LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The US trucking industry will be at a crossroads in the year ahead, facing a myriad of challenges and opportunities that will favor those carriers willing to embrace change, Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations believes.
"I honestly do believe that anyone who is operating in the trucking industry is at a crossroads -- in fact, you're facing an entire series of crossroads -- each one a decision point sending you in directions that will ultimately determine success or failure, profitability or loss, growth or stagnation," Graves said in his State of the Industry address at the annual ATA Management Conference & Exhibition.
Graves said he had a good personal view of what happens when a company is not ready to accept change. The people who purchased his father's own trucking company were not ready to deal with deregulation and ran the company into the ground.
Graves said that while the long term macro outlook for US trucking has never been better, the near term micro view continues to be very challenging.
"It's almost as if we're playing an industry game of "Survivor" -- trying to figure out who gets voted off the island and who has the skills, the smarts, the resources to win?" Graves said,emphasizing that " the crossroads you defined yourself at has much to do with those carriers who are willing to embrace the change that confronts us or not. And more than likely those unwilling to embrace change will not survive."