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Chica, an excellent point. Thanks, I will bring that up at my meeting on Thursday.
Flatbed load in the USA overweight, who is liable?
- Thread starter TransAction
- Start date
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We all do too. Transaction had no idea of what was going on until it was too late. We sure will all learn from this. And I think everyone on this forum wishes you the best outcome possible!
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We have had situations where, considering the weight of the load, drivers have tried to explain how they need the load placed. The shipper's answer to this is often 'oh we know what we are doing. This isn't the first truck we load. We ALWAYS load the same way'. When will they learn that the driver knows his truck and knows where he needs the weight to sit. Just recently this happened to one of our drivers. He requested that they load him in a certain way and they did not. Driver went to the nearest scale in order to confirm that he was well over on the drive axle. He returned to the shipper who, at first, refused to rework the load. Once we explained the repercussions of this, they did finally redo it. He was not a happy camper. We then pointed out that the driver had requested to be loaded in a certain fashion and that they had refused. Result, both driver and shipper lost 2 hours of precious time and both left each other a little frustrated. Had the shipper listened to the driver they would both had a much better day 
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Just to play devils advocate here and add some food for thought: Did the driver load the freight himself? Did the driver create the bill of lading (legal contract) that would have stated the weight would have been less than over weight for the truck/trailer/freight combination? Who loaded the additional 13k that was not accounted for on the legal contract (Bill of lading)? Was the carrier advised to scale the load and compensated for it when booking? If so then the shipper has to come to bat for the costs to rectify this situation. Yes the carrier could have done more, but we see this everyday where the "carrier" could have done more. There are so many variables outside of the carriers control that directly affects the carrier it is getting scary (Customs brokers, customs EDI system, inaccurate info from customers, shippers loading illegal amounts of weight etc, etc. I have seen lots of drivers that don't scale a load if their air pressure gauge on the drive axle is showing within where it should be and the bill (legal contract) weight is within where it should be (legal). Some drivers will know their equipment well enough and what they can handle for weight and where the air pressure gauges have to be to be legal on their drives and not stop to scale. If you are on electronic logs as a carrier then you have lost even more time waiting to scale at a truck stop, adjust axles etc. Shippers want to keep pushing the envelope of weight, and carriers continue to work ways out to handle more weight but at some point the shipper needs to be responsible for shipping 13k OVER weight in this situation. If the BOL shows a "legal" weight and the shipper actually sent 13k more then unfortunately I think it should be the shipper who is responsible. In the court of law it is all about what you can prove, and if the carrier has a bill of lading proving the shipper sent more weight than planned they could have even bigger problems (for example, where they going to declare all of the goods coming through customs had the truck not have been caught at a scale overweight?), and to be honest the DOT and CBSA may even have some questions for the shipper or your customer here on this end importing the goods if the bill of lading shows a weight that was not accurate, as it what it seems here. I am not saying that carriers don't make mistakes, I am just saying in this case I think the carrier may be in the right here and entitled to their charges, and your shipper should have to fork out the cash, not you as the broker. As a broker you can make the decision to deal with the carrier or not going forward based on this situation, and sure maybe the carrier maybe could have done more (hindsight is always 20/20) but the shipper broke the law when they shipped more than was on the BOL (Legal contract) and that is what would stand up in court if it ever got that far. Nobody likes these situations, I hope it works out in the best interest of all involved.
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No, the driver didn't load the truck, nor did he prepare the Bill of Lading. However, he did accept the freight as loaded by the shipper and he did the sign the Bill of Lading presented to him by the shipper. In addition, it seems that he expressed some concerns about the weight of the load and at the shipper's suggestion, was encouraged to scale the load, but failed to do so. At some point in the process, the driver/carrier has to assume the responsibility for safely transporting the shipment. If the outcome of this episode indicates negligence on the part of the shipper and willful disregard for safe transportation practises, then yes, let's "throw the book " at them, but until then, this appears to be a case of a driver not doing his job properly.
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F1, you make a few good points. I'm not sure who I am if you are the devil's advocate. You and I both mentioned gauges and a driver should be able to tell if he is heavy and grossly overweight just by looking at the gauges. The driver had a couple of options when he looked at his gauges. Tell the shipper he is way over gross or call his dispatch who would in turn call TransAction who would call the shipper and tell them they need to take some weight off. If the driver showed up with a scale ticket showing his tare weight, the shipper could calculate how much product to load on the truck and the driver wouldn't be overweight. Either of these options would remove the concern for an overweight load.
Are either of those scenarios too much to ask for from a carrier? The carrier agrees to take the load down the road. Once the driver accepts the loaded shipment he accepts the responsibility that goes with it and every other load that travels down the highway. I mentioned a HAZMAT load earlier. If the shipper fails to give the driver placards does the driver go down the road without placards on a HAZMAT load? Can he blame the shipper if he gets caught without them?
Are either of those scenarios too much to ask for from a carrier? The carrier agrees to take the load down the road. Once the driver accepts the loaded shipment he accepts the responsibility that goes with it and every other load that travels down the highway. I mentioned a HAZMAT load earlier. If the shipper fails to give the driver placards does the driver go down the road without placards on a HAZMAT load? Can he blame the shipper if he gets caught without them?
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The driver would only know by looking at the gauges if that is the same combination of truck/trailer that he operates on a daily basis and isn't slip seating and switching trailers out. As for showing up with a scale ticket showing his tare weight, that wouldn't have even worked because obviously this particular shipper doesn't even know what their product weighs if they were over by 13,000 lbs in the first place.
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Loaders, according to Transaction, he even doubts that the shipper told the driver to scale the load, that was never mentioned until AFTER Transaction told the shipper what this fiasco was going to cost. And the driver did sign the BOL that was reflecting a weight that was 13,000 lbs less than what was actually loaded onto the truck by the shipper. But regardless, either way this entire event was going to cost the shipper quite a few dollars no matter how it turned out. So say the driver did hit a scale in Mississauga or Milton on the way out and seen that he was over weight, now the shipper has to pay for the truck to back track and unload product and then go re-scale again because nobody can trust the shippers weights. And if he had scaled after the shipper closed for the day, then even more $$$$$$
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Again, I am not picking sides in this situation, just wanted to add some food for thought for this discussion, and maybe some points to help Transaction with their customer when they have their meeting with the customer to come to a positive resolution 
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All really good points guys. Thanks again for all the feedback on this. This site has proven to have great members and extremely useful information, time for a donation!
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Ok guys, here is the final update:
BSD Linehaul agreed to eat the lawyer fees and the fine fees. I must say that during my negotiations with BSD they where calm, they listened to my issues and agreed to resolve them. In these sort of situations, I always analyze the response of my carriers. Some will be aggressive and just say too bad, your issue and some will come to the table and recognize their short comings along with comments that they want to improve and appreciate the feedback. The ones that take the later approach are the ones we will continue to use. I find also that going through an issue with a carrier and working out the issues together creates an even stronger relationship and a better understanding of ours and our clients needs.
Thanks to all your comments and help on this one. I am glad it is put to rest and all is well!
BSD Linehaul agreed to eat the lawyer fees and the fine fees. I must say that during my negotiations with BSD they where calm, they listened to my issues and agreed to resolve them. In these sort of situations, I always analyze the response of my carriers. Some will be aggressive and just say too bad, your issue and some will come to the table and recognize their short comings along with comments that they want to improve and appreciate the feedback. The ones that take the later approach are the ones we will continue to use. I find also that going through an issue with a carrier and working out the issues together creates an even stronger relationship and a better understanding of ours and our clients needs.
Thanks to all your comments and help on this one. I am glad it is put to rest and all is well!
