Trucking Prepares for MC&E as Industry Faces Uncertainty

This story appears in the Sept. 22 print edition of Transport Topics.

Trucking industry leaders gather Oct. 4-7 for the 2014 Management Conference & Exhibition amid one of the strongest economic climates in years but also continued business and legislative uncertainty.

MC&E, the annual meeting of American Trucking Associations, is scheduled for San Diego.

ATA President Bill Graves said what seems like the “best of times” is also presenting significant operational challenges.

MORE FROM GRAVES: Focus on bipartisan coalitions.

“Everybody is starting to feel the tightness in the driver supply that has been anticipated for a while,” Graves told Transport Topics during an interview earlier this month. “There are actually indications that folks are having a hard time finding drivers.”

Truck tonnage and equipment sales have been on the rise this year, freight rates are creeping higher and manufacturing reports have shown increased activity. The growing business confidence is showing up in MC&E registrations, Graves said.

“The numbers have already exceeded the Las Vegas numbers,” he said, referring to the host city of MC&E in 2012. “And that’s saying something because Las Vegas is always a great draw. The supplier community particularly embraced the San Diego meeting.”

Graves said trade show space had “essentially sold out” by early September. Suppliers, he said, approve of ATA’s idea “to embed the general session seating area within the trade show venue.”

In previous years, the general sessions were located in a separate ballroom, apart from the exhibit hall.

“By setting it up that way, we pretty much guarantee that folks are going to visit the trade show floor for some period of time,” he said.

There are four general sessions during the conference, starting with the advocacy and government affairs luncheon Oct. 5. Besides an update from ATA officials, such as national advocacy chief Dave Osiecki, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is scheduled to speak.

The following day, Graves will present his “State of the Industry” address during the opening session. He told TT that he plans to say that ATA will maintain efforts to suspend federal regulations aimed at limiting the use of the hours-of-service restart provision.

Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration altered the rule, requiring that the 34-hour rest period include two 1 a.m.-5 a.m. periods. Carriers say the change has hurt productivity and exacerbated the driver shortage while not improving safety. It also pushes truck traffic into the daytime, when more vehicles are on the road.

“We still intend to pursue hours-of-service relief whenever that opportunity presents itself,” Graves said.

Earlier this year, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) led the way, pushing an ATA-backed proposal in Congress to suspend the restart provision for one year so it could be studied further. The proposal had reached the Senate floor, but the chamber’s leaders pulled it from consideration amid procedural disputes. Senior congressional aides have indicated lawmakers could take it up again after the November midterm elections.

Graves also said that the departure of Anne Ferro as head of FMCSA has created some additional uncertainty regarding HOS and other pending regulations. Scott Darling has been named acting administrator, but it is not clear whether he will be nominated for the position of permanent administrator. Darling has served as FMCSA’s chief legal counsel since 2012.

Also during the opening session, analyst Neil Newhouse, partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, will discuss the upcoming midterm elections, as well as new polling data about the trucking industry conducted shortly before MC&E.

The Oct. 6 luncheon will include the annual economic panel, led by ATA chief economist Bob Costello. He is expected to be joined by John Felmy of American Petroleum Institute, Jack Keinhenz of the National Retail Federation and Chad Moutray of the National Association of Manufacturers.

A general session on the final day of the conference will focus on how growing traffic congestion — and the lack of a long-term highway funding solution — continue to plague the trucking industry.

The session, presented by TT and the American Transportation Research Institute, is sponsored by Freightliner Trucks.

While the industry has collaborated with the administration to craft historic fuel and emission standards, Graves noted that trucking has had a tenuous relationship with President Obama. Nonetheless, he said ATA will keep establishing bipartisan coalitions in Congress to change policies hurting the industry.

For instance, he said, the industry needs to support the breakdown of resistance on Capitol Hill to raising federal fuel taxes to fund infrastructure improvements.

Graves also said he likely will discuss the difficulty of getting expansive highway legislation through Congress next year before a short-term highway funding fix expires in May.

“The biggest thing we always deal with is highway funding,” Graves said, “and Congress once again displayed its inability to appropriately address that issue. I don’t think anyone believes that finding a 10-year revenue stream out of a pension-smoothing policy is a good way to fund infrastructure under any circumstances.”

Graves added: “That was the poster child for kicking the can down the road.”

Pension smoothing allows companies to reduce required contributions to their retirement plans as a way of inflating their taxable income temporarily.

However, he said both parties also can be trucking’s ally.

Lawmakers “will work with us when we make a compelling case, and we work with them. And the bipartisan support that we received on hours of service can be a road map, a blueprint if you will,” he said.

Graves, a former two-term Republican governor of Kansas, also said this year he plans to remind the audience they must begin to think about the 2016 presidential election.

He said he will stress the influence regulatory agencies have over the trucking industry and business community — agencies controlled by the party in the White House.

“When you can’t get legislation to move, even good bipartisan coalitions fall short,” Graves said. “At the end of the day, the White House can make things happen, good or bad, and I’m not very optimistic sitting here today that [Republicans] are well-positioned to win a presidential election two years from now.”

He continued: “I still think the Republicans have a very uphill fight winning the White House in 2016. And that is, to me, the most important election that impacts policy, regulatory issues for the trucking industry,” Graves said, compared with the upcoming midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress.

Last year, Graves called the Republican lawmakers who comprise the tea party movement a “corrosive force” interested in creating gridlock instead of compromise. Graves’ remarks came shortly after a 16-day government shutdown, for which the tea party was blamed.

Looking ahead, he also said the next round of EPA fuel-efficiency standards would likely become a topic of discussion during the conference.

“Unlike the first set, where everyone had a much greater comfort level with how we would handle it, this is likely to be more contentious, more difficult for the industry,” he said.