Tie-Down Regulations
New cargo securement rules for carrying bins, bales and tubs of farm commodities has been extended to April 30, 2009.
The exemption is only for cargo hauled from the field to the first point of processing or packing. However, anyone trucking farm products will have to apply for an exemption and file monthly reports.
The temporary exemption is only for cargo hauled from the field to the first point of processing or packing, including items hauled in bins, boxes and tubs. It does not include hay, although farmers hauling hay for themselves are still exempt from the new rules.
Without the exemption, haulers of agriculture goods would have been required by the new laws to tie down all cargo with straps running side by side, a federal standard that the state adopted last year with the passage of Assembly Bill 3011.
Agricultural Today Story, July 2007:
California Highway Patrol develops exemption to new tie-down regulations
Ag Alert Story, June 27, 2007:
Individual CHP approval needed for tie-down exemption
By Christine Souza, CFBF
To apply for the exemption
Contact the California Highway Patrol at (916) 445-1865.
Load Securement Exemption Description
Agricultural Haulers Exemption Form
Agricultural Haulers Monthly Report Form
Exemption applications should be faxed to the CHP Commercial Vehicle Section, attention Officer Russell Lumley at (916) 446-4579.
How to secure loads
These examples, from the California Highway Patrol, show how to protect against shifting and falling cargo for hauling bins of produce, whether in multiple bins or boxes or bins that have been unitized or secured as one unit of cargo. Ag haulers of perishable products must retrofit trucks to meet these standards by next harvest season unless the temporary exemption is extended past Dec. 1.
Example 1: Multiple Articles
1. 4x4-foot bins loaded with apples
2. 48 bins at 500 lbs. each
3. 4,000 lbs. per row, 24,000 lbs. total
Two straps first row (first 10 feet)
One strap each row thereafter
Each strap rated with a working load limit of 2,000 lbs.
Example 2: Unitized
1. 4x4-foot bins loaded with apples
2. 48 bins unitized to a single article
3. Cargo is 24 feet long
Two straps first row (first 10 feet)
One strap each 10 linear feet
Total working load limit of straps must equal at least 12,000 lbs.
Cargo Securement Requirements*
The rules are based on model regulations developed in a cooperative program between the United States and Canada. To read the FMCSA's requirements, see the second link below.
- FMCSA's Cargo Securement Rules - PDF Version - HTML Version
- Educational Materials Cover Cargo Securement
- The FMCSA's regulation: Development of a North American Standard for Protection Against Shifting and Falling Cargo from the Federal Register - PDF Version - HTML Version
- A Correction to the regulation: Development of a North American Standard for Protection Against Shifting and Falling Cargo - PDF Version - HTML Version