Byrd Asks Dealers’ Help, Pushes Industry Image

This story appears in the Feb. 3 print edition of Transport Topics.

NEW ORLEANS — The chairman of American Trucking Associations pleaded with truck dealers to make adjustments to their operations to better assist fleets and asked them to join the campaign to improve the industry’s image.

In an address Jan. 26 during the American Truck Dealers annual convention here, Philip Byrd Sr., president of Bulldog Hiway Express in Charleston, S.C., said fleets need better communication with dealers on warranty pricing and processing, greater parity in labor rates and additional use of electronic data.

Byrd said there is a need for dealers to help fleets “reduce the cost of vehicle downtime.”

He said ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council is studying several of these areas, and he encouraged dealers to become involved.

“If we can accomplish these things, we will be better positioned to move America’s freight,” Byrd said.

He added that an optimistic outlook for the economy means greater freight demand in the coming years.

“The nation’s aging fleet will need modernizing, and that will mean selling more trucks on your part,” Byrd said.

He spent a significant portion of his speech encouraging dealers to get involved in “Trucking Moves America Forward,” the industry’s image campaign that was first promoted at the federation’s Management Conference & Exhibition in October. It will officially be launched in March at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.

Eric Jorgensen, the new ATD chairman, told Transport Topics after Byrd’s speech that he agreed it is important for dealers and fleets to form closer ties, and for his group to be involved in the image movement.

Jorgensen, president of JX Enterprises in Hartland, Wis., echoed that sentiment in comments to dealers the following day.

“The general public needs to be educated that trucking today is not anything like what it used to be,” he said. “We produce clean diesel trucks that are good for the environment and have many more safety components, from greatly improved stopping distance to blind spot alerts and anti-roll stability.”

He added: “People need to hear who we are, what we represent and how our efforts are vital to keep trucking and America moving forward. This campaign is to move our industry into the spotlight. It will help our businesses and our customers. And it will help our relationships — from Congress to the general public.”