Staying compliant while operating a transporting company can be difficult. Stringent Federal regulations along with different requirements from State to State add to the complexity. When it comes to restricting diesel emissions, the California Air Resource Board (CARB) has established some of the most stringent regulations.
Refrigerated fleets operators are responsible for understanding the rules and applying them to their own equipment as well as their subcontractor’s when operating in California. For refrigerated fleets those regulations extend to the TRU.
Here are four things every carrier should know when operating in California:
- Transport Refrigeration Unit model year 2012 or older had to be CARB compliant by 12/31/2019
- Trucks and trailers with transport refrigeration units that are 7 or more years old are required by CARB to install a diesel particulate filter under Title 13, CCR, section 2477
- Units 2013 or older must be CARB compliant by 12/31/2020. More info can be found on their Tru Unit Compliance Schedule
- You can retrieve a report listing carriers that are 100 percent compliant with the Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) regulation
- If TRU’s are non-compliant, carriers will not be listed on CARB’s 100 Percent-Compliant Carrier List.
- Brokers, forwarders, shippers, receivers cannot hire non-compliant refrigerated carriers to haul perishable goods in California
- Refrigerated fleets operators must also provide the driver with contact information for the shipper, receiver, and business entity that hired the carrier. Drivers must, upon request by authorized personnel, provide their driver’s license, vehicle registration, bill of lading (or freight bill) with the origin and destination of the freight being transported.
- When non-compliant equipment is discovered CARB may cite the carrier, broker, freight forwarder, shipper, receiver and or/driver
- Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has levied fines against two of the nation’s largest fleets as a result of violating these CARB regulations. Both of them were required to pay a penalty because they failed to install emissions controls on some of their heavy-duty diesel trucks.
Some additional resources:
- To view compliance information for a single TRU or TRU generator set, visit ARB Public TRU Search.
- To view tools for carriers, brokers, forwarders, shippers and receivers, visit TRU Compliance Check Resources.
Doing business in California requires compliance with our Country’s most strict and varying emission standards. Installing exhaust after treatment is a small cost for doing business in the State, cleaning the air, and avoiding fines of $5,000 to $10,000 per violation, per day, if your engines, fleet, or subcontractors are not in compliance.
Rypos offers active diesel particulate filters for most TRUs. Contact us for more information. Visit our web site: http://www.rypos.com/