By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 5, 2026
Hawaii still regulates for-hire trucking economically. No one may haul property or passengers for compensation over a Hawaii public highway without a certificate or permit from the Public Utilities Commission (HRS 271-8): a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a common carrier, or a permit for a contract carrier serving a limited number of shippers under contract. A property certificate names the island or islands it covers (HRS 271-12(d)), and the PUC licenses property carriers in four classifications: general commodities, household goods, commodities in dump trucks, and specific commodities (HAR 6-62-35). The application costs $30, needs a Department of Taxation tax clearance certificate, a tariff (your own or a tariff bureau's), letters from prospective customers for each island, and financial statements, and the PUC says processing takes six to twelve weeks or longer. Holders pay an annual gross revenue fee of one-quarter of one percent, $20 minimum, and carry the PUC's insurance minimums for property carriers: $250,000 bodily injury per person, $750,000 bodily injury per accident, and $250,000 property damage per accident (HAR 6-62-8). Separately, the Hawaii DOT Motor Vehicle Safety Office requires every motor carrier running commercial motor vehicles, interstate or intrastate, to hold a USDOT number.
The Hawaii requirements table
- Agency
- Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (motor carrier certificates, permits, tariffs and the gross revenue fee). Safety regulation of motor carriers (USDOT number, vehicle identification cards, annual safety inspection) sits with the Hawaii Department of Transportation, Highways Division, Motor Vehicle Safety Office.
- Program name
- Motor carrier certificate of public convenience and necessity (common carrier) or contract carrier permit, property classification
- Application
- Application for Motor Carrier Certificate or Permit, Property Classification (filed with the PUC; eFile through the PUC's CDMS e-Services, or a fillable or paper form)
- Renewal
- No periodic renewal of the certificate or permit appears in HRS chapter 271 or the PUC FAQ. What recurs is the Annual Financial Report and gross revenue fee every year by April 30 (owed even with no revenue), continuous insurance on file, and an amended vehicle inventory list within 30 days of any vehicle change (HAR 6-62-28). A carrier can ask to go inactive or surrender its certificate by eFiled letter, filing an AFR and fee through that date.
Authority fee schedule
Hawaii charges a fixed amount per filing rather than pricing registration by term. Each charge below is set by its own statute or rule section.
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Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- NoneNo weight threshold: HRS 271-8 reaches transportation for compensation by any motor vehicle over a public highway. Weight thresholds belong to the separate DOT motor carrier safety law, whose rules exempt nonpassenger vehicles of 10,000 lb GVWR or less unless they carry placarded hazardous materials (HRS 286-207(1)).
- For-hire only
- YesThe certificate requirement covers transportation for compensation or hire. HRS 271-5(1) exempts persons hauling their own property in furtherance of a primary business, unless the arrangement is used to evade the chapter.
- Property carriers
- YesProperty carriers are licensed by classification: general commodities, household goods, commodities in dump trucks (sand, gravel, dirt, rocks, aggregates, asphaltic concrete and similar), and specific commodities named in the authority (HAR 6-62-35 to 6-62-39). Adding a classification or an island needs a formal application (PUC FAQ Q8, HRS 271-12).
- Passenger carriers
- Yes. Passenger carriers need a PUC certificate or permit too, filed on the separate passenger-classification application, with their own insurance minimums keyed to seating capacity (HAR 6-62-8(b)). Taxicabs, school transportation, jitney services and several other passenger operations are exempt under HRS 271-5.
- Household goods
- Yes. Household goods is one of the four property classifications: used household goods moved for a change of a householder's domicile, office and institutional moves, and articles needing household-goods handling because of their nature or value (HAR 6-62-37).
- Hazmat
- NoThe PUC rules create no separate hazmat authority. Carriers of explosives and of liquid products in tank trucks are listed as examples of the specific commodities classification (HAR 6-62-39). Placarded hazmat vehicles fall under the DOT motor carrier safety law at any weight (HRS 286-207(1)).
