A New Jersey Assembly panel heard testimony last week on legislation intended to improve the quality of the truck chassis being distributed at ports in the state.
According to the Star-Ledger, the bills are designed to improve oversight on a somewhat obscure part of the trucking industry that officials say has fallen through the regulatory cracks.
Representatives of the Teamsters and Longshoreman’s unions told the Assembly Transportation Committee that tougher rules were needed to keep dangerous chassis off New Jersey highways.
Terminal operators and shipping companies, however, contend the chassis they provide to truck drivers are well maintained and cause few accidents. Stricter standards, they said, would jeopardize the economy of the port.
“The goal here is achieving the safety we all want without damaging the industry,” said Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex.
After listening to testimony May 17, the committee is going to review – and possibly revise – the proposals before putting them up for a vote, the newspaper reported.
The proposals discussed include two provisions – A1478 and A1482 – for State Police and the state Transportation Department to conduct spot inspections of chassis before they are assigned to trucks at the port.
Also, the bills would force the owner of a chassis to be responsible for the proper maintenance of the equipment. Currently, that burden is placed on truck drivers.
Another measure would require terminals to ensure containers are not overweight or improperly loaded. Under A1484, terminal operators would be forced to weigh each container upon its arrival at the terminal. Overweight containers would either be repacked at the port or returned to the sender. Any terminal found violating the order could be fined $500 per occurrence.
Truckers forced to wait in line at the port to load or unload are the subject of one other bill. A1483 would prohibit ports from making a truck wait longer than 30 minutes before beginning loading or off-loading container cargo at a terminal. Violators would be subject to fines as much as $750 per occurrence.
