Graves Says Annual Meeting to Take Place During a ‘Transitional Moment’ for Trucking

This story appears in the Sept. 24 print edition of Transport Topics.

With a new highway funding bill signed into law and the U.S. business community anxiously awaiting the outcome of the presidential election, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the federation’s upcoming annual conference will take place during a “transitional moment” for the industry.

“It is an interesting time,” Graves told Transport Topics in an interview ahead of ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition, scheduled for Oct. 7-10 in Las Vegas. The timing gives ATA a chance to “assess or potentially reset some of our initiatives.”

Near the top of ATA priorities, Graves said, is the government’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. Since its initial implementation two years ago, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has already tweaked the system several times, and more changes are planned over the coming year.

“Clearly, we are at a midpoint in CSA,” Graves said. “This is a chance to analyze and assess where we are, and where we go next.”

Several of the other priorities Graves mentioned during the interview are the ongoing litigation of the driver hours-of-service rule, defending the industry’s

use of independent contractors and the fight against states’ efforts to impose new tolls on existing highways.

But, for the first time in many years, highway funding is not at the very top of ATA’s short-term priority list. That is because the two-year, $105 billion law passed this summer extends until September 2014. It replaces a law that expired in September 2009, but was extended nine times until Congress reached agreement on a new authorization measure.

Graves said his analysis of the new law will be part of his industry update at the opening session of MCE on Oct. 8.

He told TT that, while the law contains many successes for trucking, there is a major shortcoming: “It’s a two-year bill that does not do enough for infrastructure investment and there are no new revenue sources that are sustainable.”

Many of those successes involve guiding the trucking industry into a safer future, Graves said. Provisions such as the electronic onboard recorders mandate, the drug and alcohol clearinghouse and new entry level requirements for fleets all are “moving the industry forward in a positive direction.”

“Now we need to figure out how to find some more money for roads and bridges,” he said.

Later that day, ATA’s advocacy and government affairs luncheon will feature speaker Haley Barbour. While the former governor of Mississippi and chairman of the Republican National Committee may not be the most impartial speaker, he is extremely insightful and entertaining, said Graves.

Following the luncheon is the formal opening of the exhibit hall, where more than 200 industry suppliers and partners will display their latest products.

The hall is scheduled to be open more than 10 hours during MCE.

From the continued development of technology and equipment to improved efficiency safety, to the evolution of natural gas engines and fueling infrastructure, the exhibit hall can provide a glance into the industry’s future.

The next day begins with a focus on a piece of trucking’s future that could be among the most challenging to overcome — the shortage of qualified truck drivers.

ATA has estimated there could be a shortfall of as many as 500,000 drivers by the end of 2013.

Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express Inc.; Derek Leathers, president and chief operating officer of Werner Enterprises Inc.; Mike O’Connell, executive director and counsel of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association; and Kenny Vieth, president of ACT Research Co. will participate in the Oct. 9 panel discussion on what the industry can do to ensure there are enough drivers to move the nation’s freight.

The session, sponsored by Freightliner Trucks, will be moderated by Howard Abramson, publisher and editorial director of Transport Topics Publishing Group.

“We’ve all seen how hard it has become to hire new drivers, or to keep the ones you’ve already got,” said Abramson. “To help us better understand the situation and to explore ways to deal with it, we’ve put together a distinguished panel of experts.”

Also Oct. 9, the annual “All Eyes on the Economy” luncheon will feature ATA Senior Economist Bob Costello, as well as Gregory Daco of IHS Global Insight and Lawrence Yun of the National Association of Realtors.

Once again Stuart Varney of Fox Business News will oversee the discussion.

“There is a certain body of evidence that the economy is starting to creep back and a body of evidence that it is not,” Graves said. “It will be interesting to see if the experts have any consensus” about where the economy is heading.

The general session on the conference’s final day will focus on how technology can be integrated into carriers’ operations to improve supply-chain efficiencies.

Scheduled to speak are Max Fuller, chairman and CEO of U.S. Xpress Enterprises; Braxton Vick, a senior vice president at Southeastern Freight Lines; Tom Sanderson, CEO of Transplace; and Douglas Stotlar, CEO of Con-way Inc., who will serve as moderator.

Conference attendees also have the chance to hear directly from several government officials who could affect key rulemaking in the coming years.

There are several education sessions planned for Oct. 9 that are devoted to CSA, one scheduled to include Jack Van Steenburg, FMCSA’s chief safety officer and assistant administrator.

The same day, Elaine Papp, head of FMCSA’s medical programs office, will discuss the next steps planned to combat sleep apnea.

Other educational sessions focus on different aspects of onboard truck technologies, legal hurdles facing trucking and how to best manage employees from different generations.