FMCSA permits COVID hours of service waiver to run out
The COVID-19 hours-of-service emergency declaration permitting haulers of sure commodities to function exterior the conventional hours of service since March 2020 has expired.
The Federal Motor Provider Security Administration allowed the declaration to lapse on Saturday, Oct. 15. The company final prolonged the waiver on the finish of August, however just for 45 days quite than the 90-day extensions which have been frequent because the onset of the pandemic.
Throughout a short remark interval final month through which FMCSA sought trade suggestions on the continuing use of the waiver by motor carriers, trucking organizations and drivers had been typically break up on whether or not it ought to proceed or not.
The waiver lined offered aid for carriers offering “direct help in assist of emergency aid efforts associated to COVID-19.” It was restricted to an inventory of commodities that included:
- Livestock and livestock feed
- Medical provides and tools associated to the testing, prognosis, and remedy of COVID-19
- Vaccines, constituent merchandise, and medical provides and tools together with ancillary provides/kits for the administration of vaccines, associated to the prevention of COVID-19
- Provides and tools crucial for group security, sanitation, and prevention of group transmission of COVID-19 reminiscent of masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, cleaning soap, and disinfectants
- Meals, paper merchandise, and different groceries for emergency restocking of distribution facilities or shops
- Gasoline, diesel, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), jet gas, ethyl alcohol, and heating gas together with propane, pure gasoline, and heating oil
