The U.S. Department of Transportation, through its Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has declared a Florida motor carrier a hazard to public safety and ordered the company and its principals to stop all operations.
The federal order was served Jan. 14 to Professional Marine Hauler's LLC and its principals, Claudia Angeligue Abreu and Ariel Martinez, according to a Safety Administration news release. The order comes in response to a Nov. 9 crash that left two people dead and nine others injured, according to the release.
“The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has declared West Palm Beach based Professional Marine Hauler’s LLC (USDOT No. 3574084) to be an ‘imminent hazard’ to public safety,” the FMCSA said in the release.
The ban prohibits the company or its principals from conducting intrastate or interstate operations, according to the release.
Following the accident, the Safety Administration noted in its release that it found several issues of noncompliance, and the company and its principals failed to correct the issues or develop a safety plan. The investigation, according to the release, found the crash occurred by a failure of the trailer’s brake system.
The investigation found that the company and its principals demonstrated a pattern of disregard for compliance with safety regulations, and operated unsafe vehicles after they had been removed from service, according to the release. The release also noted that the company and its principals ignored vehicle maintenance, driver qualifications, drug and alcohol testing requirements and hours of service.
