As was reported by CTA on January 8th (see below), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published its Final Rule regarding the use of Alternative Cargo Securement Requirements for Agriculture. CTA has been in contact with both the FMCSA and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) inquiring as to when the guidance for the final rule will be available meaning when will it be recognized formally. FMCSA has informed CTA that they are in the process of completing the guidance for the rule. As most of you know, CTA through its efforts with the CHP has been obtaining an exemption to the previous securement rules for the agricultural transportation community for the past 10 years. The 2017-2018 exemption expires on April 30th of 2018. What this means is if the FMCSA's guidance comes out after April 30th carriers could run the risk of being out of compliance for operating under the Final Rule requirements that were issued in early January. 

Don't be alarmed, the CHP is in the process of expediting the exemption request if in the event the Guidance is not complete by April 30th. The exemption would be temporary or be in effect until the guidance is completed. As soon as the exemption is granted CTA will send out an alert to its applicable membership along with the process that carriers must follow while operating under the exemption. 

More information to come, stay up to date on the status of the FMCSA "Guidance for the use of Alternative Cargo Securement Requirements for Agriculture." CTA will make sure you are updated as things progress. For more information contact Eric Sauer at esauer@caltrux.org. 

Below is information that was provided by CTA's Alert to its applicable members in early January.

Since 2006, the California Trucking Association (CTA) has led a coalition of agricultural stakeholders on finalizing securement processes for the transportation of agricultural commodities. This was in response to the general securement rules that were published in 2006, that the trucking industry identified as problematic for haulers of certain agricultural commodities. CTA, ATA's Agricultural Food Transporters Conference (AFTC) and other agricultural stakeholders worked with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) to find alternative methods for tying down specialty agricultural products such as cotton bales, tomato tubs, etc. Project work included testing the older methods versus newer methods which was accomplished at the CHP's Academy in West Sacramento. The testing and research clearly showed the previous and alternative methods secured the cargo much better than using methods from the general cargo securement rules. Since the testing was conducted, CHP has granted CTA the current exemption that AG haulers operate under while the FMCSA was reviewing the testing information. CTA, AFTC and others have been working with FMCSA to finalize and publish these new rules to ensure our specialty ag products are properly secured not only in California, but all over the nation.