Page 34 - ATR 2 2014 web

Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference,
said that type of business is extremely
unpredictable. Enormous cargo ships
arrive in port at unexpected times with
“we’Ve beeN adVisiNg our clieNts that if unexpected cargo loads. Thousands of
they’re goiNg to teNder freight to third containers are unloaded, creating huge
parties, aNd they’re a motor carrier, they congestion problems. Penalties apply if
either Need to iNterliNe that freight with containers are not moved within a cer-
tain time period.
that third party, or they Need to haVe Whalen said his conference fully
broker authority.” supports increasing the broker bond
provision. Maritime trade attracts many
foreign companies who don’t need more
—NathaNiel sayler, partNer, than a phone to go into business. Then
scopelitis, garViN, light, haNsoN aNd feary, p.c. they just disappear.
Paul Enos, CEO of the Nevada
Trucking Association, said the provision
affects his state even though it’s land-
locked. Because Nevada doesn’t have an
inventory tax, a lot of shippers pick up
Conference, said its members expected also are not exempt, and that can be freight in Oakland and then warehouse
to still be able to subcontract freight important in an industry that easily is in the northern part of the state, which
even with the bill’s passage. An amend- disrupted by unpredictable weather pat- is 3.5 hours away. Others warehouse in
ment by Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) terns. Tomatoes often are canned in the Las Vegas from Southern California. He
seemed to address the problem. fields, and canning equipment is not worries that the provision will hurt the
However, more specific language requir- exempt. Neither is anhydrous ammonia, operational flexibility of his members.
ing carriers to register as brokers was a growing agent that must be applied on For a carrier hauling dirt 150 miles
included in the bill once it entered con- a timely basis but which faces a short- from a mine to a processing facility,
ference committee, and the FMCSA has age of hauling equipment because trail- interlining doesn’t make sense.
decided to emphasize the more stringent ers are being used to haul propane. The MAP-21 provision shouldn’t
language. Samson said it’s not as simple as have been used to change an informal
Nathaniel Saylor, a partner with just paying for a bond. Under the law, practice that has been used for decades,
Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson and carriers must have someone on staff Enos said. Instead, it should be used
Feary, the nation’s largest legal firm with three years of brokerage experience against brokers with nothing more than
focusing solely on transportation and or experience that has been deemed a phone and desk who were cheating
logistics companies, said the FMCSA’s allowable, with “allowable” still being carriers.
ruling is probably correct in that the defined by the FMCSA’s rulemaking “Going after these suitcase bro-
section requiring carriers to obtain process. For some of his clients with kers by wrapping motor carriers up in
broker authority is clearer than the one 10 trucks and three or four employees, it really has damaged the operational
that might say they are exempt. Costa’s those are prohibitive requirements. The flexibility of a tremendous amount of
amendment, he said, is “ambiguous.” cost of the bond itself can be a prob- trucking companies,” he said.
“Our take on it is that the express lem. “I’ve heard as low as $1,700, but Nancy O’Liddy, director of govern-
and the clear provision effectively I’ve also heard as high as you having to ment affairs for the Transportation
trumps the other provision, and so come up with collateral for the whole Intermediaries Association, says the
we’ve been advising our clients that if thing,” he said. provision was part of a compromise
they’re going to tender freight to third Samson has drafted legislation, agreed upon by the American Trucking
parties, and they’re a motor carrier, signed by 32 state trucking associations, Associations, OOIDA, and the TIA. The
they either need to interline that freight that he hopes to propose as a stand- individual conferences now complain-
with that third party, or they need to alone bill that will make its way into ing about it are “a little late to the
have broker authority,” he said. the next surface transportation bill. game,” she said. “This wasn’t something
Raw commodities have been The provision especially affects that got snuck in. It was a four-year
exempted since 1958. However, once a intermodal carriers at port operations. process.”
food has been processed, it’s no longer Curtis Whalen, executive director of The purpose of the bond increase
exempt. The tools used in agriculture the American Trucking Associations’ was to reduce fraud, which she said

34 aRkaNSaS tRuckiNg RepoRt | issue 2 2014