By Eric Miller, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Oct. 24 print edition of Transport Topics.
GRAPEVINE, Texas — Despite economic uncertainty and political turmoil, the trucking industry is poised for better days ahead, Bill Graves, American Trucking Associations president and chief executive officer, said last week.
Graves gave his state of the industry speech during ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition.
He said that during last year’s conference in Phoenix, he said the industry had weathered the storm of Katrina in New Orleans in 2008, had bet on some recovery in 2009 in Las Vegas but last year was starting to see the economy “rise” and that truckers could count on “bigger and better things” this year.
“Little did I know that ‘bigger’ was going to be the size of the federal debt; ‘bigger’ was going to be the unemployment rate and ‘bigger’ would characterize the number of government regulations our industry would be facing,” Graves said. “And ‘better’ — well, ‘better’ is apparently caught up in some sort of political traffic jam and just hasn’t been able to get here yet.”
But even with many consumers and businesses “on the sidelines” because of economic uncertainty, Graves said there is “an inviting, long road ahead for trucking.”
“During this time of economic uncertainty, it’s easy to misjudge the opportunity that’s on the trucking industry’s horizon,” Graves said. “The economy will recover. And when it does, the trucking industry is going to be one of the ‘first in line’ beneficiaries.”
Despite frustration with Washington’s inability to agree on seemingly simple issues such as the need to fix roads and bridges and pass a highway bill, Graves said he was still optimistic.
“Government is not supposed to solve all our problems, but at this point we’d be thrilled if government could figure out how not to be the problem,” Graves said.
Graves said, “I really believe we are blessed with a country, with a people and with an economy that is capable of surviving anything our government can throw at it.”
With trucks’ share of total freight tonnage projected to rise from 67% in 2010 to 70% in 2022, the total tonnage pie is expected to grow from less than 9 billion tons of freight to over 11.5 billion tons.
“And during the same period of time, the corresponding trucking revenue pie grows from $563 billion to $937 billion,” Graves said. “Surely you all can split up $374 billion in revenue growth and get along and be happy.”
Graves said the U.S. population is expected to grow from 300 million in 2006 to 400 million by 2050.
“400 million people need a lot of ‘Good Stuff’ and most of time we’ll be bringing it,” Graves said.
“ ‘Keep on Truckin’ is not just a slogan; it’s an economic imperative.”
