Before putting together its carrier packets, Edinburg, TX-based Mike’s Loading Service, Inc. prescreens truckers using FMCSA’s “SAFER” (Safety and Fitness Electronic Records) system
website, part of the CSA program, says risk manager Greg Herman. “The bottom line is there isn’t a central place to look up all the information. You have to cull through the site and use your best judgment,” he says.
The carrier packet should include a transportation contract with the carrier, which can be a standard document like one provided by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), or written by an attorney, but it should be specific to the needs of the produce industry, Herman notes.
CSA: Hit or Miss
Among transportation companies, there is considerable disappointment in FMCSA’s efforts to regulate carriers. “The jury is out on whether the new CSA has increased safety at all, but what is indisputable is that it has created havoc for otherwise good trucking companies,” commented Doug Stoiber, vice president of produce transportation operations at L&M Transportation Services, Inc. in Raleigh, NC. “The ratings have been hard to figure out, ambiguous, outright incorrect at times, and have created mountains of paperwork for all involved,” he says.
Lund is an outspoken critic of CSA and authored a widely circulated post in the Lund company newsletter. Because of inadequate information and the possibility of costly lawsuits, CSA “is the equivalent of making it possible to sue the travel agent when an airline or cruise line has an accident,” he wrote.
Safety Ratings
While many like Lund and Stoiber believe the system is flawed, they must still rely on FMCSA for its carrier ratings of satisfactory, unsatisfactory, suspended, or conditional.
“Primarily, we need to know if (carriers) have a satisfactory rating. If their rating is unsatisfactory or suspended, we will not tender them loads. If the rating is conditional, we need documentation on the carrier’s letterhead that addresses the areas in which they were marked down and their plan for regaining satisfactory status,” Stoiber says.
“With these safety ratings, that’s where you can get pinned,” says Ron Lovell, operations manager and controller at Plant City, FL-based Sam Patterson Truck Brokers, Inc. “If you’re using a driver with an unsatisfactory safety rating and he has an accident, that gives attorneys all the fuel they need to go after you.” Patterson uses a program called SaferWatch to stay updated on the status of its carriers; Lovell mentioned similar programs like Internet Truckstop and CarrierWatch.
Max Strickland, general manager and vice president of Pearce Worldwide Logistics, Inc. in Haines City, FL, believes no one is exempt from litigation. He says lawyers will sue “the driver first, then the broker, and…the shippers and receivers as well.” Pearce Worldwide uses the Carrier411 monitoring service, Strickland explains, which provides safety scores along with complaints made by other brokers.
