Trucking associations want liberalized Cabotage rules — Cabotage?

Searching the news for GPS-related stories over the weekend normally brings up mostly articles that are trucking related. Up pops a news item here explaining how both Canadaian and US trucking associations are lobbying for liberalizatiuon of “Cabotage” rules. Cabotage methinks, what in the world is that? Well Wikipedia defines it thus:

Cabotage is the regulation of transport services between two points in the same country, restricting it to carriers from that country. Originally starting with shipping, it now also covers aviation and road transport.

It is a form of protectionism and alleged to lead to economic and environment inefficiency; justifications used include national security and the need to regulate issues such as safety.

Also commonly used as part of the term Cabotage rights, meaning the right of a company from one country to trade in another country. In aviation terms, it is the right to operate within the domestic borders of another country. Most countries do not permit Cabotage, although this is changing within Europe for member states of the European community.

Now what does htis have to do with GPS?  Well, nothing about GPS tracking technology itself, but everything to do about my overall theme of promoting GPS tracking technology for the benefit of business and the economy in general.Here’s the gist of why I think this topic is well worth looking at even for those not intimately involved in the world of road transport.  It’s a “good thing” to consider technology to help your business earn more profit and at the same time save fuel and thus protect the environment.  With GPS tracking, as one example technology, you can easily save 10 to 15% of  fuel costs … certianly a non-trivial amount.  With other technologies, such as auxillary power units to eleiminate overnight truck stop idling you can accomplish similar results.  The entire trucking industry is in some degree of turmoil becuase of huge changes being made in 2007 and later diesel engines to make them much more environmentally friendly.  All “good things”.

Then one finds out that during all this modernization and investment to improve efficiency and protect the environment, if a Candian trucking company has acontract to bring a trailer-load of product to a US destination and drops off the trailer for unlaoding (a common, efficiencency-driven practice), that driver, in his $100,000 prime mover, getting at best 6 miles per gallon, can’t pick up an empty trailer at hiis current location and pull it to another shipper who waiting to send atrailer-load of product to a customer in Canada.

Just how archaic and protectionist do our laws need to be in 2006?  The original company has to either forego the shipment and drive back to Canada ‘bob tailed’ … completely wasting the fuel and consequent pollution, or else hire a local compnay to drive empty miles to the needed trailer and pull it empty to the shipper, and then drive non-profit miles somewhere else to actually find freight to move.

Is this as dumb a situation as I think it is?  Or is it even dumber.