Percentage Of Compliant Carriers Stagnates Ahead Of December ELD Deadline

The number of carriers still running automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs) ahead of the mid-December electronic logging device (ELD) compliance deadline has held steady at 2% over the last two weeks, according to the most recent average of several FreightWaves surveys. The stagnation suggests that only the most die-hard ELD holdouts are still clinging to their old devices. 

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 December 16 compliance deadline. At that time, the AOBRD grandfather clause will run out and all non-exempt carriers will be required to install ELDs.

Fleets of all sizes running various routes take the survey, allowing for a comprehensive view of what is happening in the industry. This week, 144 carriers responded. Almost 99%, or 142 carriers, reported running ELDs. 

When this week's results are combined with results from the past two weeks to form a three-week moving average, about 2% of carriers report still running AOBRDs. This number has remained basically the same over the last two weeks. 

Nationwide carriers have led the pack in compliance since FreightWaves began conducting weekly surveys in June. This week, however, super-regional carriers successfully closed that gap. Both sets of carriers are now reporting 99% compliance. For nationwide carriers, compliance numbers have been the same over the last several weeks. For super-regional carriers, however, compliance rates jumped from 98% to 99% over the last two weeks. 

Regional carriers, which tend to operate the fewest trucks, have been lagging behind throughout the course of the survey. The trend continued this week, with 97% of carriers reporting ELD compliance. However, this number is up from 93% two weeks ago. 

Small carriers and owner-operators have long reported their intention to wait until the fourth quarter to make the switch to ELDs. Most of these holdouts made the switch in October or early November, but a small minority will inevitably wait until December. 

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.

While waiting may result in fines for individual carriers, there is not expected to be any significant impact on the overall freight market. 

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. A lot of these fleets are owner-operators who may not have the expendable income to shoulder a high fine. 

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.

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