- Farm vehicles
- HRS 271-7 exempts vehicles used by farmers exclusively for their farm operations, and farmers who infrequently haul neighboring farmers' products in exchange for like services, farm products, or cash not over $1,500 a year, when that is their only for-hire hauling. HRS 271-5 separately exempts nonprofit agricultural cooperatives hauling their own or members' property, and named agricultural hauls (unprocessed pineapple, seed corn, raw milk, animal feed).
Hawaii insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Liability minimum
- Null by design: the PUC states its property-carrier minimum as three split limits, not one figure. HAR 6-62-8(c) requires $250,000 bodily injury or death per person, $750,000 bodily injury or death per accident, and $250,000 property damage per accident, filed with the commission before the carrier operates on any public street or highway.
Minimum liability by operation type
General freight is not the floor for every carrier. Hazmat and larger passenger operations carry higher minimums; buy against the row that matches what you haul.
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Other Hawaii insurance requirements
- Cargo scope
- Cargo security under HAR 6-62-9: at least one-half of the declared value of cargo released to the carrier, up to $1,500 per motor vehicle and $3,000 per occurrence; carriers hauling only gravity-discharge commodities instead carry cargo insurance equal to market value or $100, whichever is greater.
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
- Liability proof
- Form WC-3539, Uniform Motor Carrier Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability Certificate of Insurance, with endorsement Form WC-3538; forms are provided by the PUC for execution by insurers authorized to do business in Hawaii (HAR 6-62-12).
- Cancellation
- Liability insurance may not be canceled until 30 days after the PUC receives notice on Form WC-3547; cargo insurance likewise needs 30 days' notice on Form MCB-10 (HAR 6-62-12(c) and 6-62-13(c)).
More Hawaii authority rules
- Contact: note
- Printed on the cover of the PUC's property-classification application instructions (rev. 3/11/2025), which also give fax (808) 586-2066. The PUC FAQ directs applicants to create an online account on the PUC's CDMS e-Services site and e-file the application.
- Application requirements: items
- Department of Taxation tax clearance certificate (Form A-6, marked 'State PUC Motor Carrier Licensing'); the PUC will not accept the application without it; $30 filing fee, paid by ePayment when eFiling; Notarized oath and certificate of service, with copies to the Division of Consumer Advocacy, the Hawaii Transportation Association and the Western Motor Tariff Bureau; Exhibit B Vehicle Inventory List with each vehicle's county registration or ownership certificate (vehicles may follow within 120 days of the Decision and Order); Balance sheet, fixed assets and loans payable schedules, projected revenues for each island, and a projected income statement; Letters from prospective customers for each island applied for; A tariff: join the Western Motor Tariff Bureau's tariff or file your own under HAR chapter 16-603; For a contract carrier permit, a copy of each bilateral shipper contract
- Application requirements: detail
- The PUC checks the application, publishes notice, waits out a 20-day intervention period, reviews financial fitness and need, and issues a Decision and Order with conditions; the license letter issues once the conditions (insurance proof, vehicle list and registrations within 120 days) are met. Filing does not grant authority to operate. The PUC says the process takes six to twelve weeks or longer and cannot be expedited.
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- The Motor Vehicle Safety Office states that all motor carriers operating a commercial motor vehicle in interstate or intrastate commerce within Hawaii must have a USDOT number under HAR 19-141-5 and 49 CFR Part 390, and must mark both sides of the vehicle 'USDOT' followed by the number, legible from 50 feet. HAR 19-141-5 applies the adopted federal rules to intrastate as well as interstate operations. The PUC certificate does not require the USDOT number as a filing item.
- Vehicle marking: requirement
- PUC-licensed carriers paint their name (or identifying symbol or known initials) and PUC number on both sides of each vehicle in contrasting colors, letters at least 2.5 inches high (HAR 6-62-20). Separately, the DOT motor carrier safety law requires every motor carrier vehicle to show the operating carrier's name and the vehicle's gross vehicle weight, GVWR or GCWR on both sides, legible from 50 feet, on top of the federal 49 CFR 390.21 USDOT marking (HRS 286-202.6).
