Heather Ness, Transport Operations Editor

Heather Ness

transport operations

Heather joined J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc. in 1999. As an Editor in Transport Operations, she provides regulatory support for a variety of products, including manuals, online services, forms, handbooks, and software. Her areas of expertise include Canada's federal and provincial transportation safety regulations and Canada's laws regarding vehicle licensing, vehicle size and weight limits, and fuel taxes. Heather is also knowledgeable about vehicle legalization topics including International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), International Registration Plan (IRP), Unified Carrier Registration (UCR), and the federal heavy vehicle use tax (HVUT). She also has expertise in U.S. hazardous materials transportation regulations and Canada’s transportation of dangerous goods regulations.

She is responsible for the Transport Compliance for Canada manual, the Hazmat Transportation Regulatory Alert newsletter, and for related content in the KellerOnline^®, FleetMentor^®, and RegSense^® online services. Her work has also appeared in a variety of trade publications.

Have a compliance question for Heather? Send it through J. J. Keller's Expert Help feature included with all publications in the Compliance Library.

Expert Advice From Heather

FAQs answered by Heather Ness

Am I required to pay the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)?

ANSWER:
Private property carriers, for-hire passenger, property, and exempt commodity carriers, freight forwarders, leasing companies, and brokers engaged in interstate commerce are subject to annual UCR registration and fees.

Carriers from Canada or Mexico operating in the United States are also subject to UCR registration.

How are the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) fees determined?

ANSWER:
The UCR fee structure is a bracket system, with the per-carrier fees based on the number of vehicles the motor carrier operates. UCR fees are not imposed per vehicle.

Brokers, leasing companies, and freight forwarders (who do not operate any commercial motor vehicles) are subject to the lowest fee bracket. However, if these entities are also motor carriers, they are subject to the fee according to the number of vehicles they operate in interstate commerce.

For Unified Carrier Registration (UCR), does a motor carrier have to pay for all trucks it has, or only the trucks that run interstate?

ANSWER:
A motor carrier pays only for the vehicles that operate in interstate commerce. Vehicles that are intrastate-only may be removed from a carrier’s vehicle count provided that the vehicles do not and will not operate in interstate commerce and the vehicles are not registered under the International Registration Plan (IRP).

We are a U.S.-based carrier that will be operating into Canada. Do we need to comply with Canada’s hours of service regulations?

ANSWER:
Yes. U.S-based carriers are subject to Canada’s hours of service regulations and must respect Canada’s rules. Many of Canada’s driving and on-duty limits are more lenient than the U.S. regulations. However, there are additional items required on a daily log that aren’t required by U.S. regulations. The additional items Canada requires on the log includes the driver’s name printed, the driver’s cycle declaration, starting and ending odometer reading, carrier’s principal place of business address, and personal use starting and ending odometer reading (if applicable). Also, if a U.S. driver entering Canada doesn’t have a log for the day immediately preceding the day on which he/she will be entering Canada, he/she must provide in the “Remarks” section a record of all off-duty and on-duty hours for the previous 14 days. These items apply to paper or electronic logs.

Products written by Heather Ness

Hazmat Transportation Regulatory Alert

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Transport Compliance for Canada

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Recent Articles by Heather Ness

› A quick lesson on the hazmat endorsement

› Canada adopts ELD mandate

› Keys to surviving an IFTA/IRP audit

› UCR 2018-2019 fees finalized; filing starts January 5

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