Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/923471
6 commercial carrier journal | january 2018 Counting down the top 10 stories of 2017 ELD mandate, Trump regulatory rollback dominate CCJ reader interest last year BY JEFF CRISSEY S poiler alert: The electronic logging device mandate dominated headlines throughout 2017. That shouldn't shock you, but what is surprising is the level of domi- nance the topic had. According to page views on CCJDigital.com, 13 of the top 25 stories of the year were related directly to the ELD man- date itself, various court challenges and pleas for exemptions. Those developments gave Commercial Carrier Journal editors plenty to cover on one of the most hotly debated topics that clearly divided the industry between small and large carriers. Aside from ELDs, 2017 was a busy year in other ways, as a new presidential administration affected regulations that shape the way fleets will conduct business in the future. Here is a look at the top stories from last year: 10. Carrier giants Swift, Knight to merge (April 10): After receiving approval from the Federal Trade Commission in the summer, the Phoenix-based trucking giants offi- cially merged in September as Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, creating a company with 30,000 tractors and an estimated $7 billion in annual revenue. 9. FMCSA withdraws safety fitness rule meant to re- vamp carrier rating system following industry pushback (March 22): The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administra- tion announced it will go back to the drawing board in its efforts to create a safety fitness determination rule, the last piece of the agency's enforcement puzzle, once it finishes changes to Compliance Safety Accountability's Safety Mea- surement System BASIC ratings. 8. Walmart institutes new fees to squeeze shippers, carriers into on-time deliveries (Aug. 1): The retail giant's renewed goals for on-time in-full deliveries could net an additional $1 billion in revenue by ensuring in-store prod- uct availability and hit carriers and shippers with extra fees for late, damaged or mispackaged deliveries. 7. Speed limiter mandate, sleep apnea stripped from Trump DOT agenda (July 24): The U.S. Department of Transportation reassigned the speed limiter proposed rulemaking as a long- term agenda item. DOT also entirely removed a proposed rulemaking for sleep apnea screening. 6. International unveils new 12-liter engine (Feb. 27): The new A26, a 12.4-liter diesel engine with a MAN-de- signed crankcase, replaces International's N13. The engine now is available on International LT and RH trucks. 5. EPA to rescind glider kit emissions regs enacted last year (Oct. 24): The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would repeal Obama-era emissions regulations placed on glider kit tractors, originally part of the agency's Greenhouse Gas Phase 2 emissions rule that calls for a further 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2027. 4. CVSA announces dates for annual inspection, enforcement blitzes (March 23, Oct. 12): The dates for Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's annual Roadcheck and Operation Safe Driver Week are commonly on our Top 10 lists. Inspection officers placed more than 12,000 vehicles out-of-service during Roadcheck, while Opera- tion Safe Driver Week resulted in 38,878 warnings and citations to truck drivers. 3. FMCSA rolls back 34-hour restart regulations (March 6-9): Garnering unanimous support among industry groups, DOT announced it would permanently remove the 1-5 a.m. provision and once-per-week limit from the 34-hour restart regulations that went into effect in July 2013. 2. Trump orders agencies to freeze new regulations (Jan. 23): In one of his first official acts in the White House, Presi- dent Trump issued an executive order freezing new regula- tions pending further review by agency officials. Trucking- related regulatory casualties include the sleep apnea screening and speed limiter proposed rulemakings. 1. The ELD mandate (January-December 2017): I'd be willing to bet that the ELD mandate continues to dominate the headlines in 2018, particularly in the first half of the year as ELD adoption continues to unfold and FMCSA begins to issue out-of-service orders and assess points against a carrier's CSA score starting in April. That's when we'll likely see the first true impact of the ELD mandate on truck capacity as noncompliant fleets and drivers are removed from the na- tion's highways. UPFRONT JEFF CRISSEY is Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com.