FMCSA Sets Team to Help Get Trucks to Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it has set up an “interstate petroleum transport team” to ensure the fastest and most efficient movement of fuel to regions hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.

The team will serve as a single point of contact for states, the trucking industry, and agencies to assist in the removal of barriers to the quick delivery of fuel, FMCSA said.

Related, see this week’s editorial: Repairing Sandy’s Devastation.

Hurricane Sandy battered the Eastern Seaboard last week, with most of the damage centered in New York and New Jersey.

FMCSA has already issued an eastern regional emergency declaration that temporarily lifts hours-of-service and other regulations to assist truckers providing direct emergency relief, including transporting generators and fuel.

The team “will help get fuel delivered to states and communities recovering from Hurricane Sandy even faster and more efficiently than before, by streamlining multiple state regulations for trucks,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

“The president has asked us to ensure fuel moves as quickly as possible, and we are answering that call, starting with a hotline number that will give trucks, states and others a one-stop solution to ensure the swift delivery of relief goods,” he said in a statement.

The team has launched a hotline number, 800-832-5660, to help address individual registration, certification, tax, or other barriers to the flow of fuel transportation to affected states.

Trucks bringing fuel to the affected region in the Northeast must follow different state regulations. The team will coordinate information on a variety of waivers to ensure each state coordinates key regulatory issues that should be addressed to assist the flow of petroleum products to affected states, including:

• Drivers’ hours-of-service;

• Size and weight rules;

• Low-sulfur diesel fuel waivers;

• Toll waivers;

• Vehicle registration waivers (International Registration Plan); and

• Fuel tax waivers (International Fuel Tax Authority).

Working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Logistics Agency, FMCSA said it has helped connect fuel distributors with companies that have fuel pump trucks.