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American Trucking Association’s ATA Management Conference & Exhibition This Week In Las Vegas

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One of the most important trade shows of our industry is taking place this week in Las Vegas – American Trucking Association’s ATA Management Conference & Exhibition.  

In his opening keynote address, ATA President Bill Graves discussed the theme of ‘American Crossroads’. Graves said, “Our industry is not at a crossroads as much as today’s trucking companies”. It was his overall view that the U.S. trucking industry is moving forward and it is up to American trucking companies to decide what direction to take when faced with decisions on technology, safety, the driver shortage, and other pressing industry issues. The ATA president drew a comparison to the transition into deregulation and said, ” those unwilling to embrace change will not survive.”

In identifying trucking’s challenges, Graves pointed his finger squarely at Washington.

“Three of our nation’s biggest problems are the sluggish economy, a very dysfunctional federal government and the people of this nation who lack confidence that the economy will get better and that our government as its currently assembled in Washington isn’t capable of getting the job done,” he said.

Concurrent with the conference, the ATA announced an initiative with Truckers Against Trafficking aimed at how professional truck drivers can help combat illegal human trafficking while on the job. The group seeks to educate, equip, empower and mobilize truckers to help combat trafficking by being more alert at what happens in our travel rest stop areas, travel plazas and more.

Calhoun Truck Lines is one of the thousands of trucking and transportation industry executives attending this week. We’ve already seen trade show floor exhibitors like Freightliner, Mack Trucks, Volvo, Bose and others, as well as government agency officials and trucking industry suppliers.

Besides a slew of exhibits showing trucks and supplier tools for truckers, there is also a high tech component, with booths offering  phone, GPS devices and other tech gadgets on display you can imagine that would be useful for long-distance driving.

There are a number of discussion panels covering a range of trucking-related issues, including taxes, communications technology and the U.S. economy, all happening at the conference. Many of these panels are of great interest to Calhoun, especially regulatory issues that affect our work as one of the Midwest’s leading intermodal shipping and transportation company.

We’ve got on our agenda this week to attend seminars from government officials and other trucking experts, as they provide information on truck leasing, natural disasters, lawsuits, regulations and additional subjects. The Calhoun Truck Lines team wants to learn more about regulations and how changes in industry regulations will translate into changes in daily intermodal traffic business.

Calhoun Truck Lines at ATA Management Conference

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The American Trucking Association’s ATA Management Conference & Exhibition this week continues to yield many benefits for those in attendance. Businesses in trucking, intermodal shipping, suppliers to the trucking and shipping industry and other interested participants are finding much to share between each other at the conference.

On Tuesday (Oct. 8) at the show, Stuart Varney of Fox News’ Varney & Company program moderated an interesting ATA conference panel discussion that focused on the economy, the outlook up to the presidential election, and its impact on the intermodal transportation industry. The panel consisted of Bob Costello (chief economist ATA), Gregory Daco (HIS Global Insight), and Lawrence Yun (National Association of Realators). The panelists shared a variety of viewpoints, with the general consensus from the group that the U.S. economy is still in slowdown mode, and will not be able to accelerate until more certainty is established in Washington and our country has a decision on presidential leadership.

The panel discussed the often-used phrase ‘the fiscal cliff” as well. Greg Daco said he anticipated that any real movement on the fiscal cliff would likely “get kicked down the road six ATA Management Conference & Exhibition Calhoun Truckingmonths” after which point Congress will know what measures to put into place after the November elections. He said he feels that Congress will not allow America to go off this ‘cliff’. The panel also spent time talking about Europe and the fiscal crisis they face there as well. Daco suggested that the single biggest issue impacting our U.S. economy (aside from the fiscal cliff) is the health of foreign economies. He also remarked that Greece will ultimately drop out of the Euro in the second half of next year.

ATA’s Bob Costello made a very interesting comparison between the impact the price of diesel has had on our industry and how the price of equipment will have a similar impact over the next five to ten years.

“Equipment is becoming the new diesel in our industry,” Bob said, taking the stance that industry regulations are driving up the cost of equipment and smaller fleets are turning to leasing instead of buying. He said that it’s imperative that truck fleets continually improve the quality of their equipment to attract more drivers to their company. Unfortunately, many small carriers will have a difficult time obtaining proper financing for purchasing better trucks, unless current borrowing conditions improve.  They will also likely find it more difficult to compete for a limited driver pool in the future.

One last impression from the panel was a spectator asked Fox’s Stuart Varney for his prediction of  the upcoming presidential election. Not surprisingly, Varney said that he thought Romney would win the presidential election by five points.

Calhoun Truck Lines is one of the thousands of trucking and transportation industry executives attending the ATA conference this week. We’re learning much from the panels about trucking-related issues, intermodal shipping and the U.S. trucking industry.

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