Year in Review: Regulatory Successes, Growth of Budget Highlight ‘Challenging Year,’ Graves Says

This story appears in the Dec. 23 & 30 print edition of Transport Topics.

It many ways, 2013 was a good year for American Trucking Associations.

From a regulatory standpoint, ATA enjoyed some significant successes, saw its organizational budget grow thanks to new non-dues revenue and its membership remain relatively stable, ATA President Bill Graves said.

“It’s been a very busy year, a full, challenging year,” Graves said. “In a way, it’s been a fairly typical year — there’s been both ups and downs.”

Among ATA’s successes was a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning portions of the Port of Los Angeles clean truck concession agreement that ATA said overburdened truckers servicing the port.

“That sent a strong message to a lot of our opponents when it came to the business model surrounding owner-operators,” said Michael Card, whose tenure as federation chairman ended in October. “That was a huge win for the industry, and it’s going to have repercussions for years to come.”

The other major ATA victory was a recent change of heart by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — largely the result of legislative prodding by Congress — to agree to take its sleep apnea requirements to a future rulemaking, rather than issuing guidance, said Card, president of Combined Transport in Central Point, Ore.

“To me, what that says to the FMCSA and other regulatory agencies is when the trucking industry stands up, stands united and speaks with one voice, we can get Congress to do what we need to make sure that our industry stays strong,” he said. “And that means overriding bad regulations.”

However, not all of 2013 was rosy. An appeals court decision in August to uphold FMCSA’s new hours-of-service rule was disappointing, Graves said.

Despite the ruling, Graves said he believes that recent attempts by industry stakeholders to publicly raise concerns about the HOS rule’s effect on safety and productivity are gathering steam.

Graves said ATA also has been frustrated by delays in FMCSA’s plans to issue a rule mandating electronic logging devices and an ATA-supported rule that would create a federal drug and alcohol clearinghouse that would help employers more easily remove bad drivers from the job-application process.

“Administrations typically refrain from issuing new or proposed regulations during election years for fear of either upsetting an affected constituency or giving their opponents fodder for criticism,” said Rob Abbott, ATA’s vice president of safety policy. “FMCSA was slow to begin pushing rules out immediately after the election, but we may see that change soon. There are a number of proposed rules near ready to be published, so we may see lots of activity at once.”

But there was good news on the financial front, Graves said.

ATA conferences put on by the Technology & Maintenance Council, the National Truck Driving Championships and the Management Conference & Exhibition were solid both in attendance and from a financial standpoint.

Card said ATA focused on creating revenue streams not related to member dues. Those efforts have included sponsorships, summit meetings and rentals of space at ATA headquarters in Arlington, Va., and at the Capitol Hill office.  Transport Topics advertising also has grown, Card said.

“Membership is getting stronger and more profitable,” Card said. “Our membership retention has been the best that we’ve ever had.”

Overall, ATA membership revenue in 2013 increased roughly 4% over 2012, said David Brodie, ATA senior vice president.

“Looking ahead, we anticipate a robust 2014,” Brodie said.

The membership numbers increased despite a continuing challenge brought on by a large number of mergers and acquisitions, Card said.

Graves said “a lot of energy” is being created with the soft launch in October of ATA’s campaign to boost trucking’s image, built around the slogan “Trucking Moves America Forward.”

Card, who has been spearheading the image campaign, said he believes the trucking industry needs to improve its image.

“We need to focus on earned media, paid media and social media,” Card said. “We need to do the things necessary that people understand how essential trucking is to them and to our economy.”

Also in October, the 17-member inaugural class of the federation’s LEAD ATA program met for the first time.

The yearlong LEAD program, which stands for “Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Development,” will train young trucking executives to be future industry leaders.

“We’re excited about the launch of the ATA LEAD program, something that young people will aspire to be a part of,” Graves said. “I think this will grow to be a sought-out activity by young people in our industry.”

Additionally this year, there were changes or announced plans to retire among the top leadership levels of state trucking associations:

•In February, the Arizona Trucking Association named Tony Bradley its CEO, replacing Karen Rasmussen, who left in November.

•In March, the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association named Arik Spencer to replace Tom Balzer as executive vice president.

•In October, the Ohio Trucking Association an-nounced that Balzer will replace the retiring Larry Davis as executive director.

•In May, the Idaho Trucking Association announced that Julie Pipal would replace Kathleen Fowers as president.

•In July, Mike Campbell, CEO of the California Trucking Association, announced he will retire. Campbell will be re-placed effective Jan. 2 by Shawn Yadon, a 24-year veteran of the corporate government affairs field.

•In October, Johnny Johnson replaced Gail Peters as managing director of the New Mexico Trucking Association.

•In November, Mary Lou Rajchel, president of the Florida Trucking Association announced she is leaving her post in February.

Graves also said that during 2013 he has noticed that the truck driver shortage has gained the attention of manufacturers and retailers nationwide.

“As concerned as we are about driver shortage, I’m encouraged that the awareness of [a] driver shortage has spread well beyond our industry,” Graves said. “Simply knowing that awareness exists sort of helps us generate the energy and the interest in looking for solutions to that problem.”