The Harbor Trucking Association to ask U.S. DOT for exemption from weekly driving limits.
The Harbor Trucking Association, which represents more than 100 motor carriers serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, plans to petition federal regulators for a temporary waiver from safety rules limiting weekly work limits for drivers to help relieve cargo backlogs at marine terminals.
A significant decline in port productivity is causing long queues at truck gates as overworked terminals struggle to exchange containers on chassis pulled by truck drivers. Motor carriers are struggling to keep up with customer orders because drivers can only make one or two revenue-bearing trips a day compared to four before new hours of service rules that went into effect in June 2013 that limits work time behind the wheel to 11 hours per day. There are not enough drivers to pick up the overflow, and the existing drivers cannot expand their work day to make more runs without violating the anti-fatigue rule.
The HTA said in a news release that is actually seeking relief from another provision in the hours-of-service rules. That provision reduced the number of hours from 82 to 70 that a driver could work in week by changing what is known as the 34-hour restart period. Under the rule, the restart break must include two back-to-back nighttime periods of rest from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., which can force many drivers to be off duty for longer than 34 hours to get a valid restart.
The HTA said the waiver would allow the Long Beach Container Terminal to open an extra gate shift on weekends knowing that drivers would be able to take advantage of the service.
“The current provisions have become a roadblock to efficient cargo movement in this harbor at this time of congestion and backlogged terminal facilities,” Mike Johnson, West Coast manager for Port Logistics Group and president of the HTA, said in a statement. “This exemption will allow us to adapt to the current conditions at the terminals and get cargo moving .”
Port Logistics Group, TTSI and Golden State Express have committed to signing the petition, and HTA officials expect to file on behalf of the entire membership. Long Beach Container Terminal, a major cargo handling facility for international vessels, is also supporting the petition.
Port congestion in Southern California has been steadily worsening all year, but it is reaching a critical point because import volumes are rising with merchandise retailers are trying to get to stores for the holiday shopping season.
Reasons for the supply chain bottleneck are varied, but include unprecedented arrivals of larger vessels that offload up to three times as much cargo at once; vessel bunching when schedules are missed; planning challenges caused by carriers calling multiple terminals rather a fixed location; terminals not devoting sufficient resources to sort container yards; antiquated work processes; a shortage of wheeled trailers for containers; and a driver shortage.
The end result is long lines of trucks at the gates and turn times that mean truckers have to take anywhere from two to five hours or more, depending on the time of day, to drop a load and pick up a container. Frustrated shippers, in turn, are having to wait extra days to have goods they ordered delivered to their distribution centers.
Long Beach Container Terminal is currently trying to alleviate conditions by continuing its Friday night gates for the near term and working to improve communication and notification for motor carriers.
The HTA said the California Trucking Association and the American Trucking Associations are expected to support the HTA waiver request. Curtis Whalen, executive director of the ATA’s Intermodal Carrier Conference, confirmed that the national organization is studying the law so it can help present the best case.
A successful petition could lay the ground for similar regulatory relaxation of HOS rules in other port districts, such as New York-New Jersey and Virginia, where truck gridlock is also prevalent.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration frequently grants 90-day waivers to the HOS rules when extenuating economic circumstances exist. Truckers in Florida often get waivers when the orange crop needs to be harvested rapidly to avoid freeze damage; similar exemptions are granted to get Midwest grain to market when weather conditions or equipment shortages could lead to millions of dollars in crop rot.
The HTA is seeking an expedited review. Petitions normally take two or three months to be processed by the FMCSA.
SoCal truckers seek emergency relief from HOS rules
