The first phase of the FSMA Transportation rules kicked in on April 6, 2017.  The companies that were proactive put some new procedures and policies in place.  In general, the produce industry and the produce transportation industry did a fairly good job of absorbing the regulations into their operations and produce is still getting to market in a timely and efficient fashion.  But there are some worries as this continues to take effect.  Next year the regulations will affect even more companies and claims negotiations incorporating the new rules are starting to take shape.  The "evolved" relationships of the shipper, loader, transportation broker, carrier and receiver are not that much different than they were before,  however the relationships are more defined and responsibilities are more regulated. 

 

Enter the lawyers.  Many companies gave the problems presented by the FSMA transportation rules to their lawyers to create agreements and contracts that reflect the new rules. In some cases what came back were documents that were very one-sided and lacked the understanding of how the produce transportation system actually functions.  Granted, they were doing their best job to protect their clients and to limit their liability.  Unfortunately, some documents we were asked to sign were unworkable.  They either misstated roles or had the carriers assume liability for things they are not responsible for.  One agreement actually had a carrier agreeing to be liable for anything that happened on the dock with the load even if the driver was not at the dock!

 

In these situations ALC can guide you through the potential pitfalls.  We launched our online refrigerated driver and transportation training course, developed trailer inspection sheets and worked with several organizations to amend the best practices to account for the new rules.  We are there with you to work out the details and keep this great national distribution system humming along.