Like most companies, here at Northern Refrigerated Transportation, we have a mission statement. Ours is “Cultivating mutually beneficial partnerships by delivering value driven transportation services.” One way that we believe we can deliver value as part of that mission is to provide our customers with information that educates them on things in the industry that can impact their business.
Are you aware that as a shipper, broker or freight forwarder that you can be held liable for hiring and shipping freight with a carrier who is not compliant with ARB regulations?
The California Air Resources Board, known as CARB or ARB, requires that all Transport Refrigeration Units (TRU’s) that operate in CA meet in-use engine emission standards established by the ARB. They report that their investigations have found a “greater frequency of noncompliance among carriers hired by brokers, freight forwarders, shippers and receivers compared to private fleets”. To address this they amended the regulations to require these parties to hire or contract with only compliant TRU carriers if that carrier is going to be transporting freight on a California highway or railway.
You are probably wondering what this means to you. The ARB regulations state “When noncompliant equipment is discovered, ARB may cite the carrier, broker, freight forwarder, shipper, receiver and/or driver.” In short, it means that you can be cited for hiring a carrier to deliver your product that is not compliant.
The good news is that there are steps you can take to protect yourself and limit your liability. The first step is to ask a carrier, before you hire them, if they are fully compliant with ARB and if your freight will be traveling on equipment that is certified as compliant. Next, you can make them aware that you require that they comply with the ARB in-use standards. You also can check to see if the carrier is on the 100 Percent Compliant Carrier List by entering their name or US DOT number (ours is 0548611) on the CARB website.
Northern Refrigerated Transportation is fully compliant and is on the 100 Percent Compliant Carrier List. We currently are implementing procedures for ensuring that all carriers that deliver to any of our terminals are also compliant.
We take pride in differentiating ourselves from our competitors by demonstrating a sincere interest and effort to help our customers be more successful in their business. We realize that to be successful in doing that our obligation goes beyond providing friendly, professional and dependable service. It requires that we educate and communicate on issues that can protect our customers from potential harm. If you hired a carrier to transport in CA and didn’t know if they were ARB compliant, you very likely were not aware that you were assuming a risk to your business’ financial well-being. When you do business with us that is one less thing you need to worry about. Thank you to all of our valued customers and please contact us with any questions you may have about this topic or anything else we can assist you with.