The nation’s interstate commercial motor carrier industry is extensive and includes a number of stakeholders, including carriers, shippers, receivers, and intermediaries. Motor carriers are companies or individuals that transport cargo using motor vehicles. According to FMCSA officials, there are about 737,000 interstate carriers registered with FMCSA. While the largest motor carriers operate upward of 50,000 vehicles, approximately 80 percent of carriers are small independent-owner operators or trucking companies, operating between 1 and 6 vehicles. Within the industry, there is a variety of types of carriers. For example, carriers are either for-hire, transporting cargo to the public on a fee basis, or private, running a vehicle fleet to transport only the company’s own products. There are also two principal classes of for-hire carriers: truckload carriers transport a single shipper’s cargo between two locations, while less-than-truckload carriers transport cargo for multiple customers that may require pick-up or delivery at multiple locations. In addition, some carriers primarily provide long-haul service—which is generally considered to be intercity service—while other carriers primarily provide service within a metropolitan region, referred to as short haul. Finally, carriers use vehicles that differ by body types—including dry trailers, refrigerated trailers, flat beds, and tank trailers—some of which can carry a variety of cargo, while others are used for only one type of cargo. (See fig. 1 for examples of vehicles.) Shippers are the cargo owners that hire the carriers to transport their cargo. For example, a shipper could be a product manufacturer that hires a carrier to transport its product from the manufacturing plant to the end customer, or a retail company that hires a carrier to pick up its finished products, such as clothing or electronics, from a seaport terminal or other location for transport to a distribution center. Receivers are those who are scheduled to receive and take ownership of the cargo. The receiver could be the customer of the shipper, such as a retail company or manufacturing plant, which takes ownership of the cargo to sell or use in a production process. Intermediaries arrange for the transportation of goods between the shippers and receivers. For example, a freight forwarder acts as an agent on the behalf of the shipper and will consolidate shipments from several shippers and then contract with carriers to transport these shipments. In addition, a freight broker will arrange the pick up and delivery of a shipper’s good by a carrier without having physical control of the cargo. Third-party logistical companies provide warehousing and supply chain services for the shippers and can arrange transportation of the shippers’ products. For example, carriers could transport cargo to a third-party distribution center, which can repackage the cargo for further distribution. Figure 2 provides a description of the steps typically involved in moving cargo through the system. The decisions of the various stakeholders—carriers, shippers, receivers, and others—direct the logistics (or operation) of the interstate commercial motor carrier industry, and consequently can affect the occurrence and amount of detention time. Each stakeholder plans and organizes its own activities within this large industry in an effort to meet its critical objectives. Carriers attempt to minimize their travel time and the miles they drive with no cargo, while at the same time meeting the needs of shippers. Shippers try to minimize the costs of their transportation needs while ensuring delivery in a timely manner. As each stakeholder makes its own logistical decisions, it faces tradeoffs in the costs and benefits of various options for how to schedule and manage resources. Given the numerous activities that need to be scheduled and coordinated within the industry on a daily basis, some level of trucker detention time is expected. If a shipper provides its own trucking services through a private fleet, one of the shipper’s goals will likely be to schedule shipments in a way that minimizes detention time and thus increases productivity. However, if, for example, an on-time pick up is a high priority for a particular shipment, then the shipper may choose to schedule a truck to arrive early, thus potentially increasing the likelihood or amount of detention time. Conversely, when a shipper uses a for-hire carrier, the shipper may be less inclined to fully take the extent of detention time into consideration when making its scheduling decisions because the shipper does not fully bear the costs of the detention time it may impose on truckers. Therefore, some detention time in the industry likely results because shippers’ and receivers’ decisions can affect the extent of detention time, but the costs of detention time are largely born by truckers. The federal role in regulating the interstate commercial motor carrier industry has changed over time, as shown in figure 3. Currently, the federal role in the industry is focused on regulating safety aspects of the trucking industry and funding transportation infrastructure, which are managed by two agencies within DOT. FMCSA’s primary mission is to prevent commercial motor-vehicle-related fatalities and injuries. It carries out this mission by issuing, administering, and enforcing federal motor carrier safety regulations—including hours of service requirements—and gathering and analyzing data on motor carriers, drivers, and vehicles, among other things. FMCSA also takes enforcement actions, and funds and oversees enforcement activities at the state level through Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program grants. FHWA is responsible for overseeing the federal-aid highway program, which funds highway infrastructure. Within FHWA, the Office of Freight Management and Operations is tasked with promoting efficient, seamless, and secure freight flows—including freight transported by the interstate commercial motor carrier industry—on the U.S. transportation system and across the nation’s borders. The office advances its mission by building a greater understanding of freight transportation issues and trends, improving operations through advanced technologies, and educating and training freight transportation professionals. The office also conducts operational tests of intelligent transportation system technologies and promotes the development of standards for freight information exchange. Federal hours of service regulations place restrictions on operations of a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver by setting limits on duty periods. There are three hourly limitations for these drivers, including a 14-hour “driving window” after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off duty, 11 hours of which can be “driving time,” and a prohibition on driving after 60 or 70 hours of on duty time per week, with certain exceptions and exemptions. Specifically: 14-hour “driving window”: A driver is allowed a period of 14 consecutive hours after coming on duty, following 10 or more consecutive hours off duty, in which to drive. This 14-hour period begins when the driver starts any kind of work or is required to be in readiness to work, and once the driver has completed the 14-hour period, the driver cannot drive again without first being off duty for at least 10 consecutive hours. The 14-hour period covers both on duty and off duty time. 11-hour driving limit: During the 14-consecutive-hour driving window, the driver is limited to 11 total hours of actual driving time. The 11 hours can be consecutive or nonconsecutive within the 14-hour period. 60/70-hour on duty limit: A driver is required to adhere to one of two duty hours weekly limits, which is specified by the driver’s carrier. A driver may restart the 60- or 70-hour “week” by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off duty. If a driver’s carrier (employer) does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, the driver may not drive after being on duty 60 hours during any 7 consecutive days. If a driver’s carrier does operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, a 70-hour/8-day schedule is permitted. The driver may not drive after being on duty 70 hours in any 8 consecutive days.” A driver may restart the 60- or 70-hour “week” by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off duty. According to hours of service regulations, on duty time includes all of the time from when a driver begins work for a motor carrier or is required to be in readiness to work by that motor carrier, whether paid or not, until the time the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. Some examples of on-duty time may include: driving time, to include all time spent at the driving controls of a commercial motor vehicle in operation; time at a plant, terminal, or other facility of a motor carrier or shipper, or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched; time loading, unloading, supervising, or attending the truck or handling receipts for shipments; and all other time in or upon a commercial motor vehicle unless the driver is resting in a sleeper berth. Federal hours of service regulations require drivers to maintain a “record of duty status”—commonly referred to as a driver’s log, daily log, or log book—either in written form or electronically using an automatic or electronic on-board recording device. Drivers must account for all hours of every day in their log, including days off, and must also have a log for each day of the last 8 days they were required to log. One means to ensure compliance with various safety requirements, including hours of service, is for authorized FMCSA and state officials to conduct driver and vehicle inspections of commercial vehicle motor carriers. During certain types of inspections, these inspectors check the drivers’ logs for compliance with hours of service regulations. If the inspector finds that a driver has not complied with the hours of service regulations, the violation can result in a driver being fined and/or being placed out of service. In addition, FMCSA ensures that motor carriers comply with safety requirements through compliance reviews of carriers already in the industry and safety audits of carriers that have recently started operations.