ATA’s Graves: Trucking Feeling Katrina's ‘Ripple Effect’

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he trucking industry is already feeling a “ripple effect” from disruptions in transportation networks in and around the Gulf Coast region spawned by Hurricane Katrina, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said Wednesday.

“It’s a major logistical problem” for the trucking industry, Graves said in a an televised interview Wednesday afternoon with CNBC. “Obviously it’s a disruption to the supply chain.”

Graves said the trucking industry was working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to try to make sure that loads that are “essential to the recovery effort make it in” to the Gulf Coast region, but that many roads remain impassible due to the storm’s damage.

Separately, ATA applauded the Bush administration’s decision Wednesday to open the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to ensure adequate crude oil supplies.

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