[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 12, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64337-64339]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30641]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration


Safety Advisory: Unauthorized Cargo Tanks Used To Transport 
Hazardous Materials

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

ACTION: Notice of identification of unauthorized cargo tanks.

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SUMMARY: This notice identifies unauthorized cargo tanks and removes 
them from service. The FMCSA has identified non-conforming cargo tanks 
as the result of compliance reviews assessing compliance with Hazardous 
Materials Regulations. This action notifies tank owners that these 
tanks are not authorized to transport hazardous materials, and ensures 
their removal from service. The FMCSA notifies the public that MC-331 
cargo tank motor vehicles assembled with designs T-5314, certified 3-
10-1997 and T-5602-A, certified 9-12-1997 by Chemical Transportation 
Engineering Consultants, Inc., Lubbock, TX do not meet the minimum 
design requirements for a specification cargo tank and are no longer 
authorized to transport hazardous materials requiring a specification 
package. These tanks are no longer authorized because the rear end 
protection devices for these cargo tanks do not meet the minimum 
regulatory requirements. There is a high probability that a failure of 
these devices could occur during a rear end collision resulting in 
serious injury, death and property damage.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Joe DeLorenzo, (708) 283-3572. 
Midwest Service Center, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 
U.S. Department of Transportation, 19900 Governors Drive, Suite 210, 
Olympia Fields, IL 60461. Office hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., 
e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    An electronic copy of this document may be viewed and downloaded 
from the internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

Background

    The FMCSA has the responsibility to ensure cargo tanks are designed 
and constructed in accordance with the DOT specifications. This 
authority is granted pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq., as delegated 
to the FMCSA by the Secretary of Transportation in 49 C.F.R. 
1.73(d)(1). To accomplish this mission, FMCSA performs compliance 
reviews of cargo tank manufacturers and assemblers and verifies the 
design and analysis of these cargo tanks with the recommended best 
practices identified in FMCSA's Guidelines for Structural Evaluation of 
Cargo Tanks, 1st edition, June 1996.
    Although FMCSA has no recall authority, we utilize other means to 
remove unsafe cargo tanks from HM service until defects are corrected. 
Historically, FMCSA has utilized consent agreements that offer a 
reduction in the assessment of civil penalties if the cargo tank 
manufacturers and assemblers will recall and repair these defective 
tanks. Unfortunately there have been situations where this strategy has 
not always been effective and the FMCSA officially notified customers 
using defective cargo tanks by publishing a Safety Advisory Notice in 
the Federal Register. A recent example of the Safety Advisory Notice in 
the Federal Register was the identification of non-conforming cargo 
tanks manufactured by Acro Trailer Company, Springfield, MO. (attached)

[[Page 64338]]

