The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a proposed rule that could require as many as nearly 300,000 less-than-truckload drivers to obtain tank-vehicle endorsements.
The Sept. 26 proposal would require the endorsement for a driver who hauls liquid or gaseous material within a tank having an aggregate rated capacity of 1,000 gallons, whether the tank is permanent or includes intermediate bulk containers attached to the vehicle.
The rule would not require the endorsement if the tanks are empty or contain a residual amount of material.
The safety benefit of this rule “derives from the added training and knowledge (which may be accomplished through self-study) that drivers of tank vehicles will need in order to pass the test for the tank-vehicle endorsement, thereby reducing the risk of rollover crashes,” FMCSA said.
The problem with the proposed rule is that portable tanks do not pose any surge or slosh risk because they are often shipped full, said Boyd Stephenson, director of hazardous material policy for American Trucking Associations.
”No one wants to ship portable containers that are partially full because it’s not economical,” Stephenson said. “But if you have a load that has four 250-gallon intermediate bulk containers in it, you have magically become a tank truck.”
The agency said it will accept comments on the proposal through Nov. 25.
