Heavier Trucks, or Outsourced Jobs?

There is a movement, led by a group euphemistically called "Coalition for TransportationProductivity," to push legislators to increase the weight limits of trucks allowed on U.S. highways. 

This coalition includes over 100 major shippers such as Tyson Foods and Hershey Co., and a number of the major truck lines that ship nationwide, such as Con-way and U.S. Express. These shippers want to raise weight limits of trucks that travel in the U.S. from the current 80,000 lb. limit to a 97,000 lb. limit, and they suggest there a number of reasons to do so. One is that the current weight limit is often reached before the trailer is filled. Another is that fewer trucks would be required to move the same tonnage. Third, modern containers weigh 97,000 lbs, and the new weight limit would avoid transshipment to smaller, 80,000 lb trucks.

Those aren't necessarily bad reasons, but they probably obscure the real reasons. One, of course, is the cost of personnel. Corporations are engaged in a constant effort to reduce the number of employees; fewer trucks means fewer drivers, and, although businesses always tout on-the-job training opportunities, corporations do everything possible to avoid the cost of training employees.

The second, and more important reason, is hinted at in a quote from Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), "With the Panama Canal being deepened, these larger cargo ships coming in are going to be carrying containers that weigh 97,000 pounds." Coming in where? Ports in Panama or Mexico? That opens the door for Mexican trucks into the U.S. Mexican trucks are already heavier - up to 171,000 lbs, so a 97,000 lb limit is no big deal for them.

But Mexican trucks have other advantages for corporate shippers. Mexico doesn't do safety inspections, doesn't require driver logbooks or out of service (rest) time for drivers, Mexico doesn't take trucks out of service for defective equipment. According to one source, 36 percent of trucks entering the U.S. from Mexico were placed out-of-service by U.S. inspectors for serious safety defects. 

All of safety compliance costs shippers money, and that gives the companies that can avoid those costs a competitve advantage, especially against small-business shippers and owner-operators that can't. It may be that a weight limit increase is justified, but it shouldn't be a wedge to let shippers outsource trucking jobs south of the border.

This may seem like a small issue, but every truck on U.S. roads should comply with U.S. laws. While a heavier 97,000 lb truck might not be dangerous in itself, a defective 97,000 lb truck with an exhausted driver is a recipe for disaster which shouldn't be allowed on American roads, and any legislative change should be certain to ensure the legal compliance of any truck in or entering the U.S.