U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the federal safety blitz that has focused on drivers and state enforcement is poised to move upstream — to the docks and corporate offices where freight is tendered. In a new interview, Duffy indicated he wants federal investigators to use existing authority to pursue shippers, receivers and intermediaries that pressure drivers into violations or cut corners on who they hire to haul loads. The shift would put cargo owners on notice that “safety by contract” will be measured not just by carrier vetting, but by what actually happens on the dock and on the road.
Why this matters: FMCSA has long had tools to police behavior beyond the cab — notably the anti‑coercion rule that makes it illegal for shippers, receivers and brokers to threaten or penalize drivers for refusing to violate Hours of Service, CDL, hazmat or other federal requirements. What Duffy is telegraphing is a willingness to actively deploy those authorities in tandem with his wider clampdown on English‑language proficiency and improperly issued licenses. Expect the spotlight to widen from “Which carrier did you hire?” to “What instructions did your team give the driver, and did those instructions push them past the lines?”
There’s also a fresh procedural lever arriving at just the right time. The Department of Transportation has moved the National Consumer Complaint Database into a modernized “Complaint Center” framework under a revised Privacy Act system of records that takes effect October 31. In plain English: the complaint pipe that drivers and carriers use to flag bad actors — including shippers and brokers — is being expanded and updated, with new “routine uses” that allow DOT to share complaint information more efficiently with enforcement partners. That modernization makes it easier to surface patterns of detention, coercion and other conduct that starts at the shipper/receiver and ends with a violation on the log.
For cargo owners, the risk calculus is changing in three ways:
- Policy risk: Duffy has already shown he’ll link funding and enforcement to state behavior on English‑language and CDL rules; extending that same “teeth” to non‑motor‑carrier players would bring shippers directly under the compliance umbrella, using the coercion rule and complaint data to justify cases.
- Evidence risk: A modern complaint system means emails, text chains, gate logs and TMS timestamps that document coercion or unsafe instructions will be easier to route into investigations — and tougher to ignore.
- Market risk: Procurement teams that prize speed and price over standards are already feeling the sting as federal rules squeeze non‑compliant capacity out of the market. “Cheap and fast” loads that rely on shaky labor or paperwork are becoming legal liabilities, not bargains.
At the same time, private‑sector moves this week show how the industry is re‑tooling around identity, documentation and accountability — the same ingredients regulators will examine. On Thursday, a cross‑border 3PL said a new integration with a carrier‑identity platform cut onboarding time by roughly a third while flagging mismatched locations and foreign VPN use, a common fraud vector behind strategic thefts and double brokering. The message for shippers: the technology to validate who’s pulling your freight — and preserve an auditable trail — exists, and regulators will expect you to use it.
What to do now if you’re a shipper:
- Rewrite tender and dock instructions. Explicitly forbid dispatches or on‑dock demands that would cause HOS or other violations; train warehouse teams on when “keep rolling” becomes coercion.
- Harden carrier identity checks and recordkeeping. Require multi‑factor authentication for document exchanges, verify authority and contact changes against authoritative sources, and store communications in a system that can be produced if FMCSA comes calling.
- Audit detention and appointment practices. Long dwell with inflexible windows is a classic pressure point; tie facility KPIs to safe‑operations outcomes, not just turns.
- Use the complaint signal. Monitor the modernized complaint center for filings that reference your locations or loads and treat those as triggers for corrective action before they become cases.
The bottom line: Duffy’s next phase moves trucking enforcement from the shoulder of the highway to the shipping office. If you influence a driver’s day — by how you schedule, load, communicate or pay — you’re now part of the safety equation, and the paper trail you leave could decide whether you’re part of the solution or the next enforcement headline.
Sources: FreightWaves, Federal Register/DOT, GlobeNewswire
This article was prepared exclusively for TruckStopInsider.com. Republishing is permitted only with proper credit and a link back to the original source.
