Story by: John Kingston at FreightWaves

An emergency proclamation suspending an undefined part of the Hours of Service (HOS) rules through the entire U.S. is expected to be granted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

The federal waiver will come as HOS rules were falling over the past two days within a number of states where supply chains are straining under the demands to restock medical and consumer goods that are rapidly being depleted. The waivers on the state level were wide-ranging and across the country. Waivers in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina and Virginia were confirmed by FreightWaves. A request was confirmed in Nevada.

“We understand that FMCSA will be issuing an emergency proclamation suspending federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for operations engaged in emergency relief related to COVID-19,” ATA vice president for safety policy Dan Horvath said in a note to its members. “We expect FMCSA to post the specific criteria of this proclamation on their website, including clarifying information about the types of loads and work covered.”

That note was the second one of the day sent by ATA. Not long before that, the ATA had said in a note that FMCSA had issued the rule suspending HOS for interstate operations. But that was quickly preempted by a second note saying that such a rule was expected rather than issued.

FMCSA was not immediately available for comment. But in the note, Horvath said carriers and drivers “remain responsible for ensuring that drivers are receiving sufficient rest and are not operating fatigued

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Source and credits: freightwaves.com / iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski