Werner CEO warns ELD crackdown will tighten truckload capacity further

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has blacklisted 56 electronic logging devices (ELDs) as noncompliant in 2026, following 32 removals in 2025, according to Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers. Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Chicago Industrials Summit on August 11, 2026, Leathers warned that stricter enforcement of ELD regulations is tightening truckload capacity by eliminating devices that allow drivers and carriers to manipulate hours-of-service records.

Federal rules mandate ELDs to automatically generate drivers’ record-of-duty status, enforcing limits such as 11 hours of driving time after 10 consecutive hours off duty. Noncompliant ELDs enable evasion of these restrictions. Leathers highlighted that the market had been artificially inflated, with “10 trucks behaving like 15” due to log manipulation. Removing noncompliant devices effectively strips capacity from the market, compounding federal efforts to crack down on unqualified drivers and inadequate training programs.

The FMCSA overhauled its ELD vetting process in December 2025, halting nearly 500 new entrants into the market for failing basic certification checks or being easily editable. Carriers now have 60 days to replace noncompliant devices or face out-of-service orders. Industry groups like the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) have backed third-party certification of ELDs to prevent falsification of logbook data.

In Canada, where self-certification is prohibited, fewer than a dozen ELD providers dominate the market, contrasting with over 1,000 self-certified providers in the U.S. The ATA has also called for legislation like the GHOSTRUCK Act to require that any edits to ELD records be made only by carriers, dispatchers, or drivers physically located in North America, addressing a loophole exploited by foreign-based dispatchers.

The FMCSA’s International Roadcheck in May 2026 targeted ELD falsification, with falsification of record-of-duty status being the second-most-cited driver violation in the 2025 inspections. Most interstate carriers have been required to use compliant ELDs since December 2019, when the FMCSA’s ELD mandate took full effect.