Intermodal carriers in Texas will be able to apply for a permit beginning in January to haul heavier intermodal containers.Starting in 2018, Texas will increase the weight limits for trucks hauling intermodal containers, allowing loads up to 100,000 pounds to travel within a 30-mile radius of their point of entry on the Gulf of Mexico.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on May 23. The new law will allow six-axle combination intermodal trucks to weigh up to 93,000 pounds and seven-axle trucks to weigh up to 100,000 pounds. Current Texas law allows gross weights up to 84,000 pounds with a permit.
Permits will be required to haul intermodal containers at the increased weight limits. The permits will cost carriers $6,000 a year. Half of the fee will go to the state’s highway fund, and the other half will be distributed to counties, cities and the Texas Department of Transportation.
The permit only allows the trucks to operate on state and local highways and does not authorize them for interstates or load-restricted loads and bridges.
The permits stipulate that loads must begin and end at a port authority or port of entry on the Gulf of Mexico, and the loads cannot go outside a 30-mile radius from the port authority or port of entry.
