TT Newsmakers

While consumer spending and demand remain steady, is there concern that uncertainties abroad pose a risk to the supply chain and our economic future? ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello joins Dan Ronan to discuss the outlook for the industry and for the U.S. economy overall.

The Advanced Clean Truck Rule, which will require manufacturers to increase their zero-emissions truck sales by a growing percentage starting in 2025, has now been adopted by six states. At the same time, Cummins has unveiled a new strategy to reduce the negative impacts of its products as well as collaborate with various industry stakeholders in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. With designs to supply Freightliner with a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain for the heavy-duty Cascadia model, is hydrogen the first step to a cleaner industry? President and COO of Cummins, Jennifer Rumsey joins TT's Dan Ronan to discuss how the company is changing existing products and developing new ones, collaborating with Trillium to help customers integrate alternative fuel technologies into their fleets, and how important it is to start reducing emissions today.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello estimates that the industry needs at least 80,000 drivers today and more in the future to account for rising freight levels. The Biden administration has made efforts in the past year to encourage more men and women to enter the trucking industry. With the Department of Transportation and Department of Labor working in cooperation with industry stakeholders for paid apprenticeship and training programs, how successful are these efforts? In this special edition of Newsmakers, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh joins TT's Eugene Mulero and Dan Ronan to discuss the industry's workforce concerns, changing perceptions of trade professions, and partnering with public and private groups to work toward a common goal.

Reflecting on the passage of the infrastructure bill, which projects will offer the most benefit to the trucking industry and what were some of the missed opportunities? As House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, Rep. Peter DeFazio recognizes the value in investing in commercial transportation improvement projects like port modernization and workforce development. In this special edition of Newsmakers, Rep. Peter DeFazio joins TT's Eugene Mulero and Dan Ronan to discuss how Congress might respond to rising fuel costs, the problem with truck parking, and his decision to retire at the end of this term.

Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach, Mario Cordero, joins TT's Dan Ronan to discuss his current outlook on port operations, the fate of the proposed container dwell time fee, and what the planned $450 million in grants from USDOT means for U.S. ports.

After Utah lowered the legal limit for blood-alcohol concentration in drivers to 0.05, the number of alcohol-related fatalities dropped by about 20% and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is now recommending other states follow suit.

Join TT’s Dan Ronan as he interviews ATA President Chris Spear and gets a behind-the-scenes look at how ATA took the industry’s case against the vaccine-or-test mandate all the way to the Supreme Court – and won.

By the end of last year, the long-awaited $1 trillion infrastructure policy bill was signed into law, the holiday season saw the vast majority of packages delivered with minimal delays, and the USDOT announced more than $241 million in grants to domestic ports.

While the pandemic exacerbated weaknesses in the global supply chain, new opportunities for the trucking industry to grow domestically have also been uncovered.

Infrastructure issues exacerbated by the pandemic, like kinks in the global supply chain and port congestion, have caused freight costs and delivery times to soar. Consumer demand may be growing but businesses are struggling to keep up and global economic recovery is being hampered.

At the American Trucking Associations' 2021 Management Conference & Exhibition, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released their annual report "Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry." For the fifth year in a row, the driver shortage led the list of top industry concerns.

While some ports have announced a move to 24/7 operations, supply chain disruptions are expected to persist through 2022 and - with holiday season around the corner - what does this mean for the nation's retailers?

Annual domestic estimates of trafficking victims regularly reach the hundreds of thousands. To aid law enforcement in combatting this crime, Truckers Against Trafficking trains truck drivers and other transportation professionals to observe their surroundings and look out for particular characteristics of human traffickers and their victims.

On August 10, the Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and it now moves to the House for consideration. The passage of the bill would mean new funding for surface transportation programs, including the greatest investment in the nation's bridges since the formation of the Interstate Highway System.

In a recent review of highway safety in 2020, NHTSA reported the greatest number of fatalities due to traffic accidents since 2007, despite the fact that the number of miles traveled by vehicles declined by 13% from 2019. Understanding the underlying cause of these accidents and instituting preventative measures to reduce their numbers is essential to the greater safety of all who travel the nation's highways.

Current domestic estimates put the number of victims of human trafficking in the hundreds of thousands. One of the locations often exploited by traffickers is truck stops, given the transient nature of the crime. To help address this, Truckers Against Trafficking regularly partners with trucking companies, commercial truck driving schools, and law enforcement agencies to train drivers to recognize potential signs of human trafficking