The current state of the trucking industry is “best described like beauty – right now it’s truly in the eyes of the beholder,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said during his annual State of the Industry address at ATA’s annual Management Conference and Exhibition in Phoenix.
“Each one of you is viewing the challenges and opportunities through very different sets of eyes,” Graves said. “Some see more of the former and some more of the latter. But, I can say with absolute certainty that, whatever you currently think about the state of the trucking industry, it will only get better if we continue to work together, be willing to lead, not just accept these changing times and continue to have faith in the essentiality of this great industry.”
Graves said he believed the recent locations of the trucking industry’s annual meeting have paralleled the state of the industry throughout the past few years, explaining that “two years ago, at the height of the economic crisis, we met in New Orleans, a city just recovering from its own crisis – the devastation of hurricane Katrina. It seemed fitting, as we were in the middle of what could only be described as our own “perfect storm.”
“Last year, in Las Vegas, we met just as there were hints that an economic recovery might be on the horizon – maybe lady luck was back on our side? And in many instances your business decisions in 2009 came down to a gamble-betting on how optimistic, or perhaps pessimistic, you felt,” Graves said.
This year, it’s appropriate that we’re meeting in Phoenix, a city founded in 1857 by a Civil War veteran who saw the land’s potential for agriculture, was given its name because it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization, Graves said. “We’re looking to resurrect a trucking industry, not only from the economic ruins of the past two years, but also anticipating a “re-birth” influenced by a myriad of complicated national and international factors.”
In the last two year’s, we’ve experienced the worst recession in most of our lifetimes, political gridlock has slowed our nations democratic process, creating tremendous unrest by our citizens, and the proposed activist policy and regulatory agenda in Washington is rocking the entire US business community back on their heels. All these factors combined positions us for our very own “Phoenix” kind of moment, Graves said. However, the timing of that rise back to profitability, back to robust freight volumes, back to the need for new trucks and trailers, back to having headaches over where to find drivers, keeps eluding us. The timing of that moment has been speculated about for a good portion of this year, and now seems destined to be sometime in 2011.
“Rest assured,” Graves said. “Once our rise from the ashes is underway, we will have something positive to look forward to. And if the location of our meetings continues to prophesize the state of the industry, then meeting next year in Texas could only mean that bigger and better days are ahead.”
“Each one of you is viewing the challenges and opportunities through very different sets of eyes,” Graves said. “Some see more of the former and some more of the latter. But, I can say with absolute certainty that, whatever you currently think about the state of the trucking industry, it will only get better if we continue to work together, be willing to lead, not just accept these changing times and continue to have faith in the essentiality of this great industry.”
Graves said he believed the recent locations of the trucking industry’s annual meeting have paralleled the state of the industry throughout the past few years, explaining that “two years ago, at the height of the economic crisis, we met in New Orleans, a city just recovering from its own crisis – the devastation of hurricane Katrina. It seemed fitting, as we were in the middle of what could only be described as our own “perfect storm.”
“Last year, in Las Vegas, we met just as there were hints that an economic recovery might be on the horizon – maybe lady luck was back on our side? And in many instances your business decisions in 2009 came down to a gamble-betting on how optimistic, or perhaps pessimistic, you felt,” Graves said.
This year, it’s appropriate that we’re meeting in Phoenix, a city founded in 1857 by a Civil War veteran who saw the land’s potential for agriculture, was given its name because it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization, Graves said. “We’re looking to resurrect a trucking industry, not only from the economic ruins of the past two years, but also anticipating a “re-birth” influenced by a myriad of complicated national and international factors.”
In the last two year’s, we’ve experienced the worst recession in most of our lifetimes, political gridlock has slowed our nations democratic process, creating tremendous unrest by our citizens, and the proposed activist policy and regulatory agenda in Washington is rocking the entire US business community back on their heels. All these factors combined positions us for our very own “Phoenix” kind of moment, Graves said. However, the timing of that rise back to profitability, back to robust freight volumes, back to the need for new trucks and trailers, back to having headaches over where to find drivers, keeps eluding us. The timing of that moment has been speculated about for a good portion of this year, and now seems destined to be sometime in 2011.
“Rest assured,” Graves said. “Once our rise from the ashes is underway, we will have something positive to look forward to. And if the location of our meetings continues to prophesize the state of the industry, then meeting next year in Texas could only mean that bigger and better days are ahead.”
No comments:
Post a Comment