ATA Eyes Legislative Victories
PHILADELPHIA — Trucking leaders attending American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition gained a renewed sense of hope that legislative victories were on the horizon, including a new federal highway bill.
They learned the latest developments of the controversial Compliance, Safety, Accountability program as well as the greenhouse-gas proposal from federal regulators and took a closer look at a number of emerging safety technologies.
This year’s MCE “exceeded my own expectations,” said ATA President Bill Graves.
Attendees capped the Oct. 17-20 event here, attended by 2,500, celebrating new ATA Chairman Pat Thomas, a UPS executive who succeeds Duane Long of Longistics.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: MCE 2015
“We have a very ambitious agenda . . . we are pursuing right now and most of it is associated with the highway bill,” said Thomas, UPS’ senior vice president of state government affairs. “So we’re hopeful we will be able to be successful on a number of those items as part of a long-term highway bill with a sustainable funding source.”
ATA is pushing Congress to reauthorize its rollback of an hours-of-service rule for truckers, allow drivers under 21 to operate trucks across state lines and overhaul the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s CSA scoring program.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) addressed attendees on Oct. 19, telling them he is confident a six-year highway funding bill would soon reach the House floor. By Oct. 22, his panel had marked up a bill and sent it to the full House of Representatives.
“Now it is just a matter of having the patience for Congress to get together and do some business,” Graves said. As the conference concluded, Graves made public — via an exclusive interview with Transport Topics — that he plans to step down at the end of 2016 when his current contract expires. A search panel, headed by former ATA chairman Philip Byrd Sr., has been created to find a replacement.
Aside from focusing on the highway bill, the federation’s board approved a measure to urge that truck and car manufactures equip all new vehicles with automatic emergency braking systems and also offered support for a potential regulation.
During a keynote address, FMCSA acting Administrator Scott Darling said 2016 would be “the year of partnerships” between the agency and groups, such as ATA.
Likewise, Chris Grundler, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office director, said the final rule on the next phase of the greenhouse-gas rule will be based on scientific and engineering research.
While the regulatory landscape heading into a presidential election year remains uncertain, especially with a divided Congress and no speaker of the House, the economic terrain is poised for another year of growth.
Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, and Nariman Behravesh of IHS Inc. said that after working off some excess inventories, annual gross domestic product gains of 2.5% or more should resume in the United States — which remains more stable than other major economies around the globe.
In the conference’s exhibit hall, 189 industry suppliers showed everything from the latest truck designs to products and services to maximize efficiency, and especially to recruit and maintain drivers.
With each new year, the proliferation of technology to improve safety and analyze more data faster is coming to the forefront of the industry.
That was most evident on the conference’s final day, with panel discussions about the role technology plays in drawing future talent to trucking as well as how telematics and smart devices are currently reshaping the industry.
Graves acknowledged it can be challenging to stage a late-October conference in a locale where the weather may not be quite as pleasant as what many veteran MCE attendees are used to experiencing. However, he said, the feedback was positive, as there are many important trucking interests based in the Northeast.
And, despite all of the business, policy and educational sessions, MCE is never devoid of entertainment. Grammy-award winning band Chicago performed at the closing banquet — a day after former Beatle Paul McCartney rocked Freightliner’s customer appreciation dinner.
