View Point
ViewPoint
By Jeff Crissey
On Common Ground
L
ast year, the American Trucking Aswill haul 30 percent more tonnage
That’s all well in a world where drivers
are plentiful, trucks are cheap and infrastructure is well maintained. But the cold reality
is the industry is faced with a lack of skilled
drivers, mounting regulations that only add
to the weight and cost of existing trucks and
an outdated road system. Unless Congress
intervenes, we likely will see large capacity shortages and supply chain disruptions if
ATA’s forecast holds true and freight volumes
increase.
For the most part, ATA has been going
weight, although recently a group of shippers
and carriers formed the Coalition for Transportation Productivity to promote the cause.
number of other industry groups, including
the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers’ Association, the Teamsters and the American Association of Railroads.
Even the Truckload Carriers Association
hadn’t backed the measure, citing concerns of
equipment replacement costs and the ability to
all changed last month during ATA’s 2011
Management Conference & Exhibition in
Grapevine, Texas, when the board of directors
for both ATA and TCA came out with new pol97,000-pound six-axle combination vehicles.
“Considering all the
challenges we face as
an industry, it should
always be our priorground on as many issues as possible,” said
Chris Burruss, TCA
president, after the
announcement. “I applaud the leadership of
ing common ground on
The
associations’
united front should
resonate on Capitol
Hill, where The Safe
14 January 2012
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