Federal trucking regulators are investigating the safety record of Central Refrigerated Transportation whose owner is Jerry Moyes, who is currently in a dispute with the Department of Transportation over a proposed fine of Swift Transportation Co. Inc., which he heads.

David Longo, a The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spokesman, told Land Line the agency will perform a compliance review of Utah-based Central Refrigerated Service Inc., but the timing remains unsure.

“We’re finding out indicators that they’re potentially at high risk,” Longo said, adding that the two investigations are unrelated.

Meanwhile Phoenix-based Swift is opposing a proposed $37,440 fine because drivers allegedly falsified logbooks. If found at fault, the company’s safety rating could be downgraded.

“We’re going to do a compliance review on Central,” Longo said.

Pending Swift’s appeal to the DOT, the company’s current rating remains satisfactory, as does Central’s, pending further investigation, Longo said.

Central Refrigerated was formed two years ago as a subsidiary of Waco, TX-based Central Freight Lines Inc., of which Moyes is chairman and a major shareholder. Central Freight Lines transferred ownership to Moyes and one of his affiliates on Dec. 31, 2002, as a debt payment.

Central Freight Lines is not under scrutiny by the safety administration.

Moyes said Monday that the safety administration's scoring system is "completely wrong and completely inaccurate," as reported by the Arizona Republic. He said Central Refrigerated is safe and doing extremely well.

The safety administration has moved this year to make changes in its SafeStat scoring system after an inspector general's inquiry found problems with how crash data was collected. However, the inspector general's report said the system was a good tool to identify high-risk carriers.

The government's scoring system covers crashes, driving inspections, vehicle inspections and whether companies are following safety regulations, including pre-employment drug testing. A company must be among the lowest 25 percent of carriers in two of the four areas to be labeled "high risk."

Moyes said he is not worried about a potential inquiry.

"If the DOT wants to investigate us, that's great. They can come in and look at it. We are not worried," Moyes told the newspaper.