Safety & Compliance

Why this page exists

Most carriers make you ask for this information. We publish it.

If you are a shipper, a broker, or a compliance officer evaluating whether to tender us a load, you have a list to work through: active authority, current insurance, safety record, driver qualification, equipment identity. That list has consequences now. Following the Supreme Court's May 2026 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, state-law negligent selection claims against freight brokers can proceed in state court, which means the file you build before you tender a load is the file you may have to defend later.

This page is that file. It describes how we are authorized, how we are insured, how we qualify drivers, how we manage hours of service, how we maintain and inspect equipment, how we secure cargo, and how long we keep the records that prove it.

Everything here is verifiable. Where a federal rule governs a practice, we cite it, so you can check our description against the regulation rather than taking our word for it.

1. Authority and registration

Pine Logistics Corp operates as a for-hire interstate motor carrier under the jurisdiction of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Authorized cargo classifications: General freight; metal — sheets, coils, and rolls; building materials; machinery and large objects.

We do not operate outside the classifications on our authority. If a load falls outside what we are authorized and equipped to move, we say so instead of taking it.

Authority history. The FMCSA's unified registration record keeps a persistent history attached to a single USDOT number. Ours is open, and we do not operate under, or intend to operate under, any successor entity created to separate the company from its record.

2. Insurance

We maintain the coverage required by federal regulation and by standard broker and shipper contracts.

How to verify. Our Certificate of Insurance is provided in the carrier packet and lists carrier, policy numbers, limits, and effective dates.

Verify it with our insurer, not with us. A certificate is a snapshot from a single date. Best practice across the brokerage industry — and the standard courts apply when evaluating whether a broker exercised reasonable care — is confirming coverage type, limits, and current status directly with the issuing insurer. We will provide the agent's contact information on request and we authorize the confirmation.

Additional insured and certificate holder endorsements are available where your contract requires them. Send the requirement with the load and we will have the certificate issued before pickup.

Lapse policy. We do not dispatch equipment without active coverage in force. If a policy is scheduled to change carriers or renew, we issue the updated certificate to active partners before the effective date, not after.

3. The carrier packet

We keep a complete, current packet ready so your compliance team clears us on the first pass instead of the third.

What it contains:

• FMCSA operating authority letter (MC 766135)
• Certificate of Insurance — auto liability and cargo, with limits and effective dates
• Completed and signed IRS Form W-9
• Signed broker-carrier or shipper-carrier agreement
• Equipment list with VINs, unit numbers, and equipment types
• Driver roster with CDL numbers, class, and endorsements
• Notice of Assignment from our factoring company, where applicable
• Contact sheet — dispatch, safety, claims, and after-hours

Turnaround: one business day, delivered as a single PDF.

Request it: [email protected], subject line "Carrier Packet Request." Include your company name and MC number so we can confirm the request.

We do not post the certificate of insurance or the equipment list as open downloads. Both are used in carrier identity theft and double-brokering schemes, and controlled distribution is part of protecting your freight as much as ours.

4. How we are measured: FMCSA and CSA

Safety Measurement System. FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability program scores carriers across seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, using roadside inspection and crash data from the preceding 24 months:

• Unsafe Driving
• Crash Indicator
• Hours-of-Service Compliance
• Vehicle Maintenance
• Controlled Substances and Alcohol
• Hazardous Materials Compliance
• Driver Fitness

Our SMS results are published by FMCSA and are public. We do not dispute what is on the record.

What CSA is and is not. SMS is an enforcement prioritization tool. It is not a federal safety rating, and a percentile is not a verdict. We say this plainly because it cuts both ways: it means a clean profile is not a guarantee, and it means a single inspection can move a small carrier's percentile in a way it would not move a large fleet's.

Our position. We treat every roadside inspection as an audit we asked for. Violations are reviewed the day they are issued, the root cause is corrected, and where a citation is factually wrong we challenge it through the FMCSA DataQs process rather than absorbing it. Drivers do not carry the cost of a defect that belonged to the equipment or the office.

Federal safety rating. Any rating assigned by FMCSA following a compliance review is public on the SAFER system and available on request.

5. Hours of service and electronic logging

Governing rule: 49 C.F.R. Part 395.

Fatigue is the most predictable cause of catastrophic loss in this industry, and hours-of-service compliance is the primary control against it. We treat Part 395 as an operating constraint, not a target to work around.

The limits we run inside

Electronic logging

• Every driver operating under our authority records duty status on a registered ELD listed on the FMCSA ELD registry, in accordance with Part 395 Subpart B.
• We do not edit driver logs. A carrier may propose an edit; the driver must review and certify or reject it. Any proposed edit is annotated with the reason, and the original record is retained. Falsification of a record of duty status is grounds for termination, without exception and regardless of who requested it.
• Malfunctions are handled under §395.34: the driver notifies us in writing within 24 hours, reconstructs the current and prior seven days on paper, and continues paper logs until the device is repaired or replaced — within 8 days, or with an extension requested from FMCSA.
• Unassigned driving time is reviewed and either assigned to the correct driver or annotated with an explanation. It is not left open.
• Supporting documents are collected and retained as required so that the log can be verified against fuel receipts, dispatch records, and bills of lading.

