News

Las Vegas Meeting Registration - Oct. (PDF)
by Greg Stachura

Our conference is intended to provide a forum for members to network and learn from on another ideas for improving their professional practice to better serve their clients and build a stronger business.

Planned Agenda for Las Vegas (PDF)
by Greg Stachura

The program is designed to allow a maximum of networking and conferenceing between members. Please take advantage of the opportunity to learn how your fellow practitioners are improving their skills and meeting the myriad challenges of the marketplace.

Who will answer the call? (PDF)
by Greg Stachura

Several of your fellow practitioners have long served to provide a group through which you and your company can find the skills and ideas necessary to serve a dynamic industry and market. Each opportunity for professional leadership is an opportunity for personal growth. Please consider what you can do to make our organization better positioned to serve our members, clients and industry.

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will do." - Edward Everett Hale, chaplain of the U.S. Senate in 1903

Trucking prices at highs, Bill Augello recognized (PDF)
by Editor

This issue reveals the dramatic increases in pricing within the trucking industry. While not new to those of us who arrange this service daily it is remarkable to see, in graphic form, the major rise in prices.

Bill Augello is no less than a statesman in the transportation industry. This recognition of his substantial contribution to the developments in our industry and the teaching of practitioners in it. Few have been as prescient as Bill in his perspective of our industry.

Third Party Logistics Industry Tops 100 Billion! (PDF)

Justice handles bonding scheme, Hazmat restrictions on rails affect capacity, The value of surcharges, Standard borker/carrier agreement gains much popularity; These are all covered in September's issue of our newsletter. Be sure to take advantage of the valuable perspective upon our industry and its major developments.

Air Cargo Demand Rises, What's Missing in Lean Logistics (PDF)
by Editor

The FTCA works hard to provide news on trends in industry that will affect our members and their clients. Take time to inform yourself of developments that will change the lay of the land in our industry.

Appeal (PDF)
by webmaster posting

For those who are following the judiciaries decision on the violation of the Interstate Commerce Act in the matter of substitution of service........

BMC 32 Comments of FTCA (PDF)
by William Augello, esq.

DOT DMS Docket No. FMCSA-97-2349
Unified Registration System
Proposed Rule to Eliminate the Cargo Insurance Requirements for Non-Exempt For-hire Carriers of Property and Freight Forwarders

_____________

COMMENTS OF
THE FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANTS ASSOCIATION

Comes now the Freight Transportation Consultants Association (FTCA), with offices at 8683 West Sahara Avenue, Suite 240, Las Vegas, NV 89117, through its Executive Director/General Counsel, William J. Augello, and respectfully files its comments in opposition to the proposed elimination of the minimum cargo insurance requirements for motor carriers and freight forwarders.

Click on the PDF button above for the complete comments.

The first supplement to “Transportation, Logistics and the Law”

The first supplement to “Transportation, Logistics and the Law”, Second Edition, by William J. Augello, Esq. has been released. The new Supplement Subscription Service is designed to keep readers up-to-date on new court decisions, legislation and other important developments having an impact on all segments of the transportation and logistics community. It will serve the same function that supplements to carriers’ tariffs serve for shippers and receivers: provides the latest changes governing today’s transportation!
Supplement No. 1 consists of 28 pages of changes, keyed to the text page and section number of the topic discussed in the Second Edition. It also contains many new additions to the Second Edition, the most significant of which include:
* The Schramm decision that places all brokers, 3PL’s and possibly shippers at risk of being sued for “negligent hiring of carriers” – with suggested solutions!
* The Supreme Court’s decision in Norfolk Southern v. Kirby, which will change the way importers must deal with ocean freight forwarders and NVOCC’s.
* New decisions on carriers’ liability (and non-liability) for loss, damage and delay.
* Decisions on liability for injuries and death caused during loading and unloading.
* Shippers’ alleged liability for derailments.
* Shippers’ liability for freight charges paid to a bankrupt freight bill payment firm.
* Liability for “dropped trailers”.
* The penalty for “spoliation of evidence”.
* Terms of Sale in the UCC.
* Depositing carriers’ checks in “Lock boxes”.
* Liability for multimodal traffic.
* Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
and much more!
“Transportation, Logistics and the Law” is the only textbook available that explains the current laws and regulations governing transportation and logistics to, from and within the U.S. after 25 years of deregulation: all four modes, intermodal, international and cross-border trucking under NAFTA.
It is available either in hard bound (850 pages) or CD Rom for $150.00, with a Supplement Subscription Service for $75.00 per year. Previous purchasers of the Second Edition may purchase the CD Rom for only $75.00. The CD Rom may not be copied or changed, and is available only in the North American Continent.
Visit www.transportlawtexts.com for an order form, book reviews, Table of Contents, an Index to Supplement No.1 and announcements of Mr. Augello’s last public series of seminars this fall. Or write to [MAILTO "williamaugello@comcast.net"]

