FMCSA Eases Hours of Service for Trucks Serving Port of Baltimore
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an hours-of-service waiver late last Thursday night, April 4, for trucking affected by the collapse of Maryland’s Francis Scott Key bridge. Of its several provisions, the waiver allows drivers to add two hours to the current 11 allowable hours of daily driving under the 14-hour on-duty limit. The two-hour extension will apply to “commodities rerouted from the port of Baltimore.” But the definition of commodities is broad.
The waiver includes most of the key products that had been regularly imported into Baltimore: shipping containers (though Baltimore is a relatively small intermodal port), fuel, automobiles and other “roll-on/roll-off” commodities such as farm equipment. On a practical basis, the additional two hours can help a drayage driver based in Baltimore who might need to shift their operations to the port of Norfolk while waiting for the port of Baltimore to reopen.
The waiver also lifts HOS rules on trucks that are involved in the cleanup, if they are “transporting equipment and supplies related to immediate repairs to the roadways and navigable waterways” or removing debris from there, according to FMCSA.
No driver plans for a breakdown, but every driver should be ready for one. Mechanical issues, tire failures, or other unexpected problems can happen when you least expect it. Knowing how to safely bring your vehicle to a stop and protect yourself and others can help keep a minor inconvenience from becoming a serious incident.
For truckers, testing for marijuana continues. Just as with testing for cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, and opioids, testing for marijuana will continue to be conducted on a pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, and return-to-duty basis.
As temperatures rise, so do the risks associated with tires, brakes, and overall vehicle condition. Summer heat doesn’t just stress drivers, it amplifies mechanical weaknesses, making maintenance and inspections more important than ever.