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It’s official: FMCSA waives HOS nationwide for COVID 19-related movement

In what it says is a first, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a 50-state waiver to the Hours of Service Rule for commercial vehicle drivers transporting goods related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The order was issued late Friday evening and had been foretold earlier in the day, on the back of numerous state waivers for intrastate transportation. It will last until the end of the day on April 12 or until the end of the emergency declared Friday by President Trump, whichever is sooner. 

FMCSA’s order is sweeping. And while there are numerous freight movements that wouldn’t fall under it, there are plenty that will. 

Possibly the most important waiver that will affect truckload carriers will be the one that impacts equipment and supplies of food for the emergency restocking of stores. State trucking association authorities contacted by FreightWaves on Friday all commented that the strain on the trucking system created by the enormous need to restock stores stripped bare by shoppers laying in vast quantities of supplies was enormous. A widely distributed picture posted on Instagram on Monday showed an enormous line of trucks outside a Pennsylvania Procter & Gamble plant that makes toilet paper; that situation presumably only got worse as the week went on.


The order specifies the waiver applies to equipment and supplies of food for the “emergency restocking of stores.”

The surge in demand for trucking can best be seen in the rise in SONAR’S Outbound Tender Volume Index, which has rocketed over the past few weeks even as economic activity in the U.S. slows due to the COVID-19 scare.

Other exemptions to HOS will cover the following, according to FMCSA:

–Supplies and equipment, including masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectants, necessary for healthcare worker, patient and community safety, sanitation, and prevention of COVID-19 spread in communities.


–Three types of “persons”: those “necessary for establishment and management of temporary housing and quarantine facilities related to COVID-19”; those “designated by Federal, State or local authorities for transport for medical, isolation or quarantine purposes”; and “personnel to provide medical or other emergency services.”

Although there is no limit on the hours of service driving the truck, the FMCSA order does say that when a driver has completed a delivery, he or she must receive 10 hours of off duty if delivering goods and eight hours if transporting passengers.

One other provision: if a driver has completed COVID-19 relief work, but then is returning empty to his or her base, they can do so without violating federal rules. 

The exemption is aimed specifically at the Hours of Service rule that can be found in parts 390 through 399 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 



17 Comments

  1. Noble1 suggests SMART truck drivers should UNITE & collectively cut out the middlemen from picking truck driver pockets ! UNITE , CONQUER , & YOU'LL PROSPER ! IMHO

    .

    Another very important detail these FMCSA clowns have neglected in waving the HOS is that the more you tire a person , the weaker their immune system becomes !

    Truckers are exposing themselves to enough risk as it is . Now they want to keep exposing them to this COVID 19 outbreak by keeping them out on the road without the right to self isolate , and tire them out even more in the process ???

    These people are beyond a lost freaking cause , and they are in charge of “regulating” safety in the industry ???

    What a freaking crock of BS GALORE these people are ! Don’t allow them to play you like this especially during a very dangerous viral pandemic outbreak !

    I’ve stated that 2020 would be a huge eye opener ! If this lack of safety negligence doesn’t open your eyes as to how irresponsible the FMCSA is , then nothing will ! These people are a JOKE and putting you in harms way with their EXTREME negligence !

    In my humble opinion !

    Be wise , don’t burn yourselves out just because now they are allowing you to do so beyond reason by manipulating you due to a national emergency . They can go where the sun don’t shine !

    Apparently HOS are enforced for the general population’s safety on our roads ONLY when it suits the industry .
    Apparently they were so desperate to enforce safety that they banned paper log books and enforced electronic log books to ensure they can’t be manipulated .

    But when the nation or a state has an emergency , those “safety regulations” take a back seat and truckers are permitted to neglect and bypass them for the general population’s benefit ??? Now that’s one heck of a CONtradiction !

    It’s a disgrace and an insult to the population’s and truckers intelligence . Even if an emergency presents itself people need to stop at a stop sign . We shouldn’t allow people to violate laws just because it suits us from time to time .

    The FMCSA is a joke and so are carrier associations . This industry has played with truck drivers for far to long . How dare they ask truckers to violate the laws these clowns have obliged and enforced with a stick on truck drivers for the public’s safety . Show them that they can’t have their cake and eat it too .

    They want to enforce rules . The least we can do is abide by them AT ALL TIMES ! Drivers aren’t freaking puppets ! They are human beings and should be respected and treated as such .

    These people are literally laughing in truck drivers faces . I wouldn’t waive the HOS rule as a driver . I wouldn’t jeopardize my safety nor the publics because of some crisis . I would choose to act responsibly no matter what the heck occurs on this planet . Truck drivers are pushed enough as it is and beyond reason ! There’s a freaking limit !

    IMHO

  2. Last real trucker

    Let the renegades come out come on renegades let’s show these modern dayers and steering wheel holders how it’s done also to dont fight it let’s take this and stomp fmcsa and dot in ground and take this moment to take our industry back come on let’s run run run and make money

  3. Don

    If they are gonna do away with the eld hos regs for a short time they miles well just do away with thim all together and go back to when trucking was actually trucking

  4. Mark

    The point is to help your fellow man asshole! you are the kind of guy that gives the rest of us truckers a bad name. So quit whining or quit truckin!!!

    1. Les

      I am 35 years in this industry. I believe we are way overdue for a strick. But I love my country, with that said, I agree with you Mark, right now we need to come together and help take care of this country and everyone in it. That is what us truckers do, we take care of this country.

  5. Rodney

    Yeah I think this is a real big joke with the Federal motor carrier they been screwing us over every since it’s electronica log our loads are getting cheaper they asked for our help by waving the hours of service all because of this outbreak I don’t think that we should change the rule I have a hot load hurried up to get to my receiver and my appointment is not for another two days They won’t except it until 12 hours early so what’s the point of hurrying up on this hos

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John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.