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What Is a Common Carrier?
A common carrier holds itself out to transport for any shipper, on published terms. A contract carrier serves specific shippers under an agreement negotiated with each. A private carrier hauls its own company’s goods in its own trucks.
In trucking, common and contract are now mostly commercial labels: the federal safety rules sort carriers as for-hire or private. In the pipeline business, common carrier is still a legal status with an obligation attached.
Common vs contract vs private
This table describes how the trade uses the terms, not rules from a regulation. What a given carrier owes you is set by its rate terms and your agreement with it.
| Common carrier | Contract carrier | Private carrier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hauls for | Any shipper, on published terms | Named shippers under a written agreement | Its own company only |
| Rate | Tariff or published rate | Negotiated in the agreement | No rate; the cost of running its own trucks |
| Takes a load it did not plan for | Generally expected to, if it carries that kind of freight | Only if the agreement commits it to | Not for outsiders |
Common vs contract carrier: who hauls fuel works through which type fits which kind of fuel lane.
What federal trucking rules say now
The definitions section of the federal motor carrier safety rules, 49 CFR 390.5, defines a for-hire motor carrier as “a person engaged in the transportation of goods or passengers for compensation,” and a private motor carrier as a person who provides transportation by commercial motor vehicle and “is not a for-hire motor carrier.” The words “common carrier” and “contract carrier” do not appear in that section.
The definitions in the federal motor carrier statute, 49 U.S.C. 13102, cover broker, motor carrier, motor private carrier and contract carriage, which it describes as service provided under an agreement. The section has no definition of common carrier. So in the safety rules the line is for-hire versus private, and common versus contract describes how a for-hire carrier sells its service.
The pipeline sense
On an oil pipeline the term still carries a legal duty. In its order on the Colonial Pipeline’s allocation policy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) wrote: “As a common carrier oil pipeline Colonial is required ‘to provide and furnish transportation upon reasonable request therefor’ pursuant to section 1(4) of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA).” It went on: “when nominations exceed available capacity the pipeline is required to allocate capacity to all requesting shippers, subject to certain limitations.”
That is why a common carrier pipeline publishes how it shares space when shippers ask for more than fits. Pipeline line space and allocation for fuel suppliers explains how nominations, cycles and shipping history work on Colonial.
Sources
- 49 CFR 390.5: definitions of for-hire motor carrier and private motor carrier
- 49 U.S.C. 13102: definitions of broker, contract carriage, motor carrier and motor private carrier
- FERC order on Colonial Pipeline allocation, 171 FERC ¶ 61,078 (2020): Colonial’s duty as a common carrier oil pipeline to provide transportation on reasonable request