- Exemptions: summary
- HRS 271-5 lists 19 exempt classes. Those a new small trucking company is most likely to meet: hauling your own property in furtherance of your primary business; vehicles built for towing wrecked or disabled vehicles; mail, newspapers, documents, letters and blueprints; garbage and refuse; funeral cars and ambulances; nonprofit agricultural cooperatives; and named agricultural hauls (unprocessed pineapple and seed corn, raw milk, animal feed, and some cattle hauling by ranchers). Farm vehicles have a separate exemption in HRS 271-7.
- Intrastate safety rules: detail
- HAR 19-141-4 adopts the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (49 CFR Parts 383, 385, 386 and 390 to 399) as they existed on May 31, 2018, and 19-141-5 applies them to interstate and intrastate operations. The DOT motor carrier safety law reaches vehicles over 10,000 lb GVWR, smaller vehicles carrying passengers commercially, and placarded hazmat vehicles (HRS 286-209(a), 286-207(1)). Those vehicles need an annual DOT safety inspection, a vehicle identification card filed with the Motor Vehicle Safety Office, and the HRS 286-202.6 marking.
- Penalties: operating without authority
- Operating without a certificate or permit, or in violation of the chapter or its rules, is a misdemeanor, and so is a Hawaii shipper knowingly using such a carrier (HRS 271-27(a)). The department may also cite unlicensed carriers and the shippers who hire them, with an abatement order and civil penalties of up to $1,000 per offense, $50 to $500 per day for a continuing violation, and up to $5,000 for a fourth or later violation in one calendar year (HRS 271-27(h) and (j)).
Who needs a PUC certificate
The test is compensation, not weight. Anyone carrying property for hire over a Hawaii public highway needs authority, at any vehicle size. Hauling your own goods for your own business is exempt, and so are tow trucks, garbage haulers, mail and document carriers, farm vehicles and several named agricultural hauls.
Interstate and foreign commerce sits outside the state law except where federal law allows. Weight thresholds belong to the separate DOT safety rules.
Classes and islands
The PUC licenses property carriers in four classes: general commodities, household goods, commodities in dump trucks, and specific commodities named in the authority. Each certificate also names the islands it covers. Adding a class or an island takes a formal application.
A common carrier holds a certificate of public convenience and necessity. A contract carrier serving a limited number of shippers under contract holds a permit and files each shipper contract.
Applying and the fees
File the property-classification application with the PUC, by eFiling through its CDMS e-Services system or on the paper form. The filing fee is due with the application, and a Department of Taxation tax clearance must come with it.
Once licensed, you pay a yearly fee on the prior year's gross revenue, filed with the Annual Financial Report each spring, and a late report draws a penalty. The fee table renders from the commission's own documents.
Insurance, tariffs and the PUC number
Before operating, file liability insurance at the PUC's split limits, plus cargo security, on the commission's own certificate forms. Every carrier also needs a tariff, either its own or the tariff bureau's.
The PUC assigns each carrier a number, painted with the carrier's name on both sides of every vehicle. Nothing in the motor carrier law or the PUC FAQ calls for periodic renewal; the yearly report, continuous insurance and an updated vehicle list keep the authority alive.
Operating without authority
Hauling for hire without a certificate is a misdemeanor, and so is a Hawaii shipper knowingly using an unlicensed carrier. The state can also issue citations with civil penalties that climb for continuing and repeat violations.
Where this fits in the Hawaii launch
A cell reading "Not confirmed" means the agency did not publish a figure we could verify, so we left it open rather than guessed. For the full launch order, work through start a trucking company in Hawaii, then line up IRP registration and IFTA if you run beyond state lines. To compare every state at once, see the national intrastate authority table.