The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it will not require drivers who transport storage container tanks that are empty or contain residue to obtain tank truck hazardous materials endorsements.

The agency on Thursday responded in part to industry concerns that the existing definition of tank trucks could have a “dramatic impact” on the number of drivers required to have tank vehicle endorsements.

FMCSA agreed last month to consider a petition filed by American Trucking As...

Byline: David Tanner, Land Line associate editor

If you don’t have a tanker endorsement already, you might consider obtaining one. Besides being handy for business, it could help you avoid penalties if you haul certain types of fluid bins. Why now? Some states may already be enforcing an expanded definition of “tank vehicle” that now applies to vehicles hauling an aggregate of 1,000 gallons in containers of 119 gallons or larger.

It’s quite possible that you run in a state, or wi...

An Athens-based trucking company has been ordered to cease operations by the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

The decision to shut down BM&L Trucking, LLC, was based on serious safety violations “that posed an imminent hazard to public safety,” according to a release from the DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In addition to naming BM&L, the order also individually names Isaac McWilliams, Heronda McWilliams and IDM Transportation, Inc. An online trucking directory ...

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ordered Alabama-based BM&L Trucking, LLC, affiliated company IDM Transportation, Inc. and its owners to immediately cease all transportation services based on serious safety violations that posed an imminent hazard to public safety.
The shutdown order follows FMCSA’s extensive review of BM&L Trucking’s operations, which found multiple federal safety violations in the areas of hours...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Georgia-based Judson Mobley Logging to immediately cease all transportation services, declaring the truck company an imminent hazard to public safety. 

The shutdown order follows an extensive review of the three-truck company's operations by FMCSA, which found multiple violations of drug and alcohol testing, driver qualifications and vehicle maintenance rules. 

On April 30. 2012, a logging tractor-trailer being operated by Judson cras...

Byline: Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor

Federal safety data indicate that carrier registrations have jumped by 7.5% over the past 14 months, possibly reflecting a move by drivers to go into business for themselves, according to an analysis by QualifiedCarriers, a risk management services provider to shippers.

The number of active, for-hire carriers counted in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's CSA database jumped from 155,240 in February 2011 to 166,810 in April 2012, th...

American Trucking Associations’ leaders expressed serious concern over the recent decision by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to continue to hold the trucking industry responsible in its CSA program for every truck-involved crash, including those which the truck driver could not have prevented. 

ATA, and other industry groups, had requested—and FMCSA had agreed to develop—a process where police accident reports would be reviewed to determine crash accountability and rem...