What this means for your load

If a shipment cannot be completed legally within the available hours, we tell you before you build a schedule around it. We do not accept a delivery window that requires a driver to run outside the regulation. A carrier who agrees to an impossible schedule is either going to violate the rule or miss the appointment, and both of those become your problem.

6. Driver qualification

Governing rule: 49 C.F.R. Part 391.

Every driver operating under our authority has a complete Driver Qualification File before they are dispatched. Not after the first load.

What is in the file

• Employment application meeting §391.21, including a full ten-year employment history and a three-year residence and driving history
• Motor vehicle record from every state in which the driver held a license during the preceding three years, obtained at hire and reviewed annually thereafter (§391.25)
• Investigation of prior DOT-regulated employers covering the preceding three years, including accident history and drug and alcohol violation history (§391.23)
• FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse — a full query before hire and a limited query annually for every driver (49 C.F.R. Part 382 Subpart G)
• Valid commercial driver's license, correct class, with the endorsements the assignment requires
• Medical Examiner's Certificate issued by a certified examiner on the National Registry, current and monitored for expiration (§§391.41–391.49)
• Road test or acceptable equivalent (§391.31)
• Annual review of driving record and the driver's certification of violations
• Certificate of receipt for our safety policies and securement expectations

Minimum standards to run with us

• Valid Class A CDL, current, unrestricted, and in good standing
• Verifiable over-the-road experience — minimum one to two years depending on assignment and equipment
• Clean motor vehicle record, with no disqualifying offense under §383.51
• Ten-year history that clears review under §391.21
• No positive test, refusal, or unresolved violation in the Clearinghouse

Background screening is conducted lawfully. Where we obtain a consumer report or investigative consumer report, we do so with written authorization and the disclosures required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If information in a report affects a decision, the applicant receives a copy and has the opportunity to dispute it before the decision is final.

7. Controlled substances and alcohol testing

Governing rule: 49 C.F.R. Part 382, incorporating the U.S. Department of Transportation testing procedures at 49 C.F.R. Part 40.

We maintain a DOT-compliant program administered through a consortium/third-party administrator with a certified Medical Review Officer.

Testing conducted:

Clearinghouse. We report violations, refusals, and return-to-duty information to the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse as required, and we query it before hire and annually thereafter.

Immediate removal. A driver who tests positive, refuses a test, or is otherwise prohibited is removed from safety-sensitive duty immediately — not at the end of the load, not at the end of the week.

Supervisor training. Personnel who make reasonable-suspicion determinations complete the required training on the symptoms of controlled substance use and alcohol misuse.

The return-to-duty process is a path back, not only a penalty. A driver who completes it fully is eligible to return. We treat substance abuse as a condition to be addressed under the DOT framework, not as something to conceal.

8. Vehicle inspection, repair, and maintenance

Governing rule: 49 C.F.R. Part 396.

Equipment defects are the second-largest source of roadside violations in this industry and the easiest to prevent. Maintenance is a safety control before it is a cost line.

Program

• Systematic inspection, repair, and maintenance of every vehicle under our control, on a documented schedule (§396.3)
• Manufacturer's service specification. Oil and filter intervals, aftertreatment service, coolant and fuel filtration, brake and driveline service are performed at the OEM-published intervals for that engine and duty cycle — not stretched
• Pre-trip inspection by the driver before operating, in accordance with §392.7
• Driver Vehicle Inspection Report at the end of each driving day where a defect is found (§396.11). Any defect affecting safe operation is repaired and certified before the vehicle is dispatched again
• Annual periodic inspection meeting the minimum standards of Appendix A to Part 396, performed by a qualified inspector, with the record retained (§396.17)
• Brake inspector qualification documented under §396.25
• Roadside inspections — every report is reviewed on receipt, defects corrected, and the signed certification returned to the issuing jurisdiction within the required period

Out-of-service

If equipment or a driver is placed out of service under the CVSA out-of-service criteria, the unit does not move until the condition is corrected and the OOS is cleared. There is no exception for a hot load. If that affects your delivery, you hear it from us immediately with a revised plan.

Leaks are defects

Any oil, coolant, fuel, or hydraulic leak generates a repair order, not a wipe-down. This is both a maintenance standard and an environmental one — see Section 18.

9. Cargo securement

Governing rule: 49 C.F.R. Part 393, Subpart I, incorporating the North American Cargo Securement Standard.

