Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Dec. 19, 2025:
- How the recently-passed National Defense Authorization Act helps military-assist truck owners and operators.
- Reefer spot rates lose recent gains, but dry van holds strong and flatbed's up in latest week.
- Railroad associations get temporary HOS relief for emergency response.
Congress passes Defense bill with trucking provisions
Congress this week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes several provisions related to owner-operators and other carriers and drivers working with the U.S. military. Trump signed the bill into law Thursday.
Among the significant provisions is on that mandates drivers hauling arms, ammunition, and explosives be provided with well-lit, gender-specific restroom access on military bases. The new law requires these restrooms to be located near safe haven parking areas and establishes a formal complaint process for drivers to report installations that fail to comply.
The NDAA also addresses the failure and cancellation of the Global Household Goods Contract (GHC), a single-source contract for management of the HHG movement of military families that never fully got off the ground. The bill requires any future contracts to ensure that moving and storage companies can support military readiness and ensure the safe, reliable transportation of the possessions of military families.
It also establishes a new Defense Personal Property Management Office and mandates studies into the adequacy of reimbursement costs for service members, specifically ordering an evaluation of the Coast Guard's relocation process to address delays and property damage.
[Related: How to get access to military freight]
The bill introduces aggressive oversight to the transportation of military freight, too, including:
- Requiring the Department of Defense to establish a complaint process for government and industry stakeholders to notify the department of potential noncompliance with federal laws and agency rules regarding the transportation of military freight.
- Mandating DOD provide training to Transportation Officers and industry service providers that use the Global Freight Management system.
- Giving the Commander of Surface Deployment and Distribution Command authority to override improper or excessive actions against a trucking company by a military installation.
- Requires the DOD to audit the Freight Carrier Registration Program to ensure that service providers have active DOT operating authority, and that users of the system can easily distinguish between asset-based motor carriers and freight brokers.
[Related: 10,000 CDL drivers out-of-service with ELP violations: Where's the rates bump?]
FMCSA provisionally renews HOS waiver for railroad orgs
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a six-month provisional renewal of an exemption for railroad associations that allows employees of member railroads to drive beyond standard hours-of-service limits under certain conditions.
The waiver was granted to the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association and member railroads. It allows employees of the associations’ member railroads, subject to the HOS rules, to respond to unplanned events that occur outside of, or extend beyond, an employee’s normal work hours.
The waiver allows drivers to operate beyond their 14th hour on-duty, up to 17 hours, but drivers would not be allowed to exceed 11 hours of driving time. It also allows drivers to extend the 60-hour/70-hour rule by no more than 6 hours. Drivers operating under the exemption would not be allowed to travel more than 300 air miles from their normal work-reporting location or terminal.
According to the request, the 14-hour and 60-/70-hour rules “inhibit a railroad’s ability to respond expeditiously to certain types of emergency situations.” Unplanned events that occur in which the waiver may be required include: a derailment; a rail failure or other report of dangerous track condition; a disruption to the electric propulsion system; a bridge strike; a disabled vehicle on the track; a train collision; weather- and storm-related events; a matter of national security; a matter concerning public safety; and a blocked grade crossing.
The provisional renewal is effective from Dec. 18 through June 18, 2026. FMCSA is accepting comments for 30 days on a potential full renewal of the exemption. Comments can be filed at www.regulations.gov by searching Docket No. FMCSA-2020-0171.
The news followed a series of winter-weather-prompted HOS breaks for haulers of a variety of heating fuels in the Northeast and Midwest.
[Related: Hours of service: More regs relief in the Northeast, new exemption request]
