Safety & Security Briefs — April 19 - April 25

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• E-Manifests Required at U.S.-Mexico Border
• EOBR Comment Period Closes

E-Manifests Required at U.S.-Mexico Border

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said April 19 all truck carriers are now required to electronically submit manifests detailing cargo and carrier information to the agency before arrival at any southern U.S. land-border ports of entry.

Carriers currently are required to use CBP’s “Automated Commercial Environment” at 80% of U.S. border crossings.

The electronic transaction system allows truckers to submit electronic versions of mandatory paperwork in advance of the truck’s physically crossing the border.
Requiring manifest information to be submitted electronically significantly reduces the potential for errors and improves efficiency, resulting in faster border crossings for legitimate carriers, CBP said.

Since January 2007, e-manifest filing rates at Arizona, California, Texas and New Mexico land-border ports have grown steadily, from about 5,500 e-manifests filed in January to more than 32,000 in March, CBP said. Transport Topics

EOBR Comment Period Closes

The public comment period on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposal to require some carriers to use electronic onboard recorders to monitor their drivers’ hours of service closed last Wednesday, April 18.

The agency published its regulation in mid-January, and received more than 750 comments from trucking groups, law enforcement, motor carriers, safety advocates and trade unions.

The proposal would require the worst violators of the hours-of-service regulations to use an EOBR for up to two years and would provide various types of regulatory relief for carriers that voluntarily adopt the technology.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee announced last week it would hold a hearing May 1 to investigate the EOBR issue. Transport Topics