New Chassis Safety Rules Take Effect

By Rip Watson, Senior Reporter

This story appears in the June 28 print edition of Transport Topics.

The long-awaited new federal chassis safety rules take effect June 30, but officials said questions remain about damage reports truckers must file to keep equipment in roadworthy shape.

“The big question: ‘Is everybody ready for these rules?’ The answer, from what I can see, is ‘No,’ ” Curtis Whalen, executive director of the Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference, told Transport Topics. “There is a lot of confusion out there. Who knows where we will be on June 30?”

The reason, he said, is that two separate systems have been created for filing the reports, and there also is a pending request to change the filing process.

The Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association, a trade group of international steamship lines, contracted with Advent, a software company, to develop a driver vehicle inspection reporting system, or DVIR.

However, the Intermodal Association of North America has created a separate DVIR reporting system of its own.

IANA President Joni Casey said her group is “fielding hundreds of questions daily” and has hosted webinars with “thousands of participants” to help prepare the industry for the new process.

Whalen said his group prefers a single DVIR reporting system, to reduce the chance of errors.

Meanwhile, OCEMA and a leasing trade group, the Institute of International Container Lessors, asked the agency in April to drop a requirement to file DVIR reports on each of the estimated 40 million annual chassis moves. Instead, they proposed that DVIRs be filed only in the estimated 4% of cases where damage was noted. Whalen said his group supports that petition.

A spokesman with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the agency doesn’t comment on petitions that are under review, and the rule will take effect June 30 as scheduled.

“We’re ready to go,” said Farruggio’s Express Inc. President Sam Farruggio, referring to his drayage trucking company. “Truckers have been responsible for doing pre- and post-trip inspections forever. This won’t be any different for the motor carrier industry.”

The larger question, Farruggio said, is whether ocean carriers and the other intermodal participants are prepared for the new rules.

“I hope everyone involved has the same intent to improve the quality and safety of equipment,” said Farruggio. “That will become evident very quickly. It may take [FMCSA] slapping providers on the hands to get them to improve equipment condition.”

OCEMA did not respond to requests for comment.

FMCSA took more than three years to create the so-called “roadability” rules, issuing them in late 2008 and setting Dec. 17, 2009, as the start-up date.

When it became clear that the industry wasn’t prepared, the effective date was moved to June 30.

“Like everything else to do with roadability, getting to this point has taken a hell of a lot longer than expected,” Whalen said.

Whalen said industry activity just before the original December implementation date was “a week of confusion” because some drivers filed the reports, some didn’t and some equipment providers had no systems in place to receive them.

“We, as motor carriers, have a responsibility in this process,” Farruggio said. “We have to report defects. That is a hard change from a driver’s point of view.”

He explained that drivers have been reluctant to report defects because chassis owners would start billing disputes over repair costs.