PHMSA Response Letter

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Mr. JP Gibbons
North American Transportation Consultants, Inc.
P.O. Box 1404
Hightstown, NJ 08520-0555

Ref. No.: 08-0128

Dear Mr. Gibbons:

This responds to your May 7, 2008 letter requesting clarification on “storage incidental to transportation” as defined in §171.8 in the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you request clarification on the term “driver relinquishes possession” in the case of a private motor carrier.

You provide the following scenario: A hazardous materials shipment from Pittsburg, PA is bound for Trenton, NJ as the final destination on the shipping paper. The shipment is stored in a warehouse incidental to transportation in Newark, NJ. The shipment is then loaded onto a vehicle bound for the final shipping paper destination in Trenton, NJ. You request clarification on when transportation begins and ends during this shipment of hazardous materials based on the scenario provided above.

Transportation begins when the hazardous material shipment is offered to the carrier and the carrier takes possession of the shipment and continues until it is delivered to the final destination indicated on the shipping paper, and the carrier relinquishes possession of the shipment. If the hazardous material is transferred from one vehicle to another or placed in a warehouse awaiting a vehicle to move it to the final destination on the shipping paper, it is still in transportation or in “storage incidental to transportation.” In the case of private motor carriers, “driver” means all drivers used by the private motor carrier to move the hazardous material from the shipment origin to the final destination noted on the shipping paper.

I hope this answers your inquiry.

Sincerely,

John A. Gale
Chief, Standards Development
Office of Hazardous Materials Standards

171.8