This Editorial appears in the Oct. 17 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. This will be a busy week for the leaders of the nation’s trucking industry who will be meeting at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition.
The gathering, which acts as a seasonal marker for many industry insiders by signaling the shift from summer to fall and winter, this year will be at Grapevine, Texas, a small city near Dallas.
As trucking’s leadership gathers, several issues are making the rounds in Washington that could have a major influence on the industry, and several MCE sessions will focus on them: namely pending changes to the hours-of-service rule, and the painfully slow progress Congress is making toward passing a new transportation funding bill.
Trucking has urged the Department of Transportation not to cut back allowable driving hours, as several insiders have predicted the agency is intending to do. ATA recently won the backing of senior Republicans on Capitol Hill, who urged DOT not to make the change.
Trucking has been less successful in getting action on a new highway bill, and GOP leaders said last week they would not pass the Obama administration’s plan for a new infrastructure bank to spur investment in roads and bridges.
Meanwhile, the audience also will hear ATA President Bill Graves’ annual “State of the Industry” address on Monday morning, when he will survey the past year in trucking and get us ready for the year to come.
A few hours later, attendees will see what has become a fixture of the meeting, “All Eyes on the Economy,” hosted by Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist, and including other analysts who provide insight into the health of the nation’s economy.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) will give a speech Sunday assessing the upcoming congressional and presidential elections and how they might affect trucking.
Activities on Tuesday will begin with a panel of four leading fleet executives who will focus on their market niches and detail the state of the trucking business.
All of ATA’s policy committees will meet during the conference, as will the group’s executive committee and board of directors.
At the board meeting — the last order of business before the annual banquet — Dan England, chairman of C.R. England Inc., will be installed as ATA’s next chairman, succeeding Barbara Windsor, the group’s first female chairman and the president of Hahn Transportation Inc.
