FMCSA soon to enforce new Unified Carrier Registration fees

WASHINGTON — The finishing touches are being made on the new U.S. Unified Carrier Registration (UCR), which will replace the old Single State Registration System for carriers and brokers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a final rule in August. Registration for companies can begin as early as Sept. 10, and enforcement will likely take effect in November, FMCSA confirms.

The new UCR Plan is the ”interstate agreement governing the collection and distribution of registration and financial responsibility information provided and fees” paid by motor carriers, private carriers, brokers, freight forwarders and leasing companies.

The UCR agreement replaces four current identification and registration systems with a single, on-line, federal system. The “base” of carriers now collects fees on behalf of all the participating states in which the motor carrier operates. In other words, one fee will covers all states.

The program, which now applies standard fees across all member states on a per-carrier basis rather than per truck, will ‘”replace the existing outdated system [SSRS] for registration of interstate motor carrier entities with the States and ensures “that states don’t lose current revenues derived from SSRS.”

Canada or Mexico-domiciled carriers also must select the State in the United States in which it most frequently operates as its base State for registration purposes.

The UCR also stipulates that fee structures will be based on less than four and no more than six brackets of carriers based on the size of the fleet, such as the number of commercial motor vehicles owned or operated.

The fees proposed are as follows:

0 to 2 units (including trailers): $39. This is also the standard cost to brokers and leasing companies.

Three to 5 units, $116; 6 to 20 units, $231; 21 to 100 units, $806; 101 to 1,000 units, $3,840; and 1,001 or more units, $37,500.

For more info go to www.ucr.in.gov (link below).