Transplace CEO to chair regulatory reform alliance

The Alliance for Safe, Efficient and Competitive Truck Transportation (ASECTT) announced that Tom Sanderson, president & CEO of Transplace, will serve as chairman of the nonprofit group, which works for balanced regulations governing trucking regulation.

ASECTT, which is composed of carriers, shippers and brokers among others, seeks to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace by opposing the over-regulation of the industry. The group’s principal target is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new Safety Measurement System methodology. The three organizations that sued and settled with FMCSA over SMS – National Association of Small Trucking Companies, The Expedited Association of North America and the Air & Expedited Motor Carrier Association – are represented on ASECTT’s board.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be selected as a leader for this excellent organization,” Sanderson said. “It is important for shippers, carriers, brokers and others to have the ability to voice their concerns with the regulatory issues that will have lasting impacts this industry.”

The organization resulted from heightened awareness among shippers, brokers and carriers to the potential adverse consequences of public release of SMS methodology, said Steve Sample, president of Tyme-It Transportation and ASECTT board member.

ASECTT has filed comments with the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee contending that flaws in SMS methodology relate not only to severity weighting but also are systemic to the nature of the program. The group argues that the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program still does not accomplish the original goal of comprehensively rating all carriers. Of the 483,000 entities regulated by the Agency, Sanderson notes that most do not have scores in any of the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs).

The group also filed comments recently on FMCSA’s five-year plan, saying that it presupposes results that defy proper rulemaking procedures and that have not been approved by Congress.

“The inclusion of shippers and brokers as regulated parties by the FMCSA, is a proposal without any current warrant,” Sanderson said. “The role of the regulator is to certify the regulated party as safe for use by the consumer. Shippers and brokers, like the traveling public, are protected parties who should be beneficiaries of the regulators’ expert decision in establishing carriers who are fit for use.”