Hours of Service Regulation ? Impact on US Trucking Industry
The hours of service (HOS) is set of road freight regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) administering the working hours of drivers and motor carriers operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in the United States. Hours of Service (HOS) amendments announced in December 2011 are scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2013. It is expected that the new regulation is likely to decline the productivity of the trucking industry by approximately 3?5 % in US. Why is there an impact due to the Regulation? According to the new regulation, the truck driver is not allowed to drive beyond 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty and he cannot drive after 60/70 hours on duty in the time period of 7/8 consecutive days. The restriction in the number of hours will effect in loss of driving duration and reduce the effective miles covered. This will require the industry to hire additional drivers, when the industry is already facing an acute shortage of qualified truck drivers. It is estimated that there will be a shortage of approximately 0.2 million truck drivers by 2015 which will affect almost 8% of the total productivity of the industry. It will also increase costs due to the additional operating expenses that come with the added equipment/drivers.
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