WASHINGTON – In a scathing report, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) declared West Palm Beach, Florida-based Professional Marine Hauler’s to be an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered the company and its owners, Claudia Angeligue Abreu and Ariel Martinez, to immediately cease all interstate and intrastate operations.
The federal order was served on Jan. 14.
According to the FMCSA, a semi owned by the company was involved in a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crash on Nov. 9, 2021, that resulted in two deaths and nine injuries.
The out-of-service order states that the company and its owners’ “complete and utter disregard for ensuring compliance with federal safety regulations substantially increases the likelihood of serious injury or death for your drivers and the motoring public if your operations are not discontinued immediately.”
An FMCSA investigation “revealed egregious levels of non-compliance and a complete failure of the carrier and its owners to implement any aspect of a safety management plan,” according to an FMCSA news release.
“This failure resulted in the fatal crash, which was caused by complete trailer brake system failure.”
The FMCSA said that a pattern of non-compliance was noted in the operation of several motor carriers operated by the owners, including violations documented during roadside inspections and failed new entrant safety audits.
“Abreu’s and Martinez’s disregard for safety resulted in unsafe vehicles operated in interstate commerce after the vehicles were placed out-of-service,” the FMCSA news release stated. “The two company principals showed a total disregard for vehicle maintenance, driver qualifications, controlled substances and alcohol testing, hours of service and oversize/overweight limits for CMVs.”
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