Hours of Service Rules Begin

After months of debate and speculation, the new trucking hours-of-service rules went into effect this past week. These new laws regulate the hours of driving that truckers are allowed to make in between breaks. For example, the laws forces truck drivers to take a 30-minute break after completing 8 consecutive hours of driving and force longer breaks in between 34-hour driving shifts. Any deviation from the law could result in massive fines for the truck drivers and carriers. For the longest time, trucking companies have argued about the impact that these new rules will have on shipping rates. They theorize that the loss in productivity would cost money, and trucking companies would have to make up that loss somewhere.

It’s been over a week with these new hours-of-service regulations, and as of right now, there hasn’t really been much of an impact, good or bad, that we know of. Many experts in the trucking industry suggest that we won’t really notice a impact for several months, even though the laws were enforced starting July 1^st. Freight forwarders and shippers everywhere across the United States are keeping a very close eye on the rules, and the impact that they will have on shipping freight by truck. One thing we do know, those shipping livestock agriculture will not be impacted right away as those truckers have been granted a 90-day waiver from the US Department of Transportation. Other commodities are being regulated right now with the new hours-of-service rules. We just have to wait and see if there is any sort of impact on trucking.