Drivers hauling fertilizer in 34 states will have the ability to transport their product for 16 hours in a 24-hour interval below a waiver granted final week by the Federal Motor Service Security Administration.
Citing a squeeze on fertilizer provides, FMCSA put the waiver in place between Might 26 and August 26.
‘As a part of (a) coordinated motion and in response to a request from The Fertilizer Institute, FMCSA points this waiver to supply wanted aid from specified (rules) for motor carriers and drivers transporting fertilizer merchandise in CMVs for industrial farming and agricultural functions in choose States,” FMCSA stated in its ready assertion asserting the waiver.
As FMCSA notes in its announcement, there already are loopholes within the Hours of Service rules for some agricultural transportation. These breaks have an effect on numerous kinds of transportation, such because the motion of farm provides inside a 150-mile radius from numerous supply areas.
However the waiver introduced final week is extra sweeping. It waives present Hours of Service rules with its numerous restrictions across the base provision of limiting driving to 11 hours in a 14-hours on-duty window inside a 24-hour interval.
16-hour day
Beneath the waiver, a driver hauling fertilizer in any one of many 34 states can drive for 16 hours in a 24-hour interval. The motive force is required to take a 6-hour break within the sleeper berth for these different hours within the 24-hour interval.
If the sleeper berth just isn’t accessible, the driving force should take an 8-hour break in another lodging in these 24 hours.
The states the place the waiver will likely be in place are Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The waiver can also be eliminating the ELD requirement, although it does require drivers with out an ELD to make use of paper logs.
Commerce group pushed for the change
The waiver announcement cited the help of The Fertilizer Institute, the trade’s Washington-based commerce group.
In its personal assertion launched alongside the waiver, the institute stated farmers are “nicely into spring planting and the window farmers need to get their fertilizer utilized is small.”
“Increasing transportation flexibility may also help alleviate pressure inside the system and assist keep away from any potential bottlenecks within the fertilizer provide chain, particularly as we transition to summer time and fall fill,” it added.
The Institute stated it’s “not unusual” for states to grant their very own waivers for transferring fertilizer round peak occasions for planting or harvesting. “Waiving HOS rules for fertilizer deliveries was a possible coverage resolution (the institute) shared with the White Home…earlier this month,” it stated.
Within the institute’s assertion, CEO Corey Rosenbusch stated fertilizer “strikes in quite a lot of methods, however all fertilizer touches a truck no less than as soon as on its solution to farmers’ fields and that’s usually the final a part of the journey.”
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