catch-22”. By following the current HOS regulations, they would operationally violate DoD regulations, and by following DoD regulations, they would operationally violate FMCSA HOS regulations.
Click Here for a copy of the Landstar's exemption application as it appears in the Federal Register
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Exemption Based on Nature of Business
Summit Helicopters, Inc. ( Summit ) requests HOS exemption from FMCSA based on the nature of their business. This request is for their CMV drivers who transport materials to and from job sites to assist Summit 's aerial application of herbicides. The exemption, if granted, would enable their CMV drivers to conduct these operations, including transportation to and from the herbicides application sites, without having to comply with the HOS regulations. Summit believes that relief from the HOS regulations would permit their CMV drivers to work longer periods of time and maintain a high level of safety.
The HOS compliance problem arises during the night shift as their CMV drivers have already worked a day shift consisting of several hours of driving and on-duty time, followed by approximately 6 hours spent in the motel. All of this time is counted towards their “running 14-hour clock'', and therefore the driver would not have the necessary available driving hours during the night shift.
Summit is a private motor carrier comprised of approximately 21 tank trucks, which are based in Cloverdale , Virginia and are dispatched to various jobsites in the states of Alabama , Georgia , North Carolina , South Carolina , and Arkansas . After arriving, they go to a “water source'' to be loaded with water, which is subsequently added to an herbicide from a box-truck, which creates the mixture to be dispensed from a helicopter. While at the jobsites, they will normally travel no more than 20 miles between the tracts of land where the chemicals are dispersed. Once the morning jobs are complete, they will drive a pick-up truck to a motel and will have an off-duty period of around 6 hours (usually from around 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Then they will repeat the same work process during a night shift, according to the Federal Register.
For a copy of Summit 's exemption application, click here.
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Files Arguments Against Current Hours-of-Service (HOS) Regulations
TCA is supporting the court efforts of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) by filing arguments on July 18 th with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as an intervenor against the current Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations. OOIDA filed its legal challenge to those regulations with the court on January 23 rd . The other associations, which have joined TCA as intervenors, are the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), AFL-CIO, California Trucking Association (CTA), and Ohio Trucking Association (OTA).
The intervenors argue about the way in which the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) officials went about arriving at the current HOS regulations. In stern language throughout the 42-page argument, the intervenors challenged the fact that in the “notice of proposed rulemaking” leading up to the current regulations, FMCSA officials merely “proposed” the 2003 version of the regulations. In addition to “proposing” the 2003 regulations, FMCSA officials broke down the notice into 29 areas of inquiry, each of which contained multiple questions about the 2003 rule and possible changes to the regulations. “The breadth of the options under consideration was extremely wide, and the lack of focus on specific proposals for a new rule was obvious”, the argument states. T he notice of proposed rulemaking and the way in which information was presented and how the comments were solicited was more of an “advanced notice of proposed rulemaking” approach, rather than the last stop before a final rule is announced.
They challenge the current regulations by arguing that they are “arbitrary and capricious” because FMCSA's determination is not based on the record that was before it. “In many instances the agency either misconstrued the evidence before it or quoted portions of that evidence out of context in order to create a justification for its revisions to the exception,” the intervenors argued. The oral arguments on the court challenge of the current HOS regulations has not been scheduled by the court, but expected sometime this fall, according to the Land Line Magazine .
For questions, contact TCA's Director of Safety, David Heller, CDS, at 703-838-8847 or via e-mail at dheller@truckload.org.
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Will Find Brake and Tire Failures
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is offering a grant to fund the development of new thermal imagery technology to find brake and tire failures. The period of performance for the grant is 24 months from the date of award.
The authorized funding for the grant is $2 million and the funding is subject to reductions resulting from obligation limitations, recisions, and takedowns as specified in SAFETEA-LU or other legislation. The actual amount available for this grant after those reductions is $1,412,044. It will offer the grant to one recipient and make incremental payments at intervals corresponding to performance milestones agreed upon by the parties, according to the Federal Register.
For more information about the grant, click here.
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Remedies To Recruiting Difficulties
Increases in pay could improve the recruitment of drivers, which will enable truck companies to meet the demands of their business. What are the recruiting difficulties being encountered by truck companies? This article talks about their recruiting difficulties and the proposals being discussed to remedy the situation.
