The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has effectively shut down two related motor carriers based in the Houston, Texas, area after numerous safety violations were discovered, the agency reported.
PAC Express LLC began operating after FMCSA began attempting to conduct a compliance investigation of Texas Interstate Express LLC. The agency had selected Texas Interstate Express for investigation following violations documented by FMCSA and its state partners during roadside inspections. FMCSA said Texas Interstate Express had more than double the national average vehicle out-of-service rate and almost 10 times the national average driver out-of-service rate.
According to FMCSA’s SAFER website, Texas Interstate Express had 10 trucks and 10 drivers, while PAC Express opened up with seven trucks and five drivers.
Calls to the companies Friday morning were not returned as of Friday afternoon. This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
FMCSA said Texas Interstate Express shifted its operations over to PAC Express and operated as PAC Express, even though Texas Interstate Express had been issued an out-of-service order for failing to comply with a demand to produce the records required to conduct a compliance investigation.
During a subsequent review of PAC Express, FMCSA found the motor carrier to be “egregiously noncompliant” with several federal safety regulations, including violations related to required drug and alcohol testing and prohibitions on use, CDL standards, driver qualifications, hours of service and various vehicle-related violations.
[Related: Man v. machine comes to the roadside: Mitigating rising 'false log' risk]
