More than ⅔ of states granted HOS waiver for hauling fertilizer

As FMCSA notes in its announcement, there already are loopholes in the Hours of Service regulations for some agricultural transportation. Those breaks affect various types of transportation, such as the movement of farm supplies within a 150-mile radius from various source locations.

But the waiver announced last week is more sweeping. It waives current Hours of Service regulations with its various restrictions around the base provision of limiting driving to 11 hours in a 14-hours on-duty window within a 24-hour period.

16-hour day

Under the waiver, a driver hauling fertilizer in any one of the 34 states can drive for 16 hours in a 24-hour period.  The driver is required to take a 6-hour break in the sleeper berth for those other hours in the 24-hour period.

If the sleeper berth is not available, the driver must take an 8-hour break in some other accommodation in those 24 hours.

The states where the waiver will be in place are Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington,  West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The waiver is also eliminating the ELD requirement, though it does require drivers without an ELD to use paper logs. 

Trade group pushed for the change

The waiver announcement cited the support of The Fertilizer Institute, the industry’s Washington-based trade group.

In its own statement released alongside the waiver, the institute said farmers are “well into spring planting and the window farmers have to get their fertilizer applied is small.”

“Expanding transportation flexibility can help alleviate strain within the system and help avoid any potential bottlenecks in the fertilizer supply chain, especially as we transition to summer and fall fill,” it added.

The Institute said it is “not uncommon” for states to grant their own waivers for moving fertilizer around peak times for planting or harvesting. “Waiving HOS regulations for fertilizer deliveries was a potential policy solution (the institute) shared with the White House…earlier this month,” it said.

In the institute’s statement, CEO Corey Rosenbusch said fertilizer “moves in a variety of ways, but all fertilizer touches a truck at least once on its way to farmers’ fields and that is often the last part of the trip.”

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