ATA Reaffirms Industry Priorities

This story appears in the Oct. 13 print edition of Transport Topics.

SAN DIEGO — Leaders of American Trucking Associations meeting here said they have put themselves in the best position to successfully see long overdue highway funding and other legislation passed, while preventing what they view as an explosion of burdensome regulations.

The Oct. 4-7 Management Conference & Exhibition included the announcement of a two-year contract extension for ATA President Bill Graves and plotting the next steps of the federation’s internal restructuring and external messaging designed to enhance the industry’s image and attract a younger generation to trucking.

“Our industry is a very safe industry, and we want people to understand that,” said Duane Long, who was named the 70th chairman of ATA at the conclusion of the conference. “We need to let young people know they can come in and find a place in our industry and . . . have a great career.”

MC&E 2014: Complete coverage

Long is chairman of Longistics, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

For the record crowd of more than 2,700 at the conference, main topics of discussion were how an improved economy has further shone a spotlight on the desperate need to find more truck drivers.

“We have to make it attractive, we have to make it desirable, we have to compensate appropriately, we have to incentivize correctly,” said immediate past ATA Chairman Philip Byrd Sr., who is president of Bulldog Hiway Express.

“We have to change the perception of young people about the opportunities that exist in trucking.”

“By far, drivers [or the lack thereof] dominated discussion at this conference,” John Larkin of Stiefel Nicolaus said in an investors note. “With more capacity-sapping, safety-oriented regulations working their way through the federal regulatory pipeline, the situation is likely to deteriorate further.”

In his State of the Industry speech, Graves spoke of the federation’s plan to actively support some safety initiatives, while stressing that reversing changes to the restart provisions of the hours-of-service rule remains an industry priority.

ATA leaders also spoke of continued efforts to finally convince Congress to agree to long-term highway funding legislation when the extension of MAP-21 expires in May.

“We need to do more than fix the potholes,” ATA First Vice Chairman Pat Thomas said. “We need to expand the capacity and provide the opportunity for trucks to move the freight around this country efficiently.”

Thomas, vice president of public affairs for UPS Inc., repeated ATA’s long-standing position of supporting an increase in federal fuel taxes, as well as willingness to listen to alternatives for raising revenue for the Highway Trust Fund.

Part of the difficulty in getting Congress to agree on funding was illustrated by Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster.

His data showed that although the public agrees the nation’s infrastructure needs attention, there is very little agreement how it should be paid for.

However, he also provided information indicating the motoring public has a far more positive view of the trucking industry than was previously thought.

MC&E attendees also had the opportunity to hear directly from two key federal officials.

Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, assured the industry the next greenhouse-gas regulation her agency is involved in writing will be “aggressive but reasonable”.

Likewise, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) praised the role the industry plays for the nation and suggested hours of service could be further debated in the lame-duck session of Congress after the midterm elections next month.

Meanwhile, the annual economic panel provided the most upbeat assessment in years, with ATA’s Bob Costello saying demand for trucking services is strong and hauling capacity is tight.

“I’m excited about the economy because of what we’re seeing with [less-than-truckload] freight,” Costello said.

At a press conference after the conclusion of MC&E, Graves said that although this year’s event was “short on any major policy changes, it was pretty long on our realignment.”

He expressed gratitude to ATA leadership for keeping him onboard through 2016 — the remainder of the Obama administration — and added: “The internal restructuring makes the organization more responsive and more focused on the business at hand.”

After the business portion of the conference, Michael Cavanaugh performed a 90-minute set of Broadway and popular music hits at the annual closing banquet.

That concert came one evening after the Eagles performed at the 20th anniversary of the Freightliner Trucks customer appreciation dinner.