ATA to Focus on Business at Annual Meeting in Florida
By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the Oct. 8 print edition of Transport Topics.
American Trucking Associations members will focus on the business side of the industry at this year’s Management Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., ATA President Bill Graves said.
“There clearly is softness in the freight market that’s contributing to a more challenging environment than we’ve seen in the first four MCEs that I’ve been involved in,” Graves told Transport Topics. “And if you’d like to throw in fuel prices, uncertainty about hours of service, continued labor issues with driver availability . . . it certainly is as challenging a time as I’ve seen in the five years that I’ve been here.”
Those trying times, Graves said, along with an unsettled political situation in Washington, led ATA to focus its annual meeting, set for Oct. 20-23 at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center, on the business of trucking.
“This is probably a time where we’re working very hard to demonstrate our value as a trade association in supporting the business side, the operational side of our members’ companies,” he said. “It’s one of those years where we’re just taking care of business and making sure that we have all our assets in line, ready to be deployed depending on . . . what our challenges are going into next year.”
“That’s why we have a session on the emerging China [market] and fleets that are establishing operations there,” he said. “It’s why, for the first time, I’m actually delivering what essentially is a state-of-the-industry-type address to get the membership a real good snapshot of the challenges and opportunities that we face and the progress that we’ve made as an association on their behalf.”
The China panel, to be moderated by Howard S. Abramson, editorial director of Transport Topics, will provide “a balanced assessment” of trucking in the world’s fastest-growing economy with a panel of U.S. trucking executives focusing on the challenges and opportunities that can be found in China.
Business will also be on the agenda during the annual “All Eyes on the Economy” panel, moderated by Fox News personality Stuart Varney and featuring ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello.
Also scheduled is a discussion of emerging trends in information technology and logistics moderated by Carl Kirk, ATA’s vice president of councils, and presented by the new Information Technology and Logistics Council.
Attendees of MCE will have the chance to hear from experts and educators on various topics aimed at helping them maximize their bottom line, comply with government regulations and improve their businesses. Sessions being offered include:
• Environmental regulations in California.
• Reducing idling.
• Managing owner-operators.
• Using third-party insurance.
• Handling a compliance review from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
• Passing on a company.
• Avoiding costly litigation.
• Handling claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Trends in renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
• Containing health-care costs.
• Recruiting and retaining drivers.
• Improving accounting techniques.
This year’s business-centric meeting follows last year’s conference — which took place in the suburbs of Dallas — where political and regulatory issues dominated the event, with speeches by several high-ranking government officials.
Graves said the current political environment is contributing to the federation’s change of focus this year.
“As the Bush administration starts to wind down and the sort of transition from the ’06 election . . . it feels like there’s a bit of a void, a political standoff where it’s a challenging time for things to get done over on the Hill, and that may be a blessing or a curse depending on the particular issue,” he said. “It may be one of those moments where not a lot happens between now and January of 2009.”
Despite that, Graves said ATA would still keep an eye on a number of political issues — including the looming highway reauthorization and a myriad of environmental topics.
“We’ve been working on a reauthorization plan, a strategy, for the last couple of years. Probably even before the last reauthorization was signed [in 2005], we had started self-evaluating and figuring out what we needed to do to be prepared for the next reauthorization,” he said. “So that’s clearly a work in progress.”
While in past years, ATA has used MCE to establish positions on a variety of highway issues such as truck size and weight and highway finance, Graves said it was more likely the group would tackle a host of environmental policy changes.
The federation, he said, was working “to try to create the most proactive agenda we could on a broad array of environmental issues.”
That agenda, he said, will address such items as proposals for a carbon tax, speed limits and the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program.
Clayton Boyce, a spokesman for ATA, called the program “a menu from which the agenda will be taken.”
Graves said that given the current political environment, it was important for ATA to start taking positions on these environmental issues. “It certainly makes sense given the pretty broad array of initiatives that are floated and are being considered on Capitol Hill,” he said.
“The truth is that we just didn’t have a choice,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury to hear of a possible policy item on Capitol Hill and then have 14 meetings and three special committees and decide we’ll vote on it in the MCE in 2008,” Graves said. “What happens is, by the time we get around to ever concluding what our association policy is, they’ve already done something on Capitol Hill.”
By being proactive, Graves said, ATA hoped to work with leaders in Congress to advance some items to benefit the trucking industry.
“The old saying is, ‘If you’re not careful, they’ll start doing stuff to you instead of for you,’ ” he said. “We want to be in a position where policy-makers can do stuff for us based on our recommendations and what we’re willing to support.”
One area Graves said ATA was continuing to work on was incentives for new environmentally friendly engines that will be mandated in 2010.
“The coalition is still in place on efforts to get financial incentives for cleaner-burning diesel engines, and while circumstances were such that we were not successful as it relates to the ’07 model engines, we’re still fully engaged and working on the possibilities for 2010,” he said.
Despite the great challenges facing trucking, Graves said the overall mood of the industry was positive.
“I still find our members to be pretty optimistic about the future about freight volumes coming back in ’08. . . . Most have weathered the fuel price storm reasonably well,” he said. “In spite of the fact there’s clearly some very real challenges, the members continue to forge ahead.”
