CSA, Other Government Regulations to Be TIA’s Focus at Texas Meeting

The Transportation Intermediaries Association will focus its attention on government regulation, particularly the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, when the trade group convenes March 21-24 in San Antonio.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s program, known as CSA, makes information available about carrier safety performance that third parties use to decide which carrier to select.

The availability of safety performance data has exposed brokers to liability lawsuits by people hurt in accidents who claim that the brokers were negligent and selected a carrier, based on CSA information, said Robert Voltmann, president of the trade group.

“We will be talking about the whole CSA and broker liability issue,” Voltmann told Transport Topics on Feb. 28. “The real issue is for FMCSA to develop safety fitness determinations for all motor carriers.”

Those determinations will enable third parties to be certain which carriers are safe to use and which are not and eliminate the liability issues, he said. FMCSA is expected to present new rules governing carrier safety later this year.

Since 2011, the use of CSA carrier data by brokers and shippers has sparked controversy.

Some brokers have claimed that FMCSA’s system of scoring carriers unfairly punishes small carriers and is based on flawed statistical calculations, and they have asked FMCSA to stop making the information available to the public, so far without success.

The agency’s scoring system for each carrier is based on violations such as speeding or hours-of-service infractions that are found during roadside inspections or traffic stops by law enforcement officers.

In addition to the CSA controversy, TIA members also will discuss the ramifications of moves by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has begun to assign ratings to third parties for their performance on environmental issues under its SmartWay program, which previously was focused on motor carriers and shippers.

That eight-year old program, in addition to recognizing fleets for steps to reduce emissions and boost fuel economy, offers incentives such as low-cost loans and financing, and it can be used to illustrate carriers’ commitment to sustainability, according to the agency.

Volkmann said TIA expects more than 750 people to attend the meeting. In addition to the sessions on government regulation, they can choose from a series of workshops and visit a trade show.

Among the commercial issues that will be discussed are pay in-centive approaches, pricing practices, employee motivation and identifying new customers.

Other sessions will include intermodal, contract negotiation, cargo claims and women in logistics.

Still another issue on the agenda at the meeting is a discussion about whether salaried employees of freight brokers should be able to collect overtime pay, Voltmann said.

The issue has arisen, he said, as a result of court action by former employees of a brokerage who claim they were entitled to overtime pay at their old jobs.