How will the new ELD Compliance Mandate affect the produce industry?
Effective December 18, the ELD Compliance Mandate says commercial drivers involved in interstate commerce are required to have an ELD installed to operate in the United States.
WHAT IS AN ELD?
The electronic logging device (ELD) rule is intended to create a safer work environment for drivers and make it easier and faster to accurately track, manage and share records of duty status (RODS) data.
An ELD synchronizes with a vehicle engine to automatically record driving time for easier, more accurate hours of service (HOS) recording.
WHAT IS THE ELD COMPLIANCE MANDATE?
Most commercial vehicles and drivers involved in interstate commerce are required to have an ELD installed to operate in the United States.
It was created to eliminate errors in HOS records through paper logs that can be easily manipulated and falsified. They are supposed to be tamper-resistant so information cannot be altered.
WHAT EFFECT DOES THIS HAVE ON TRANSIT?
HOS rules are not changing but flexibility on transit times will. As ELDs provide accurate tracking of drivers’ on-duty status, any change on planned loading and unloading times could lead to a driver running out of hours for the day. Drivers have a 14 hour on-duty limit per day and within those hours, they have an 11 hour driving limit.
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?
- Rate Fluctuations
- Tighter Lane Capacity
- Waiting Times/Detention
- Transit Time
Some affects of this mandate will be seen right away but the full effect won’t be at full capacity until April 1, 2018 when the grace period ends.
A driver sitting at a location eats away every minute of his daily 14 hour work limit. This, in turn, affects how many miles and deliveries a driver can get in each day. Trucks will be delayed overnight causing customer deliveries to be delayed.
As a result of the impact in waiting, additional waiting fees might be sought by carriers and some carriers may refuse to assume penalties or fines for late deliveries, especially if there are multiple stops on the load or a delay was caused by one of these deliveries.
For more information from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration visit:
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/electronic-logging-devices