We haul open-deck freight. Securement is where the risk lives, and it is where most of our load-specific training goes.

General standards

• Cargo is contained, immobilized, or secured so it cannot shift, leak, or fall from the vehicle under normal driving and emergency conditions
• The aggregate working load limit of all tiedowns is at least 50% of the weight of the cargo secured (§393.106)
• Minimum tiedown counts observed by article length and weight
• Tiedowns, chains, binders, straps, edge protection, and dunnage are inspected before departure and re-inspected within the first 50 miles, then at each duty-status change, every 3 hours, or every 150 miles, whichever comes first (§392.9)
• Damaged, worn, knotted, or below-rating securement hardware is removed from service, not "used one more time"

Commodity-specific rules we operate under

Tarping

Tarping is a securement and a product-protection function. A torn or improperly rigged tarp is why loads get rejected at the receiver. Our drivers tarp to protect the commodity, not just to satisfy a line on the rate confirmation, and tarps are inspected and replaced on condition.

Weight and dimension

We operate within legal gross, axle, and bridge limits. Overdimensional and overweight movements are run only with the permits the routing jurisdictions require, obtained before dispatch, with escorts and curfew restrictions observed. We do not run a permitted load on an unpermitted route to save a day.

10. Rules of the road

Governing rule: 49 C.F.R. Part 392.

Distracted driving — zero tolerance

• No handheld mobile telephone use while driving (§392.82). This means no holding, no dialing more than a single button, and no reaching for a device in a position that requires leaving a seated, belted position
• No texting while driving (§392.80)
• These are not internal preferences. Convictions carry driver disqualification and substantial carrier civil penalties, and they load directly into the Unsafe Driving BASIC
• Dispatch does not contact a driver in a way that requires them to respond while moving. If we call and you are driving, do not answer. Call us back at the next stop. This is our rule, not just the government's

Operating conditions

• Seat belts are mandatory for the driver and every occupant (§392.16)
• Speed is governed to the posted limit and reduced for conditions. Equipment is speed-limited
• Adverse conditions (§392.14): when snow, ice, fog, mist, rain, dust, or smoke make operation hazardous, speed is reduced, and if conditions become sufficiently dangerous, the driver stops. Continuing is prohibited by regulation, and it is prohibited by us
• Impairment (§392.4, §392.5): no driver operates while under the influence of alcohol or any substance that impairs ability, including a prescription that has not been cleared by a medical examiner
• Ill or fatigued operator (§392.3): a driver whose ability is impaired by illness or fatigue does not drive. Reporting fatigue is expected behavior, not a performance issue
• Railroad crossings, hazardous conditions, and emergency signaling are handled under Part 392 Subparts B and C

The instruction that overrides all others

A driver may refuse any load, any route, or any timeline they believe cannot be run safely or legally. There is no penalty, no retaliation, and no quiet reduction in future dispatch. This is also protected by federal whistleblower law under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, 49 U.S.C. § 31105 — but we treat it as our own policy, not as a statute we tolerate.

11. Rest, fatigue, and driver health

Hours of service is a health regulation before it is a paperwork regulation. Compliance on paper with a driver who has not actually slept accomplishes nothing.

• We plan routes so that legal rest is achievable rest. A ten-hour break spent looking for parking is not a ten-hour break. Trip planning accounts for realistic parking availability, not the theoretical minimum
• Detention is treated as a safety problem, not just a billing problem. Time burned at a dock comes out of the driver's clock and their income. We document it, we bill it where the contract allows, and we push back on facilities that habitually waste it
• Medical certification is supported, not policed. We track expiration dates and give advance notice so a driver is never surprised by a lapsed card
• Equipment condition is part of health. Seat condition, sleeper condition, and cab climate control are maintenance items on long-haul units
• Isolation is an occupational hazard. Dispatch communicates with patience. A driver who calls with a problem gets a person, not a lecture
• No forced dispatch. Drivers and owner-operators choose their loads and lanes

12. Technology and operational visibility

Driver privacy. Telematics and camera data are collected for safety, dispatch, and compliance purposes and are accessed by personnel with an operational need. We do not use them to monitor drivers during off-duty rest. Handling of this data is described in our Privacy Policy.

13. Accidents and incidents

Immediate response

• Secure the scene and render aid. Nothing takes priority over life safety
• Notify law enforcement where required, and notify Pine Logistics dispatch immediately
• Preserve evidence — photographs, ELD data, dashcam footage, and documents
• Post-accident testing is initiated where the criteria at §382.303 are met, within the required time windows

Accident register. We maintain the accident register required by §390.15, with date, location, driver, injuries, fatalities, and hazardous material release, retained for three years, and we make the supporting reports available to FMCSA on request.

