Bit of a public service announcement for the bulk of this week’s edition of Overdrive Radio. FMCSA Office of Registration director Ken Riddle emphasizes just what owners with motor carrier authority need to do by May 14 this week to prep for the agency’s long-awaited new registration system, called Motus.
Maybe like me you'd wondered just what was so important about the May 14 deadline in the agency's most recent notification to the industry about it. That day, Riddle noted, at roughly 8 p.m. Eastern time, FMCSA’s current registration system will go dark.
Motor carriers and other registered entities need to do primarily three things by that time to ensure that getting set up to manage the company’s profile in Motus goes as smoothly as possible:
- Log into your FMCSA Portal account to confirm it is active. If your account is disabled or archived, reach out to the FMCSA Contact Center to have the account unlocked.
- In the Portal, ensure your company information, operation classification, contact information, and individuals authorized to access your record are all correct, with special emphasis on ensuring the correct primary company official who will need to claim the account in the new Motus system next week by going through an ID verification with a driver's license or other verifiable ID.
- Make any updates to your company information in the FMCSA Portal the same way you complete a Biennial Update. Select “Biennial Update (MCS-150)” in the “Registration” tab.
As noted, next week Motus will launch, and every entity that will need to use it for MCS-150 updates and all manner of other changes must be able to claim their Motus profile. Though the old system will come back online, registration functionality will be completely gone.
Find more details about the rollout in the podcast, likewise the extent to which this transition itself will function to weed out a lot of the junk of inactive, long-dormant entities from the system, and how it could hold big import for combating all the impersonation that’s gone on with hackers taking over legitimate carriers’ authorities as well as "chameleon" entities using multiple DOTs to evade enforcement.
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As noted in the podcast, find that report and C.H. Robinson's response at this link.
[Related: Prime Route Transport, a Super Ego chameleon fleet, accused of ELD cheating with video evidence]
While all but the most recent of the owner's authorities were shut down by FMCSA after running up big violations numbers and ugly CSA scores, Mittelstadt hopes Motus will be enhanced over time to prevent such a carrier/unauthorized broker from ever doing the damage.
In that case one of thousands of purported double-brokered loads ended up with the worst-possible outcome, a deadly crash.
Outside of basic safety, though, for owner-operators with authority operating by the book, such double brokering at scale means unfair competition and more hands in the rates cookie jar, putting downward pressure on revenues and income.
About the kickoff of Motus, Captain Mittelstadt was correct when he guessed that “this isn’t the final version, and that it will be ever-evolving” to give FMCSA and states “more ways of tracking these chameleon carriers,” he said. To date, enforcement has been largely the province of compliance investigators during audits long after registration, not meaningful front-end detection.
Folks all around trucking and among state enforcement officials join the highest federal enforcement officer in the land, current FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs, in hopes that Motus will correct current limitations to detect bad actors at the moment they apply for authority, with the color of legitimacy that authority brings.
Barrs called it FMCSA’s “front door problem” as part of CBS 60 Minutes' reporting on Super Ego and the shape-shifting entities in its network.
FMCSA registration director Ken Riddle speaks concretely to how Motus will evolve in the podcast, and of course what carriers need to do before the transition kicks off Thursday this week.
Good news is the launch should be a major cleanup effort itself, Riddle said, and he wants legitimate carriers to take the steps to make sure it’s as smooth as possible.
For those who don’t, there could be a lot of waiting on hold on the phone for help after the flip of the switch later this week. Take a listen:
As mentioned in the podcast:
- Roadcheck kicks off May 12 -- resources
- Enter Overdrive's 2026 Small Fleet Championship -- nominations open!
- FMCSA's registration office, and contact number for help: 800-532-8660
[Related: Review records now -- May 14 deadline for FMCSA's new registration system]
