Trucking industry says it is prepared for terrorism threat

current protections: hazmat endorsement background checks, security training requirements and written security plan requirements which “recognize that a one-size-fits-all solution is not going to work” in a diverse trucking industry. Additionally, there are routing and permitting requirements, depending on the class of hazardous material being transported, as well as standards for the terminal facilities.

Jones quotes Moskowitz to say that one area of the report ATA can get behind is the need for jurisdictional uniformity. “It is virtually impossible for [trucking] to comply with different sets of regulatory requirements as we cross city lines, county lines, state lines,” he said. “We need a single entity in the federal government that is knowledgeable as to the trucking industry’s operations to adopt uniform regulations that we can comply with.”

As an example of “how this issue has spun out of control,” Moskowitz pointed to the number of different — “but virtually identical” — background checks drivers must go through to haul hazmat, to access ports and airports, or to cross international borders. “You’ve got drivers spending hundreds of dollars, carrying multiple credentials that do not increase security,” he said. “One background check is something that the industry supports, and will improve security,” but the multiple background checks are “a poster child for bureaucratic inefficiencies.”

As to the report’s recommendation that all tankers carry tracking equipment, Moskowitz noted that such technology is beneficial for some industry segments, but not all — the cost should make operational sense for a carrier. A universal mandate would be unfairly expensive, and such technology is arguably ineffective against a reasonably informed attack. “It provides a false sense of security,” Moskowitz said. “It is so easily defeated.”

Also, contrary to a report scenario in which a gasoline tanker disappears, a rigorous daily delivery schedule means an out-of-route tanker would be reported very quickly, with or without tracking gear, says John Conley, president of National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC), a trade association. “If they’re a half-hour late, somebody’s calling,” Conley said. “It’s not just misleading, it simply isn’t true that a gasoline tanker could be missing for up to a couple of days.”

He pointed out that gasoline tankers make 50,000 deliveries a day — and that the driver is always with the truck.

Jones writes that like ATA, NTTC also supports regulatory consistency nationally, and better coordination within the federal government. Otherwise, Conley too suggested the report contained no substantially new information. “There’s certainly nothing that I saw that we haven’t talked about many times,” he said. “The concept that somebody could take a chemical trailer or a gasoline trailer, and do something bad with it, certainly pre-dated 9/11.”

The fact that nothing has happened, however, does not mean truckers should not continue to be vigilant. “Truckers really are the educated eyes that are out there,” Conley said. “If you see something that doesn’t make sense, it’s probably worth checking.”

This where Bill Arrington, general manager of Highway & Motor Carrier Programs for the Transportation Security Administration comes in, Jones notes. It is his job to develop government/industry partnerships to guard against truck-based attacks. “As long as nothing is happening, we feel that we’re being effective,” Arrington said. “But we don’t want to be lured into a false sense of security that all is well with the world. We know bad people are out there, lurking in the darkness — and in the daylight — seeking to do us harm by destroying our transportation system.”

The agency continues to offer free security training to hazmat carriers. The workshops build on the current U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) security planning and TSA security initiatives, and meet the U.S. DOT security awareness training requirement. In 2009, TSA workshops trained more than 300 carrier representatives, who in turn passed the safety procedures on to 250,000 drivers, Arrington reported (see here for schedules and additional information).

Arrington also touted First Observer, the Trucking Security Program successor to Highway Watch.