Trucking questions port registries

Trucking organizations have petitioned the U.S. Department of Transportation for a determination that federal law pre-empts mandatory drayage truck registries.

Increasingly, ports are requiring carriers to have compliance decals, radio-frequency identification or participate in mandatory registries to comply in port emission reduction programs. 

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the New Jersey Motor Truck Association and the Port Drivers Federation 18 maintain this trend violates the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, resulting in regulations affecting price, route or service of carriers. The port organization is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of approximately a thousand members, including owner-operators.

They also requested a determination that additional identification requirements of registries are prohibited by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, the 2005 omnibus funding bill.

OOIDA has said trucking is headed for a return to multiple credentials on trucks, which had been outlawed by Congress.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had already been asked to determine if federal law preempts the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from requiring trucks to have the port’s registry stickers before entering.

In a Dec. 3 Notice of Petition for Determination, Dec. 3 the agency said it would accept comment on the matter until Jan. 3 and reply comments until Jan. 18.

The port authority stipulated trucks entering its facilities display stickers indicating compliance with its new Drayage Truck Registry. The New Jersey Motor Truck Association asked the Secretary of Transportation if federal law preempted this rule.


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