U.S. trucking companies have been enjoying a boom period, but executives say it's never been harder to find people to do the driving. In fact, the driver shortage has become so serious that some experts are proposing moves like raising pay by 30 percent or inviting workers from Mexico to do the job. But even those solutions might not be enough to meet demand in the industry, which moves more than 80 percent of domestic freight cargo. Some analysts see shippers turning to the railroads, which need fewer staff and charge lower prices. The problem for the trucking business is that young Americans are more focused on quality of life, executives say. Many people would rather work for less money than sit behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer on journeys that can keep them away from home for days on end.
“Business is very good right now,” said Randy Marten, chief executive of refrigerated truck operator Marten Transport Ltd. “But the personnel situation sucks.” Marten and other trucking executives said they had tried repeatedly to boost flagging driver recruitment with better benefits and incremental pay rises, but with little effect. Although drivers at Mondovi, Wisconsin-based Marten Transport, are among the highest-paid in the United States , the 60-year-old company finds it more difficult than ever to recruit them. Like many U.S. trucking companies, Marten Transport has seen business increase rapidly in recent years. In its case, growth stemmed from a shift by U.S. consumers from canned goods to fresh foods, which must be refrigerated. Many truck operators have also benefited as U.S. manufacturers outsourced production to developing nations like China -- and then needed to transport the imported products to warehouses across the United States . But rather than enjoying the increased demand, trucking executives are worrying about how to meet it in light of the driver shortage.
According to a May 2005 study by Global Insight for the American Trucking Associations, the industry was short 20,000 drivers. The Boston-based consulting firm warned that as the U.S. population ages, that shortage could hit 111,000 by 2014. Worst hit are truckload, or long-haul operators, which moved more than two-thirds of the estimated $610 billion in U.S. freight in 2003, according to the latest ATA figures. Phoenix-based truckload company Swift Transportation Co. Inc. highlighted the impact of the driver shortage when it reported second-quarter results last week, saying it had nearly 500 trucks unassigned at the end of June. Net income rose “despite an extremely tight driver market that is as challenging as I have seen in my career,” CEO Robert Cunningham said in a statement.
Marten and others said that sooner or later trucking companies would have no choice but to raise salaries up to 30 percent to attract American drivers. John Wiehoff, CEO of Minneapolis-based truck brokerage and logistics company C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., said such a pay increase could make a difference. “To be honest, it's a crappy living,” he said, “and a big pay rise would not be unreasonable.” According to May 2005 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, truck drivers earned average annual wages of $35,460, but the top-paid in the industry made more than $50,000.
Others in the industry say money is not the only problem. A big pay rise won't solve the lifestyle issue, said Jeff Cook, vice president of Future Truckers of America, an Asheboro, North Carolina-based school that trains about 350 drivers a year. “Long-haul driving is hard,” said Cook, who spent nine years as a driver. “And when people weigh lifestyle against the dollar sign, lifestyle often wins.” Logistics expert John Vande Vate of Georgia Tech suggested allowing Mexican truck drivers access to the U.S. market as a way to alleviate the personnel shortage. He added, however, that U.S. drivers would probably oppose such a measure as it could push pay levels down. With immigration a contentious issue in U.S. politics this year, Vande Vate said any moves to allow in Mexican drivers would be a long time coming.
Some analysts look to railroads to pick up any slack from long-haul trucking companies, which have been losing share to them over the past two years. Trains provide a cheaper alternative because they are more fuel-efficient and need fewer workers to haul more goods. This has led trucking operators to partner up with the railroads with intermodal services, using standardized containers interchangeable between different modes of transport. Schneider National Inc., the largest private U.S. trucking company, in June launched such a service between Marion , Ohio , and Kansas City , Missouri , with railroads CSX Corp. and Kansas City Southern. “Generation X and Generation Y don't want to haul goods long distance over the road,” said CSX CEO Michael Ward. “We expect more business like this in the future.” Analyst Peter Smith of research firm Morningstar said a major pay rise for truckers, combined with high fuel prices, would push more goods off the roads and onto the rails. “In the long run,” he said, “railroads stand to gain even more from the driver shortage.” according to Reuters.
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