For the second year running, Calhoun Truck Lines will field a team to attend the American Trucking Association’s ATA Management Conference & Exhibition this October.  

Industry magazine Transport Topics highlighted a few of the key areas attendees can look forward to participating in during the Oct.7-10 event in Las Vegas. Economic growth as measured by intermodal shipping and truck traffic on the roads will be a focus for many attendees.  

ATA President Bill Graves will provide an annual State of the Industry address and how it relates to increases in intermodal shipping and transportation for companies like Calhoun Truck Lines; former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will share his thoughts on the current political forecast in a contentious political year, and Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney will host a panel of experts including ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello for its annual “All Eyes on the Economy” panel.  

The Calhoun Truck Lines team will be focused on learning more about regulations and how changes in industry regs translate into changes in daily business practices. This is an important consideration whih will help to drive the 2013 business agenda in intermodal traffic.  

And the conference is coming on the heels of 2012’s National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, in which our nation’s truck drivers were given the righful awareness they deserve.

From the ATA site:
– Over 80 percent of U.S.  communities depend solely on trucking for delivery  of their goods and commodities, including medical supplies at your pharmacy, the clothes in the  shopping mall and the food on your grocery store  shelves.
– Trucking industry is the safest  in its history. Truckers have a major responsibility bringing life’s essentials to American  communities from Maine to California. And while the miles traveled by  America’s 3.5 million truck drivers have steadily  increased — more than 400 billion miles in 2005 alone — the industry has never been safer.  

We couldn’t have put it better!  

Expectations are high that the industry will find ways to be more responsive to the needs of truckers working within our ranks. ATA’s President and CEO Bill Graves thanked truckers directly and publicly on the ATA home page:  

“I’d like to say thank you to the 3.1 million professional truck drivers who deliver America’s freight, safely and securely, every day. As a result of your commitment, our nation’s highways are the safest they have ever been, our grocery store shelves are stocked, our hospitals have the medicine people need and our homes are filled with life’s essentials. As a nation, we owe a great deal to you, the professional truck driver, as well as all of your families who support you while you are on the road.”

Looking forward to the ATA Management Conference and Exhibition – see you there!