FMCSA PROPOSES REPEAL OF CARGO INSURANCE PROTECTION FOR SHIPPING PUBLIC

The FMCSA has buried a proposal, in its 133-page Proposed Rule entitled “Unified Registration System”, that would repeal its 70-year old regulation requiring motor carriers to file a BMC-32 Endorsement with the FMCSA. This Endorsement has the effect of making the insurer primarily liable for the first $5,000 per vehicle, or $10,000 per occurrence for cargo loss or damage. It also makes inapplicable, any exclusions or deductibles in the policy up to the $5,000/$10,000 limit.
According to William J. Augello, Exec. Dir./Gen. Counsel to the Freight Transportation Consultants’ Association, “The BMC-32 Endorsement was the best regulation ever promulgated for the protection of the shipping public. It has enabled claimants to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in otherwise unrecoverable claims from bankrupt motor carriers over the past 70 years, and there is no justification for the FMCSA’s proposed repeal.”
The only justification given in the proposal for its repeal was that “There does not appear to be a need to require non-exempt for-hire motor carriers of property to maintain cargo insurance since these carriers typically have cargo insurance well above FMCSA limits because their shipper clients generally require it as a condition of doing business.”
This irresponsible statement illustrates how uninformed the FMCSA is regarding the regulations that it inherited from the I.C.C. in 1996. It fails to comprehend the importance of the provision in the Endorsement that prevents the insurer from denying liability under an exclusion or a deductible generally found in every cargo policy. If the BMC 32 Endorsement had not been in existence, virtually none of the claims paid to claimants during the past 70 years by these insurers would have been paid due to the numerous exclusions contained in cargo policies. Furthermore, most policies have deductibles well above the normal loss and damage claim, and, therefore, the insurers would have had a defense to most claims but for the Endorsement.
The FMCSA also does not understand the current motor carrier marketplace if it expects most shippers to be in a position to dictate insurance coverage to prospective carriers. The FMCSA is simply out-of-touch with reality in the current transportation marketplace. For a more detailed explanation of the BMC-32 Endorsement, see “Transportation, Logistics and the Law”, Second Edition. www.transportlawtexts.com.
The FTCA will file its comments with the FMCSA on or before August 17, 2005. Every shipper that has benefited from the BMC-32 and evwery shipper that expects to rely on this beneficial provision in the future must express its views to the FMCSA by writing re:
DOT DMS DOCKET NO. FMCSA-97-2349:
DOCKET MANAGEMENT FACILITY, U.S. DOT, 400 SEVENTH ST., SW, NASSIF BUILDING, ROOM PL-401, WASHINGTON, DC 20590-0001 ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 17, 2005.
Comments may also be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:www.regulations.gov. Follow instructions for submitting comments. Or http:dms.dot.gov. and follow instructions for submitting electronic comments on the DOT electronic docket website.
Copies of comments should also be sent to the FTCA at williamaugello@comcast.net 520-818-3729 (MST).

Appendix E to comments (PDF)

Click PDF button to see Appendix E to FTCA comments

Transportation, Logistics and the Law

BMC 32 Form (PDF)

Click the PDF to see Appendix B, the BMC 32 endorsement form.

The second supplement to “Transportation, Logistics and the Law” (PDF)
by William Augello, esq.

Order Form for Second Supplement of TL&L (PDF)
by William Augello, esq.

Click on "PDF" to retrieve the order form for the Second supplement to Transportation Logistics and the Law.