Vasile Sorocean, president of Carol Stream, Illinois-based Dynamic MD, found out Tuesday, Oct. 27, that his flatbed and step deck company was a hazmat carrier, too. Except that it wasn't. And it still isn't.
But there it was, right there in Motus, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) much-maligned registration system: Sorocean's company had been inexplicably reclassified from general freight to hazardous materials. On that same screen, Sorocean's 13-year-old asset-based company was flagged as "Inactive – Involuntary Suspension."
The administrative reclassification triggered a higher liability insurance threshold, raising the carrier's minimum requirement to $1 million. Because Dynamic MD isn't actually a hazmat hauler, its current $750,000 limit on file, which remains active, was deemed insufficient, and the operation was grounded.
"We have not been able to book a single shipment since this happened. As a small company, we cannot hold out long," Sorocean said, adding that he was never notified by FMCSA that there was, or even could be, a problem. "It would have been right for us to be informed. You can’t just put 50 people out of work overnight with no communication."
Had he been notified, Sorocean said the fix would have been simple. "We are already insured at $1 million in auto," he said. "I could have just updated the SAFER filing and been compliant."
FMCSA did not respond to CCJ's request for comment.
Arbitrary changes to insurance limits are one of the more common issues among users of Motus, according to Central Analysis Bureau (CAB). CAB and CCJ analysis Thursday found more than 6,475 companies with bodily injury and property damage (BIPD) changes from $750,000 or below to $1 million and above that led to involuntary suspensions. Roughly 6,000, CAB found, were processed the same day as Sorocean or later this week.
Dynamic MD and its 50-trucks and drivers join a list of trucking companies flagged and shut down through no fault of their own, mostly by administrative mistakes and bugs that have plagued Motus since its launch in May.
The reinstatement option is greyed out, Sorocean said, preventing him from fixing the issue himself. He has opened three support tickets since Tuesday, turned to the Illinois Trucking Association for help, and spent hours communicating with federal regulators. He was stuck on the phone with the FMCSA until 10 p.m. Wednesday, he said.
FMCSA has previously acknowledged to CCJ that the rollout of Motus has not been easy, but FMCSA Chief Safety Officer Steve Dowling estimated this week that "95% of the carrier registration that's going on in Motus is working," adding, "If you're part of that 5%, that's still a challenge." Still, Dowling noted that even while it stumbled out of the gate, the system is doing what it was designed to do, having kept "thousands of people... out of the industry."
But that's of little consolation to companies like Sorocean's.
"While the FMCSA is trying to remove bad actors from the industry, the bad actors are not even enrolling in Motus," he said. "Good carriers are being compromised."
