Opinion: A Challenging and Rewarding Year
By L. Duane Long
Chairman
American Trucking Associations
Around this time last year, I had the privilege of writing in this space about how excited I was to be taking the wheel of the most impressive truck I’ve ever driven in becoming chairman of American Trucking Associations. Never in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated what a challenge I was about to embark on.
I said at the time that I didn’t think there had ever been a more exciting or more challenging time to be in trucking. Little did I know how true that would be.
This year has given me the opportunity to represent ATA and this industry as we’ve taken important steps forward on safety and efficiency issues in Washington. This is a tremendously important thing — a good thing — for our industry, and
I believe that before this year is out, we will look back and see that ATA has secured some very important victories for this industry.
This also has been a tumultuous time to be ATA chairman. We have seen some of the bonds this federation has forged begin to fray, but it is my sincere hope that we can remain a strong — and united — association that works on behalf of this industry we all love so much.
Last October, I said that trucking’s most valuable commodity isn’t the things we haul, it is our people. I talked about the value of people — of recruiting more of them into leadership positions, or as drivers or as technicians.
And that might be my biggest takeaway — whether I was in St. Louis at the National Truck Driving Championships, or Nashville, Tennessee, at the Technology & Maintenance Council meeting or at one of the many, many state trucking association meetings I attended, I can say without hesitation that this industry continues to have some of the finest people in it.
And this gives me faith that, while 2015 has been a turbulent time, our industry’s future is as bright as it has ever been.
And that future surely has a place for all of us in this industry. Truckload, less-than-truckload, tank, flatbed — no matter what your company does and what your trucks haul, the future is promising for all of us:
• A safer future, with more rational hours-of-service rules, with technologies such as electronic logs and speed limiters and, perhaps someday soon, more advanced technologies to keep our road safe.
• A more profitable future, as the amount of freight our industry is called upon to haul continues to grow. According to ATA, our industry topped $700 billion in revenue for the first time in 2014, and I look forward to seeing where we go next.
• A future where trucks and trucking are respected and admired, and I look at the great work the Trucking Moves America Forward campaign has done, the work ATA’s staff has done and the work ATA’s members have done to burnish our industry’s image.
I see major newspapers writing about important issues such as the driver and technician shortages,
rising speed limits and reducing truck emissions, and I have a sense of pride. I feel good that the world is finally hearing the story we want to tell. The right story.
As I’ve traveled the country, I’ve begun talking about “trucking DNA,” that thing inside each of us that brought us to this industry. I remember my journey to trucking and away from the practice of law as a young man and how blessed I’ve been because of it. I also think about how many of you have similar stories.
And I think about how we can get our young people to join us on that journey. I think about the young folks — well, young to me — in the LEAD ATA program, and I’m again filled with hope.
Before I, as they say, exit the stage, I want to thank my family — especially my wife, Pat, and son, Brooks, for taking this yearlong adventure with me. I want to thank my predecessors Phil Byrd and Mike Card for their counsel. I want to thank the ATA staff for all their hard work on my behalf and on behalf of this great industry and association. I want to thank Gov. Graves for his leadership and effort representing this industry.
And I want not just to thank but to wish good luck to my successor, Pat Thomas. I’m a little envious of the journey Pat is about to go on — even as I’m thankful that mine is ending. He is going to do wonderful things for ATA and for trucking.
Lastly, I want to thank my fellow members of ATA. Without your support of this association and of me, I don’t know what we would do. This has been a tremendous year for me personally and for our industry. I believe not just trucking’s future is bright but ATA’s future also is bright, and I encourage you to join me in celebrating it.
Thank God for all of you in trucking, and God bless this industry and America.
Long is chairman of Raleigh, North Carolina-based Longistics, a full-service provider of global logistics services, with a history of technological innovation and superior customer service.
