Container Shipping Quarterly
Special Report
Safety Administration( FMCSA) safety scores viewed by the Journal of Commerce showed that in May, the carrier’ s unsafe driving score was higher than the threshold set by other peer carriers. The unsafe driving score has remained above the threshold through July. The Journal of Commerce is not identifying the carrier due to the carrier’ s relationships with other customers.
Unsafe driving became the carrier’ s third negative score recorded by the FMCSA, adding to other above-threshold scores for hours-of-service violations and vehicle maintenance. Most of the carrier’ s inspections occurred in Georgia, and the carrier appears to have done much of its recent business with Savannah port customers.
It takes a minimum of two negative safety scores to trigger more thorough FMCSA safety inspections, said Michael Edwards, senior vice president of carrier insurance broker Gallagher. At a minimum, shippers could see on-the-road delays due to the inspections.
Still, the carrier has had an overall satisfactory safety rating since 2009, which Edwards said is the highest rating possible. Caribe Transport, the carrier defendant in the Supreme Court’ s Montgomery decision, only had a conditional rating, so“ they’ re hardly the same carrier,” he added. Edwards said it’ s reasonable that some shippers are more risk-averse following the Montgomery decision. Even so, having three negative scores itself is not necessarily a reason for shippers to entirely abandon the carrier, he added. Various estimates point to at least 90 % of motor carriers not having any kind of safety audit from the FMCSA, along with a similar percentage of trucks not being inspected each week.
The FMCSA safety scoring system has flaws, Edwards said, including its reliance on peer carriers. Truck counts, a factor which sets the peer groups, can be inaccurate as other carriers lease trucks on and off to game the scoring system or inflate capacity for shippers, he said.
“ The peer groups are based on a self-reported number of vehicles and mileage,” Edwards said.“ There’ s a lot of that going on in the business, and FMCSA doesn’ t seem to have an answer for it.
“ The shippers do need to move freight, and there are only so many trucking companies with two or less alerts, so exceptions will be made,” he added. Carriers with three negative scores“ just need to formulate some type of corrective action plan on how they plan on dealing with the alerts,” Edwards said.
KTI’ s Kroul said prior to the Montgomery decision, 80 % of shippers had no interest in reviewing safety scores. While he would be“ hesitant” to broker a shipment to a carrier with three negative scores, Kroul said that alone is not enough reason to entirely cut off a carrier because of the flaws in the scoring system.
“ That is a risk management decision,” Kroul said.“ We’ ve had all these drivers come into the ocean market over the last three, four years, and it’ s been loose and easy. Now, shippers just don’ t want to use anybody anymore.”
email: michael. angell @ spglobal. com
Gulf, East coast dray rates rising as peak season approaches
Indexes of weekly spot drayage rates, including fuel, for 20-, 40- and 45-foot containers by US coast
Index( 100 = 2024)
130
120
100 110
100
90
80 L Jul Jan 2026 Jul
East Coast West Coast Gulf Coast Total US
Source: Drayrates-JOC National Drayage Price Index
Record-high diesel fuel prices are also contributing to elevated drayage rates. Shutterstock. com
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14 Journal of Commerce | October 5, 2026 www. joc. com