Truckers engaged in providing relief in areas of the Maritimes hit by the recent Hurricane Fiona have been provided an Hours of Service (HOS) exemption.

Transport Canada, provinces and territories, have made available an optional HoS for extra-provincial truck undertakings and their drivers to transport essential supplies and equipment, in direct assistance to the emergency relief efforts in response to Hurricane Fiona in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, according to a Canadian Trucking Alliance press release.

The measure is called the “Targeted Essential Freight Transport Exemption to Support the Emergency Response to Hurricane Fiona in the Atlantic Provinces.”

There are several detailed conditions associated with the exemption, including:

• The carrier must notify in writing the HoS director in their base jurisdiction that they want to utilize the exemption, prior to commencement;
• The carrier must list all drivers and vehicles to participate under the exemption and provide that to the HOS director prior to commencement;
• A copy of the exemption must be carried in every vehicle operating under the exemption;
• The driver must indicate in the remarks section of their daily log if they are operating under the exemption on that day;
• A carrier cannot have a “conditional” or “unsatisfactory” safety rating;
• The driver or carrier cannot be under an out-of-service order.