This story appears in the Oct. 8 print edition of Transport Topics.
American Trucking Associations members will focus on the business side of the industry at this year’s Management Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla., ATA President Bill Graves said.
“There clearly is softness in the freight market that’s contributing to a more challenging environment than we’ve seen in the first four MCEs that I’ve been involved in,” Graves told Transport Topics. “And if you’d like to throw in fuel prices, uncertainty about hours of service, continued labor issues with driver availability . . . it certainly is as challenging a time as I’ve seen in the five years that I’ve been here.”
Those trying times, Graves said, along with an unsettled political situation in Washington, led ATA to focus its annual meeting, set for Oct. 20-23 at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center, on the business of trucking.
“This is probably a time where we’re working very hard to demonstrate our value as a trade association in supporting the business side, the operational side of our members’ companies,” he said. “It’s one of those years where we’re just taking care of business and making sure that we have all our assets in line, ready to be deployed depending on . . . what our challenges are going into next year.”
“That’s why we have a session on the emerging China [market] and fleets that are establishing operations there,” he said. “It’s why, for the first time, I’m actually delivering what essentially is a state-of-the-industry-type address to get the membership a real good snapshot of the challenges and opportunities that we face and the progress that we’ve made as an association on their behalf.”
The China panel, to be moderated by Howard S. Abramson, editorial director of Transport Topics, will provide “a balanced assessment” of trucking in the world’s fastest-growing economy with a panel of U.S. trucking executives focusing on the challenges and opportunities that can be found in China.
Business will also be on the agenda during the annual “All Eyes on the Economy” panel, moderated by Fox News personality Stuart Varney and featuring ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello.
Also scheduled is a discussion of emerging trends in information technology and logistics moderated by Carl Kirk, ATA’s vice president of councils, and presented by the new Information Technology and Logistics Council.
Attendees of MCE will have the chance to hear from experts and educators on various topics aimed at helping them maximize their bottom line, comply with government regulations and improve their businesses. Sessions being offered include:
• Environmental regulations in California.
• Reducing idling.
• Managing owner-operators.
• Using third-party insurance.
• Handling a compliance review from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
• Passing on a company.
• Avoiding costly litigation.
• Handling claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Trends in renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
• Containing health-care costs.
• Recruiting and retaining drivers.
• Improving accounting techniques.
This year’s business-centric meeting follows last year’s conference — which took place in the suburbs of Dallas — where political and regulatory issues dominated the event, with speeches by several high-ranking government officials.
Graves said the current political environment is contributing to the federation’s change of focus this year.
“As the Bush administration starts to wind down and the sort of transition from the ’06 election . . . it feels like there’s a bit of a void, a political standoff where it’s a challenging time for things to get done over on the Hill, and that may be a blessing or a curse depending on the particular issue,” he said. “It may be one of those moments where not a lot happens between now and January of 2009.”
Despite that, Graves said ATA would still keep an eye on a number of political issues — including the looming highway reauthorization and a myriad of environmental topics.
“We’ve been working on a reauthorization plan, a strategy, for the last couple of years. Probably even before the last reauthorization was signed [in 2005], we had started self-evaluating and figuring out what we needed to do to be prepared for the next reauthorization,” he said. “So that’s clearly a work in progress.”
While in past years, ATA has used MCE to establish positions on a variety of highway issues such as truck size and weight and highway finance, Graves said it was more likely the group would tackle a host of environmental policy changes.
The federation, he said, was working “to try to create the most proactive agenda we could on a broad array of environmental issues.”
That agenda, he said, will address such items as proposals for a carbon tax, speed limits and the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program.
Clayton Boyce, a spokesman for ATA, called the program “a menu from which the agenda will be taken.”
Graves said that given the current political environment, it was important for ATA to start taking positions on these environmental issues. “It certainly makes sense given the pretty broad array of initiatives that are floated and are being considered on Capitol Hill,” he said.
“The truth is that we just didn’t have a choice,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury to hear of a possible policy item on Capitol Hill and then have 14 meetings and three special committees and decide we’ll vote on it in the MCE in 2008,” Graves said. “What happens is, by the time we get around to ever concluding what our association policy is, they’ve already done something on Capitol Hill.”
By being proactive, Graves said, ATA hoped to work with leaders in Congress to advance some items to benefit the trucking industry.
“The old saying is, ‘If you’re not careful, they’ll start doing stuff to you instead of for you,’ ” he said. “We want to be in a position where policy-makers can do stuff for us based on our recommendations and what we’re willing to support.”
One area Graves said ATA was continuing to work on was incentives for new environmentally friendly engines that will be mandated in 2010.
“The coalition is still in place on efforts to get financial incentives for cleaner-burning diesel engines, and while circumstances were such that we were not successful as it relates to the ’07 model engines, we’re still fully engaged and working on the possibilities for 2010,” he said.
Despite the great challenges facing trucking, Graves said the overall mood of the industry was positive.
“I still find our members to be pretty optimistic about the future about freight volumes coming back in ’08. . . . Most have weathered the fuel price storm reasonably well,” he said. “In spite of the fact there’s clearly some very real challenges, the members continue to forge ahead.”