    On separate occasions, investigators of the Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration (FMCSA), performed compliance reviews on Bulk 
Truck and Transport in Hanover, IN and Eagle Fabrication and Repair, 
Oak Harbor, OH. These reviews discovered that both facilities were 
performing functions of a cargo tank assembler by attaching rear end 
protection devices (bumpers) to cargo tanks. These bumpers were 
certified by design certifying engineers from Chemical Transportation 
Equipment Consultants (CTEC), Lubbock, TX to meet the requirements of 
49 CFR 178.337-10. An analysis of CTEC's calculations for the design of 
the bumpers by structural engineers from the FHWA discovered that these 
bumpers failed to meet the minimum design requirements. FMCSA performed 
a second level independent analysis of these calculations that verified 
the results of the FHWA engineers. FMCSA then hired an independent 
consulting firm specializing in the design and analysis of cargo tanks 
to perform a third level review of the calculations and verify the 
results. Their results verified the initial and second level review 
that the bumpers failed to meet the minimum design requirements of the 
regulations.
    Eagle Fabrication and Repair and Bulk Tank and Transport accepted 
in good faith the certification of the rear end protection device 
(bumper) from CTEC. An enforcement case was initiated against CTEC in 
an effort to remove and repair these unauthorized cargo tanks. The 
enforcement action resulted in the Agency issuing a Final Order served 
on April 9, 2001 and effective on May 24, 2001. This final order 
assessed CETC a civil penalty of $10,000 for violations of the HM 
regulation. CTEC has failed to respond to the Final Order, failed to 
provide design modifications to repair these unauthorized tanks, and is 
no longer in business. There are at least 300 cargo tanks that have not 
been modified to comply with the requirements. The issuance of the 
attached Federal Register Safety Advisory Notice will remove these 
unsafe cargo tanks from hazardous materials service by accomplishing 
the following:
     Notify the owners that these tanks are no longer 
authorized to transport hazardous materials requiring a specification 
cargo tank.
     Provide sufficient knowledge and willfulness for FMCSA to 
initiate enforcement action against any carrier who uses one of these 
non-conforming tanks to transport hazardous materials requiring a 
specification cargo tank.
     Fulfill FMCSA's responsibility for the safe transportation 
of hazardous materials.
    Our compliance and enforcement strategies that will be utilized to 
ensure these unsafe cargo tanks are removed from specification service 
will include the following:
     The Midwest Service Center will identify the cargo tanks 
based on sales records or other documents from the manufacturers.
     Provide a copy of the Federal Register Notice to each 
owner via certified mail, return receipt requested. This written 
correspondence will also request the carrier to provide clear and 
convincing documentation the cargo tank motor vehicle has been modified 
or is no longer complying with specifications and operating as a cargo 
tanker.
     Use compliance reviews and other verification tools to 
determine if the motor carriers that are operating these tanks have 
made the modifications and initiate enforcement when appropriate.
     Provide the field staff a list of serial numbers, unit 
numbers or other unique identifier to enable the field staff and our 
state partners to effectively identify these tanks and provide guidance 
documents to determine if the modifications have been made on these 
tanks.
    Cargo tanks represented, marked, certified or sold as a 
specification package for use in the bulk transportation of hazardous 
materials must be designed and constructed in accordance with 49 CFR 
178 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). One of the primary 
uses of an MC-331 cargo tank is the transportation of liquefied 
compressed gases. Due to the increased risk associated with the 
transportation of these types of material, the design specification for 
an MC-331 cargo tank requires these tanks to be protected from damage 
during rear-end or overturn accidents.
    Specification MC-331 cargo tanks are manufactured in accordance 
with 49 CFR 178.337. This specification includes various requirements 
for protecting the integrity of the tank and its fittings in case of an 
accident. Of concern in this notice is the requirement for rear end 
protection devices (rear bumper) found in 49 CFR 178.337-10(d). This 
section states that:

    Each cargo tank shall be provided with at least one rear bumper 
designed to protect the tank and piping in the event of a rear end 
collision and minimize the possibility of any part of the colliding 
vehicle striking the tank. The design shall be such as to transmit 
the force of a rear end collision in a horizontal line to the 
chassis of the vehicle. The bumper shall be designed to withstand 
the impact of the fully loaded vehicle with a deceleration of 2 
``g'', using a safety factor of four based on the ultimate strength 
of the bumper material. The bumpers shall conform dimensionally to 
Sec. 393.86, chapter III of this title.

