TNT's Peterbilt

Thought we would share some photos of our Peterbilt.  Our driver takes pride in his rig!  He has personalized it with all kinds of chicken lights, chrome and polish!  His name is Jeff Owens and if you see him on the road post it on our Facebook page. !  By the way, we can deliver your trailer purchase...contact one of our sales reps if interested 636-451-2100.

Growth in" goods" sector of economy strengthening truck freight

The slow-to-recover economy can be explained as the tale of two phases, GDP growth and truck freight growth, according to analysts with FTR Associates. The GDP rose rapidly, then has slowed because there is less consumer consumption compared to earlier recessions. Senior analyst Neil Perry said tight credit, a slow-to-recover housing market (which accounts for 15 percent of the economy) and unemployment are hampering economic recovery. Growth is still occurring, particularly in the rise of durable goods spending and thanks to global economies like China and
emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia and India. FTR Associates said what will be the main holdup for trucking is conservative equipment replacement, which is expected to continue given the freshness of the downturn for many businesses.

Economy Recovering Stronger in Freight Than Other Areas

Analysts with FTR Associates took great pains to delineate the difference between GDP and truck freight growth in the current economic recovery during the transportation-forecasting firm’s latest Freight Focus webinar held yesterday. Noel Perry, senior consultant at FTR Associates and principal of Transport Fundamentals, pointed out that while certain “structural reasons” explain why the economic recovery overall will be slow, the “strength of the goods side of the economy has [already] made this a strong freight recovery.”
Perry said the “slow recovery on now is expected by most economists to continue.” He explained that GDP growth “accelerated rapidly” but then slowed over the last three quarters—staying below 3% growth. A key reason that growth slowed is because consumption (of goods and services) has been weak so far compared to earlier recessions.

The State of the Trucking Industry Remains Uncertain, Says ATA’s Graves

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.”