FMCSA Renews Department of Defense Hours-of-Service Exemption
On October 6, 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration renewed an exemption for the Department of Defense from the 30 minute break requirement of the 2013 hours-of-service rule. This exemption allows for carriers who are contracted by the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) and their drivers who haul weapons, munitions, and sensitive or classified cargo to skip the required 30 minute break. Instead, those carriers and drivers may use their attendance time to satisfy this requirement, provided they do not do other work during their break.
The original exemption from the rule was granted on October 28, 2013 and was set to expire on October 21, 2015. The renewal will extend the exemption for an additional two years, to October 21, 2017. SDDC estimates that 1,942 power units and 3,000 drivers will be eligible to use the exemption.
Many TIA members are enrolled as transportation service providers for the federal government, and others are using TIA tools to examine whether moving government freight is a good fit for their business. TIA’s Government Freight Committee is an active committee that is the voice of the association to federal agencies. This year, the committee released the Government Freight Framework, available for free to all TIA members on the TIA website, to help members examine this potential business opportunity. For more information, please contact Will Sehestedt at sehestedt@tianet.org or (703)299-5713.