    The key provisions of this section are:
    (1) Use of a safety factor of 4, and
    (2) Basing this safety factor on the ultimate strength of the 
material. This means the appropriate ultimate strength of the material, 
such as tension, compression, shear or bending as appropriate.
    During a compliance review of an MC-331 cargo tank motor vehicle 
assembler conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 
(FMSCA), it was discovered that rear bumpers designed and certified by 
Chemical Transportation Engineering Consultants, Inc. (CTEC) did not 
meet the requirements of 49 CFR 178.337-10(d) of the Hazardous 
Materials Regulations. Engineering analysis performed on the design 
concluded that the rear end protection device (bumper) failed to meet 
the requirements of the specification. Subsequently, an independent 
consultant at the request of the FMCSA conducted an additional analysis 
and arrived at the same conclusions. They are as follows:
     CTEC incorrectly defined the ``ultimate strength'' of the 
material as the ultimate tensile strength when analyzing bolts subject 
to shear forces. As used in Sec. 178.337-10(d) ``it means that the 
strength of the material corresponding to the structural action under 
investigation (i.e., tension, compression, shear, bending) is to be 
employed'' (Kulak). Shear strength is approximately 62 percent of the 
tensile strength.
     A safety factor of 4 is clearly required by Sec. 178.337-
10(d) when calculating the required strength of the bolts.
     When applying both the safety factor of 4 and considering 
the shear strength of the bolts as required by the regulation, the 
design of CTEC's rear end protection device (bumper) clearly does not 
meet the minimum requirements of Sec. 178.337-10(d).
    This design was prepared and certified by CTEC and sold to Eagle 
Fabrication and Repair, Oak Harbor, OH (Eagle). Eagle properly accepted 
the certification provided by CTEC and manufactured rear end protection 
devices in accordance with the designs provided by CTEC. These rear end 
protection devices were installed on cargo tank motor vehicles by Eagle 
and sold to other cargo tank motor vehicle

[[Page 64339]]

assemblers for installation on cargo tank motor vehicles.
    Because these tanks were not equipped with a rear end protection 
devices designed and constructed in accordance with 49 CFR 178.337-
10(d) of the Hazardous Materials Regulations, these cargo tank motor 
vehicles may not be represented as specification cargo tanks and may 
not be represented, marked, certified or sold as a specification 
package used to transport hazardous materials.
    During a separate investigation another rear end protection device 
(bumper) design was discovered that failed to meet the requirements of 
49 CFR 178.337-10(b). This design was prepared and certified by CTEC 
and sold to Bulk Truck and Transport (BT & T), Hanover, IN. BT&T 
properly accepted the certification provided by CTEC and manufactured 
rear end protection devices (bumpers) in accordance with CTEC's design. 
A Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) structural engineer performed 
engineering analysis on the design and concluded that the rear end 
protection device (bumper) failed to meet the requirements of the 
specification because CTEC failed to include the safety factor of four 
in the engineering analysis as required by the regulations. This 
preliminary analysis was reviewed by an engineer with the Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) (formerly the FHWA Office of 
Motor Carrier Safety) and determined to be scientifically valid.

Corrective Action to be Taken

    Because the tanks equipped with rear end protection devices 
(bumpers) manufactured using CTEC deigns T-5314 and T-5062 failed to 
meet the minimum requirements of 49 CFR 178.337-10, they may not be 
represented, marked, certified or sold as a specification cargo tank 
and may not be used to transport hazardous materials that require a 
specification cargo tank. Motor carriers who commit knowing and willful 
violations of the Federal Hazardous Materials Regulations may be 
subject to civil and criminal penalties.
    Cargo tanks assembled with the rear end protection device (bumper) 
design specified in this notice may only be used to transport hazardous 
materials if the rear end protection (bumper) device has been modified 
to a design that meets the requirements of 49 CFR 178.337-10. Cargo 
tanks which have not had appropriate modifications performed to comply 
with 49 CFR 178.337-10(d) must have the specification plate removed, 
obliterated, or covered and these tanks may not be used to transport 
hazardous materials requiring a specification cargo tank.
    During the compliance review process fundamental errors were 
discovered in the engineering calculations by CTEC. These engineering 
calculation errors indicate other designs prepared and certified by 
CTEC may also not comply with the rear end protection device (bumper) 
requirements of the MC-331 cargo tank specification. The FMCSA is 
encouraging the owners of cargo tanks with rear end protection devices 
and anchoring systems designed and certified by CTEC to have these 
designs reviewed by a Design Certifying Engineer (DCE) for compliance 
with the requirements of the regulation.

    Issued on: December 5, 2001.
Joseph M. Clapp,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 01-30641 Filed 12-11-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P