Opinion: New Chairman Sets Priorities for ATA

This Opinion piece appears in the July 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

By Ray Kuntz
Chairman
American Trucking Associations

In 1976, I was writing a college paper on the case for deregulating the trucking industry. Little did I realize then that, 31 years later, I would take the helm of American Trucking Associations, the premier trade group in transportation.

I found my way into the trucking industry through experience as a customer, then an amateur load consolidator and then an executive and troubleshooter at Watkins & Shepard, a carrier in Montana. I wasn’t born with trucking in my blood, but by the time I was named chief executive officer of that company, I had gotten a transfusion that will keep me in love with this business for the rest of my life.

I am passionate about this industry and I want to make my term as chairman of the ATA Board of Directors as effective as possible. I want to continue the progress that Pat Quinn and other former chairmen have made on a long list of issues. I have already worked on one issue — the driver shortage — to a great extent.

Watkins & Shepard was an early adopter of the GetTrucking.com campaign, which uses advertising and a Web site to match trucking companies with potential drivers, especially those from demographic groups that have not been widely represented in the past. We need to attract candidates from among women, minorities, seniors and married couples to meet the growing freight demand.

Another source of drivers is the military. Just last month, I testified before Congress about changes to the Montgomery G.I. Bill that would make it easier for veterans to attend driving schools and earn commercial driver licenses. Veterans are disciplined, well-trained and hardworking.

Highway congestion is growing alarmingly at 8% a year and is nearing crisis proportions. We need to make sure measures to relieve congestion are included in all highway plans. Congestion’s cost to trucking is $7 billion to $8 billion a year. If we don’t deal with congestion, the utilization rates for equipment and drivers will continue to fall and wasteful fuel consumption will increase. Some drivers will leave the industry rather than contend with traffic jams.

I am concerned that one proposed solution to congestion will instead make it worse. Several states have leased or are considering leasing tolled highways to foreign corporations. While governors who are pursuing this tack are enamored of the large lease payments the states will earn upfront — up to $30 billion in the case of New Jersey — the taxpayers will be saddled with added costs for decades.

Privatizing highways adds costs in three ways. First, the corporate contractor must make a sizeable profit. Second, the process of collecting the tolls costs 20% to 30% of the toll paid, while employing a fuel tax costs only 1 or 2 cents for every dollar collected. Third, investment bankers earn millions of dollars in commissions for each lease deal.

Politicians who have not had the political will to raise fuel taxes to pay for highways think privatization is just the ticket, but there are several dangers. A major threat to large rural areas is that companies leasing toll roads prefer regions with broad urban and suburban areas with a large number of vehicles. That focus could leave rural areas shortchanged and underfunded by state and federal transportation budgets. This philosophy could result in a patchwork quilt of under-maintained highways.

It is an exciting time for attention to safety. New technologies such as stability-control devices, lane-departure warnings and crash-avoidance systems not only are reducing the rate of fatal truck crashes but also the real number of truck crash deaths. ATA will continue to serve the industry by helping to develop and promote high-tech and low-tech solutions for increasing safety.

Then there is global warming. Whether you believe environmentalists have or have not made their case, evidence suggests we have a problem. With changes in the control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is more likely the federal government will take action on these issues. Numerous states also are rushing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

In June, the ATA Executive Committee created a task force to discuss ATA policies on carbon taxes, fuel economy and efficiency standards and other environmental issues. The ATA Executive Committee will be called upon to adopt new policies based on the task force’s work. I expect ATA will have to become aggressive leaders on these issues. We must find ways to get better fuel consumption. The industry already has designed fuel-efficient single and wide-based tires, lower-polluting engines, speed governors and advanced anti-idling technologies.

I also plan to continue the fight for tort reform Past Chairman Fred C. Burns Jr. began. With the help of many state associations, we have had some success in the past several years.

The answer to many of these problems rests in congressional action. That’s why one goal I have overarches all others: To compete on Capitol Hill, we have to become more involved with Truck PAC, ATA’s political action committee. I encourage you to have your company sign the authorization form giving consent for Truck PAC to communicate with you and your eligible employees.

Growing ATA’s membership is also a task that is crucial to our success. I will work with our Membership Department to urge companies to join and would like every ATA member to ask a nonmember colleague to join our organization.

In closing, I thank everyone in ATA who has entrusted me with the honor of serving as chairman. I pledge to work tirelessly throughout my term to improve the industry and its place in the business of America. During the changeover at the Executive Committee last month, I pledged I would not forget the men and women who make this industry a success: the drivers and all the other operations staff. Their contributions make this industry great.

ATA Chairman Ray Kuntz is chief executive officer of Watkins & Shepard Trucking Co., Helena, Mont.