What is a New Entrant In The Trucking Industry?

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This video series — What to Expect as a New Entrant: A Guide to Running Your Trucking Company During the First Year has been developed by Apex Capital to help you understand the policies and procedures that you must have in place in order to pass your safety audit and receive your permanent operating authority.

Today we are talking to Reghan Orman about what it means to be a new entrant.

Reghan is Associate General Counsel at Apex Capital and she also leads the Apex Startup program, a program that’s designed to help those interested in starting a trucking company get their operating authority.

What is a new entrant?

So a new entrant is anybody who applies with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, that’s the FMCSA, to receive a US DOT Identification Number, to haul freight and interstate commerce.

Once somebody gets their US DOT number, they’re automatically enrolled in the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program. And what that is, is an 18 month period where the new entrant has to, operate safely, maintain current records, conduct periodic inspections and maintenance on their vehicles, as well as pass the new entrant safety audit, which is going to occur within the first 12 months of the period.

When will I get permanent authority?

TA new entrant is given permanent authority at the end of the 18-month period of the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program, as long as they have maintained their records, operated safely and passed that new entrant safety audit in the first 12 months.

Why does the FMCSA require a new entrant period?

The FMCSA requires a new entrant period as a way to make sure they are reaching their goal of improving safety on the nation’s highways, as well as reducing fatalities, injuries, accidents, relating to large trucks and buses.

You have just watched one video in our series: “What to Expect as A New Entrant: A Guide to Running Your Trucking Company During the First Year.”

Please see other videos in this series or download our whitepaper to learn more about being a new entrant, taxes, insurance, alcohol and drug testing, IFTA, Safety, the safety audit, the driver qualification file, hours of service and additional filings.