ELD Holdouts Shouldn't Expect Mercy After Looming Compliance Deadline

About 2% of carriers are still holding onto their automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs) as the mid-December electronic logging device (ELD) deadline looms. This number has stayed basically the same for over a month now, signaling that true holdouts actually make up about 2% of the trucking industry.

FreightWaves, in partnership with CarrierLists and EROAD, surveys a new group of carriers about their devices each week to take the pulse of the trucking industry ahead of the Dec. 16 compliance deadline. At that time, the AOBRD grandfather clause will run out, and all nonexempt carriers will be required to install ELDs.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) confirmed that the ELD mandate will be fully enforced beginning Dec. 17. There will not be a soft enforcement or grace period for noncompliant carriers, according to a report by FreightWaves' Washington Correspondent John Gallagher.

CVSA's stance aligns with the message that has been coming from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for months.

CarrierLists surveys fleets of all sizes running various routes each week, allowing for a comprehensive view of the industry. This week, 151 carriers responded to the survey. Of those respondents, only two, or 1.3%, were still running AOBRDs.

When combined with data from the past two surveys to form a three-week moving average, that figure climbs slightly to 2%.

Nationwide carriers have reported the highest compliance throughout the life of the surveys, and these carriers are now reporting 100% compliance. That means all surveyed carriers running across the lower 48 states have installed ELDs.

Super-regional carriers have historically trailed slightly behind nationwide carriers. That trend continued this week, with 98% of super-regional carriers reporting ELD compliance. This number held steady from last week.

Regional carriers have tended to be less compliant than their nationwide and super-regional peers. These carriers reported 97% compliance this week, up from 96% last week. The gap between regional and super-regional is now smaller than it has been throughout the life of the surveys.

Regional carriers are more likely to be small fleets and owner-operators than their peers running longer routes. The survey shows that all surveyed carriers still running AOBRDs over the past three weeks have 15 or fewer trucks.

For the purpose of the survey, regional carriers are defined as fleets that run in a 150- to 1,000-mile radius. Super-regional carriers run routes over 1,000 miles but not nationwide.

The majority of carriers waiting to switch seem to be those that would be impacted the hardest by financial consequences like fines, such as small fleets running short routes. These carriers should plan to start using their devices in ELD mode at least a few days before the hard deadline to iron out any technical or training issues.

EROAD's guide "Planning your move from AOBRD to ELD" gives eight key considerations and six critical questions to help select the right solution to achieve the easiest transition possible.

Visit the AOBRD to ELD resource center to download the guide.

Image by Renee Gaudet from Pixabay