Cargo claims. A written claim for loss, damage, or delay is handled under 49 C.F.R. Part 370. Liability for cargo in interstate transportation is governed by the Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. § 14706. Unless a longer period is stated in the governing contract or bill of lading, a claim must be filed in writing within nine months of delivery — or of the date delivery should have been made — and any suit must be commenced within two years and one day of written disallowance. These deadlines are strict.

Where to file: [email protected] or Pine Logistics Corp, Attn: Claims, 25 Olympia Ave, Suite W, Woburn, MA 01801, with the bill of lading, proof of value, and documentation of the loss.

Root cause, not blame. Every recordable event gets a documented review that identifies what in the system allowed it — dispatch planning, equipment condition, training, or decision-making — and what changed as a result.

14. Records and retention

We keep what the regulation requires, for as long as it requires, and we can produce it.

Records are stored with access limited to personnel with a compliance need. Personal information in these files — CDL numbers, medical certificates, Social Security numbers — is handled under our Privacy Policy and secured consistent with Massachusetts regulation 201 CMR 17.00.

15. Audit readiness

We operate as though an audit could open tomorrow, because the point of the program is that nothing has to be assembled after the fact.

• New entrant safety audit and compliance review: documentation is maintained in audit-ready condition continuously — driver files, ELD data, maintenance records, drug and alcohol program records, and the accident register
• Customer audits: we accommodate shipper and broker compliance audits, including document review and, where a contract requires it, site visits
• Corrective action: where a deficiency is identified, whether by FMCSA, by a customer, or internally, it is documented with a root cause, an owner, and a completion date. Closure is verified, not assumed
• Internal review: log audits, MVR reviews, DQ file completeness checks, and maintenance schedule compliance are reviewed on a recurring cycle rather than in response to an event

16. Owner-operators under our authority

An independent contractor operating under our authority operates under our safety program, without exception. Their independence is commercial — routes, loads, and business decisions. It is not regulatory.

Every owner-operator running under Pine Logistics:

• Has a complete Driver Qualification File under Part 391, held by us
• Is enrolled in our Part 382 controlled substances and alcohol program
• Records duty status on a registered ELD and is subject to the same log review
• Maintains equipment to Part 396 standards, with documented inspection and repair, and provides the annual inspection record
• Is subject to the same securement, distracted driving, and adverse conditions requirements
• Keeps factory emission control systems intact. No delete kits, no DPF removal, no defeat devices. Tampering is a federal Clean Air Act violation and removes a unit from our network permanently

No double brokering. Freight tendered to Pine Logistics is moved by Pine Logistics or by a carrier operating under our authority. We do not re-broker a load without the express written consent of the party that tendered it. If you were told a load was going to us and it arrives on unfamiliar equipment, call us — that is a fraud indicator and we want to know.

17. Data, communications, and privacy

Personal information. Operational and applicant data is collected for dispatch, compliance, and safety purposes only, and is handled under our Privacy Policy. Driver files receive restricted access; retention follows the federal schedule in Section 14.

Telephone and text communications. Where we call or send text messages to a number provided through our website — including messages sent by automated means — we do so only with the prior express written consent required under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Consent is never a condition of employment, contracting, or service. Opt-out instructions are provided in every message, and opt-out requests are honored on receipt.

Confidentiality of customer information. Rate information, lane data, shipper identities, and commodity details are treated as confidential and are not disclosed to third parties except as required to perform the transportation or as required by law.

18. Environmental compliance

Emission control systems remain factory. Maintenance waste — used oil, coolant, solvents, filters, DPF ash, batteries, tires, and scrap components — is disposed of through licensed and permitted channels under RCRA and applicable state programs. Anti-idling limits are observed in every jurisdiction of operation, including Massachusetts' five-minute limit under 310 CMR 7.11.

Full detail on our environmental program, the disposal standards we follow, and what we require of partners is on our About page.

19. Raising a concern

For drivers and personnel. Report a safety defect, an unsafe request, a compliance problem, or a suspected violation directly to safety or management. There is no retaliation. Retaliating against a driver for reporting a safety concern, refusing to operate unsafely, or cooperating with an investigation violates the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, 49 U.S.C. § 31105, and it is grounds for removal from this company independent of any legal consequence.

Drivers may also file a complaint directly with OSHA, which administers STAA whistleblower protections, or with FMCSA through the National Consumer Complaint Database.

For customers and partners. If any part of our operation does not match what is described on this page, tell us. Email [email protected] with the subject line "Compliance Concern." We would rather be corrected than defended.

20. Documents available on request

21. Contact

This page describes Pine Logistics Corp's operational compliance program and is provided for the information of shippers, brokers, drivers, and partners. Regulatory citations are provided so our practices can be checked against the underlying rules. Nothing on this page is legal advice or a substitute for the transportation documents governing a specific shipment, and nothing here modifies any signed agreement, rate confirmation, or bill of lading.

© 2026 Pine Logistics Corp. All rights reserved.