Thursday,
September 17, 2026 – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a 90-day
hours-of-service waiver for motor carriers and drivers operating
commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce to transport gasoline
and diesel fuel. The waiver took effect at 12:00 a.m. on September 16,
2026, and expires at 11:59 p.m. on December 16, 2026.FMCSA granted the relief to support timely fuel distribution amid
global supply-chain disruptions and anticipated increases in late-summer
and fall demand, including agricultural harvesting. The agency
determined that the limited waiver is in the public interest and, with
the conditions below, is likely to achieve a level of safety equivalent
to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent the
waiver.
Why this matters to energy marketers
Reliable inbound gasoline and diesel deliveries are essential to
retail, wholesale, and commercial fuel operations. The waiver gives
eligible carriers additional operating flexibility when demand rises,
provided they satisfy the waiver's safety, documentation, and reporting
requirements. The waiver is relevant both to marketers that operate
their own delivery fleets, which are motor carriers in their own right,
and to marketers that rely on third-party carriers.
Key operating terms
- Drivers may drive no more than 16 hours in any 24-hour period. That
cap applies even if another HOS exception, waiver, or exemption is also
in use.
- In each 24-hour period, the driver must take either a minimum
six-consecutive-hour break in the sleeper berth or, if there is no
sleeper berth, a minimum eight-consecutive-hour off-duty break.
- If a driver says immediate rest is needed, the carrier must allow
the driver to stop at a safe location and take at least 10 consecutive
hours off duty before driving again.
- The waiver also applies while the driver returns empty to the
carrier's terminal or the driver's normal work-reporting location. The
10-hour rest-on-request requirement described above applies during the
return trip as well.
- When a driver moves from waiver operations back to normal HOS, a
10-hour break is required if total on-duty time under the waiver—or
combined waiver and normal operations—equals or exceeds 14 hours.
- Drivers must carry a physical or digital copy of the waiver and
present it to law enforcement on request.
- All other FMCSRs remain in effect, including records-of-duty-status
and electronic-logging requirements, CDL requirements, drug and alcohol
testing, insurance, hazardous materials, and size-and-weight rules.
Who may use the waiver
Eligible operations are limited to gasoline and diesel
transportation. The waiver does not extend to other products that many
marketers deliver, such as heating oil, kerosene, propane, or jet fuel.
Drivers must hold a valid CDL with required endorsements and must not be
subject to an out-of-service order, disqualification, or loss of driving
privileges. Motor carriers with a conditional safety rating are
excluded. Any carrier or driver under an active out-of-service order is
also excluded until the order is rescinded in writing.
Oversight and reporting
Carriers must notify FMCSA by email to MCPSD@DOT.GOV within two
business days of any crash, as defined in 49 CFR 390.5T, involving a
driver operating under the waiver. The notice must include the crash
location; driver and vehicle identifiers; injuries and fatalities; the
police-reported cause of the crash, if available; citations; the
driver's total on-duty time during the seven consecutive days preceding
the crash; and the total on-duty and driving time during the work shift
preceding the crash. Carriers must also collect and provide to FMCSA on
request the total number of drivers who operated under the waiver.
Carriers should begin tracking waiver use now so they can respond
promptly to any such request. FMCSA may revoke the waiver in whole or as
to a specific carrier or driver if safety declines.
State preemption
While the waiver is in effect, states may not enforce interstate
rules that conflict with it for drivers and carriers operating under the
waiver. States may adopt matching relief for intrastate operations. The
federal waiver does not itself cover intrastate deliveries. Unless a
state adopts matching relief, intrastate operations remain subject to
that state's hours-of-service rules.
Energy marketers should confirm that their carriers understand and
satisfy the eligibility and operating conditions before using the
waiver. Marketers that operate their own fleets should apply the same
review to their own drivers and operations. Each participating driver
must carry a physical or digital copy of the waiver, and carriers should
retain a copy with their compliance materials.
Marketers should also keep in mind that the waiver permits additional
hours but does not require them. Federal rules prohibit motor carriers,
shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries from coercing
drivers to operate in violation of the FMCSRs (49 CFR 390.6), including
pressuring a driver who has requested rest to keep driving. Compliance
with the waiver also will not, by itself, shield a company from
liability if a fatigued driver is involved in a crash. Marketers should
consider adopting a written policy that driver rest requests will be
honored without penalty.
To read FMCSA’s Grant of Waiver, click here.
This alert is provided for general informational purposes only and
does not constitute legal advice.
