Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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Ag group seeks cargo securement exemption T he American Trucking Associations' Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference last month requested an exemption from cargo securement regula - tions for certain agricultural com- modities to allow what it says are safer securement methods. AFTC states in its exemption application that there are no commodity-specific tiedown rules for agricultural commodities transported in wood and plastic boxes and large fiberglass tubs, or for hay, straw and cotton bales grouped into large singular units, forcing haulers to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's general cargo securement requirements. The group says California agri - cultural haulers have been operat- ing under an exemption granted by the California Highway Patrol that allows alternate securement methods because FMCSA's gen- eral requirements "resulted in a less secure agricultural commodity cargo securement environment." AFTC is proposing alternate securement methods for boxes, bins and tubs during transporta - tion from the field or storage to the first point of processing and the return of empty containers to those locations. If granted, the exemption would apply to truck - ers nationwide. – Matt Cole DOT opens 2018 UCR payment, registration process after delay F leets and independent owner-operators now are able to complete the annual federal registration process for 2018 and pay their annual fees following a roughly 90-day delay in this year's process. The Unified Carrier Registration board also reduced the fees carriers will pay to register with the U.S. Department of Transportation, cutting 2018's fees by 9.1 percent across the board. Fees will climb slightly for 2019 but will remain 4.6 percent lower than 2017 fees, according to the final rule published Jan. 5 in the Federal Register. All carri- ers operating in interstate trucking are required to register and pay an annual registration fee. Brokers, private carriers and freight forwarders also are required to register and pay. The three-month delay in the opening of the 2018 registration process came following legal questions that were raised by a DOT proposal issued in September that announced the lower fees and bumped the registration date to Nov. 1, 2017. Registration typically begins Oct. 1 each year and runs through Dec. 31. The UCR board faced a lawsuit from the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, which claimed the board violated federal open meeting laws by fail- ing to give proper notice about a meeting held to decide the new fee structure and the 2018 registration period. Though a court agreed that the board failed to provide proper public notice, it upheld the decisions made at the meeting. Separately, the state of Texas sought to block the changes due to a disagree- ment with the UCR board over revenue sharing. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles claims the board has shorted it more than $33 million in owed revenue since 2007 — about $3 million a year. DOT was able to proceed with last month's final rule despite Texas' claims. The state will have to pursue another avenue to rectify the issue, DOT said. – Matt Cole 10 commercial carrier journal | february 2018 LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-news- letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. UCR fees for fleets and independent owner-operators will climb slightly for 2019 but will remain 4.6 percent lower than 2017 fees.