|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
What Does 2014 Have in Store for Trucking?
If 2013 is any indication, 2014 could be a challenging year in Washington DC. The big challenge this year is the passage of a new highway program.
The current program expires at the end of October, since it was funded for just two years. It was funded with money taken from other sources within the federal budget. Funding will be a substantial issue in passing a new program, and the prospect of a six-year program is not clear. Gridlock in congress concerning money and spending is the problem, but committees have started working on the bill and are discussing the policies that they would like to see advance to approval.
News coming out of the committees indicates that the bill will include provisions on truck size and weight, as well as proposals that would suspend the 34-hour restart provision of the hours-of-service rule. The Federal Highway Administration is looking at half a dozen different size and weight configurations, gathering data on how they will affect safety, infrastructure, enforcement, and competition among modes of transportation.
The Government Accountability Office is reviewing the 34-hour restart provision that came into effect on July 1, 2013, looking at the methodology that the FMCSA used to write the new provision. They have a year to complete their work, but there is a move in Congress to suspend the 34-hour restart until after their review is complete. The FMCSA is continuing to work on a field study, as required by Congress. That study was due in 2013 but the FMCSA is now working toward a target date of the first quarter of 2014.
Also being considered is officially approving hair analysis for drug testing purposes. Supporters of this legislation state that the number of driver applicants who pass a pre-employment urine test, but fail a subsequent hair test, is alarmingly high.
Read more about this article at www.machineryhaulers.org. |
TMHA Board
of Directors
President
Jon Coca
Diamond Transportation System, Inc.
First Vice President
Aaron Tennant
Tennant Truck Lines
Second Vice President
Mike Connell
Bennett Motor Express
Past President
Jim Towery
Steelman Transportation
Clayton Fisk
Warren Transport
Jeremy Ihle
Ihle Transport, Inc.
TMHA Mission Statement
To provide an ongoing forum for education, networking and advocacy for flatbed, step-deck and lowboy (RGN) carriers that specialize in the transportation of machinery and machinery-related commodities throughout the United States and Canada.
|
|
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December for the seventh consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 55th consecutive month, said the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The report, which was issued by Institute for Supply Management Chair Bradley J. Holcomb, stated the PMI registered 57 percent. It's the second highest reading for the year, and just 0.3 percent below November's reading of 57.3 percent. The New Orders Index increased in December by 0.6 percent to 64.2 percent, which is its highest reading since April 2010 when it registered 65.1 percent. The Employment Index registered 56.9 percent, an increase of 0.4 percent compared to November's reading of 56.5 percent. December's employment reading is the highest since June 2011 when the Employment Index registered 59 percent. Comments from the panel supply chain executives generally reflected a solid final month of the year, capping off the second half of 2013 that was characterized by continuous growth and momentum in manufacturing. Read more about this article at www.machineryhaulers.org.
|
CSA Safety and Fitness Determination Rule May Be Out this Month
In a Semiannual Regulatory Agenda report, the Department of Transportation included an entry on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Safety Fitness Determination rule, which hints that a notice of proposed rulemaking will be published in January. The rule would alter the FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability program and the data it uses to produce a carrier's Safety Fitness Determination. The entry in the regulatory update doesn't directly say the rulemaking notice will be published this month, but it does include an action item listed for January 2014 labeled "NPRM" -- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. However, that may not be entirely accurate, as the report's entry on an electronic logging device rule lists publication of a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as an action item in November 2013, which did not happen. The e-log entry did not offer any updates as far as content of the rule or when it would be published. The regulatory update also included an entry on the drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule the agency is working on. The entry says the agency must create the clearinghouse by October 1, 2014.
Source: Commercial Carriers Journal & American Trucking Associations
|
|
Mark Your Calendar for the April TMHA Meeting
While it may not look or feel like spring outside, the annual TMHA April meeting will be here before you know it. This year's meeting will take place at the O'Hare Courtyard Marriott in Des Plaines, Ill., on Wednesday, April 2, and Thursday, April 3.
Hotel accommodations have been arranged at the O'Hare Courtyard Marriott for the evening of Wednesday, April 2. The special room block rate of $129.00 (subject to state and local taxes) is available until Wednesday, March 12, and can be reserved my calling (800) 321-2211 and referencing the Machinery Haulers Association.
As the meeting draws closer, a full schedule of events and confirmed speakers will be made available, along with online registration.
Contact the TMHA office at (515) 244-5193 or [email protected] with questions.
|
|
Deadline for Self-Certification of Medical Fitness Delayed a Year
The deadline for drivers to provide medical certification to their CDL-issuing state is going to be delayed a year, pushing it to January 30, 2015.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will officially announce the delay in the Federal Register within the next week.
Hence, drivers will still be responsible for having with them paper copies of their medical certification, as is required now, until the new deadline. Carriers, too, must have copies of drivers' medical certificates until the January 2015 deadline.
All drivers had until January 30, 2014, to report to their state their operating statues and furnish a valid medical examiner's certificate. A lack of readiness by some states to adequately notify drivers and allow for proper channels for drivers to self-report, however, forced the agency's hand in delaying the deadline to next January.
Drivers since January 30, 2012, were required to report their operating status and provide medical certificates when renewing their CDL, which will still be the case in the next 12 months. Drivers who do not self-report are subject to losing their CDL privileges.
The requirement for drivers to self-report to their state DMV was part of the FMCSA rule to combine CDL and medical certificates, so that drivers would only need to carry that single card with them.
Source: Commercial Carriers Journal
|
|
|
|
The Machinery Haulers Association
717 E. Court Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa
Phone: (515) 244-5193
Fax: (515) 244-2204
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
