FMCSA granting HOS exemption for 275-foot route

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is planning to renew a trucking company’s hours-of-service exemption for a route spanning less than 300 feet.

Scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Friday, Jan. 19, the exemption applies to certain short-haul drivers for packaging company WestRock at one of its facilities in Chattanooga, Tenn. If the exemption goes through after FMCSA reviews comments, it will be good for five years.

According to the notice of provisional renewal of exemption, WestRock operates a paper mill in Chattanooga. Shipping/receiving departments are located on opposite sides of the mill, requiring truck drivers to travel on a public road to transport trailers.

Drivers travel the public road, Compress Street, 40 times per day on average between WestRock’s manufacturing facility and the shipping/receiving docks. That route is about 275 feet in one direction. Only one tractor is used to perform this task. Drivers do not drive a truck continuously during a shift.

Due to the fact the cargo being transported is either going to or coming from other states, the 275-foot route is considered interstate travel.

The shipping department, which includes one employee driving the truck on Compress Street, typically works 12-hour shifts for four days. But WestRock sometimes uses a model of three eight-hour shifts. In those situations, an employee may work a double (16-hour) shift. On occasion, a driver may not show up for work, causing another driver to pick up that shift within eight hours of his or her previous shift.

In the latter situation, that driver does not complete the 10 hours off duty that typically are required before driving again.

Without the hours of service exemption, this situation would create a window of at least two hours in which trailers could not be loaded or transported. Additionally, the 14-hour driving window also required by federal regulations would create a situation where a driver would have to work short.

Consequently, other WestRock employees who can work a double shift would not be able to execute on-time deliveries.

If finalized, WestRock’s hours of service exemption request will allow drivers to work up to 16 consecutive hours. It also will allow drivers to return to work in less than the mandatory 10 hours off duty. The exemption will go into effect on April 17 and end on April 16, 2029.

FMCSA has determined that WestRock’s driving operations using the 275-foot route under the exemption conditions likely maintain a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of safety that would be achieved in the absence of the exemption.

This hours-of-service exemption request is nothing new. WestRock has been operating under the same exemption for more than a decade. FMCSA first granted the exemption in May 2012. Since then, the request was renewed in April 2014, July 2016 and July 2019. WestRock currently is operating under the 2019 waiver, which ends on April 16.

Request for comments

FMCSA’s notice requests comments before finalizing WestRock’s hours-of-service exemption.

To comment, click here (comment button is located on the left-hand side toolbar) or go to Regulations.gov and enter Docket No. FMCSA-2010-0027.

Comments will be accepted for a period of 30 days after the notice goes live on Friday, Jan. 19. LL

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