FMCSA issuing brief ELD waiver to short-term rental trucks, exempts motion picture haulers

The U.S. DOT has announced it won’t start requiring the use of electronic logging devices for short-term rental trucks, defined as 30 days or less, until March 18. DOT’s announcement comes about a month after the Truck Renting and Leasing Association said it had been informed by the DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that it had secured the short-term waiver.

Rental trucks are most commonly used by fleets during breakdowns and to add capacity to their fleet during busy seasons. The additional three months gives rental truck suppliers until tie to prepare for the mandate for rentals between eight and 30 days. Rentals lasting 8 days or fewer are permanently exempt from the ELD mandate.

TRALA argued that the “interoperability” of the different ELD units on the market created a challenge for both carriers renting trucks and the companies supplying the rental units. The extra time will help rental companies “devise new methods and systems to adapt to the ELD rules,” TRALA said in a press release in December.

FMCSA also announced Friday it is exempting carriers and drivers in the Motion Picture Association of America from the ELD mandate for at least five years. MPAA filed a request with FMCSA in October seeking the exemption, saying its drivers often work for different studios and production companies, who may use different ELD providers that are incompatible with each other. The exemption will cover about 6,500 drivers, who drive fewer than four hours a day and average only about 40 miles a day. The drivers haul equipment for theatrical, television and movie production sites, and they’ll still be required to keep paper logs.

Both exemptions are set to be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks.

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