Looking for the Silver Lining

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From the founding Sponsor

Shaw Tracking, offers integrated on-board computing technology and value-add wireless data solutions for the Canadian transportation, mobile workforce and logistics industries. For over 17 years Shaw Tracking has been focused on providing scalable over-the road fleet management business solutions for organizations of all sizes. With over 700 customers and 40,000 vehicles Shaw Tracking has established economic payback and proven results.

Shaw Tracking continues to support the transportation industry and provide technology solutions to meet the evolving needs of carriers. Acting as Founding Sponsor of the annual “Shipper-Carrier Issues Roundtable” was a great way for Shaw Tracking to be able to support the dialogue among all aspects of the supply chain and the challenges industry stakeholders are dealing with. Shaw Tracking anticipates the upcoming year to be a year of technology solutions being adopted to solve industry challenges.

Our Second Annual Shipper-Carrier Roundtable

PART I

The downturn of the North American economy is testing the relationships forged by shippers and carriers in recent years.

So how do shippers and carriers view the issues facing them in 2008? Are there significant degrees of divergence? That’s what we wanted to find out in putting together our second annual Shipper-Carrier Issues Roundtable.

Our roundtable participants had a great deal to say and we will share their insights with you over the course of the next two issues. In Part I of our Issues Roundtable our panelists speak about their economic outlook for 2008 and the related issues of rate trends, imbalances and capacity. Watch also for video clips of their comments in special installments of our new Web tv show Transportation Matters, available on www.trucknews.com.

BIG Transportation Media, through its ownership of both motor carrier and shipper publications, is in the unique position of being able to see issues from “both sides of the fence.” We consider it our mandate to foster dialogue between buyers and providers of transportation services. Our annual Shipper-Carrier Issues Roundtable, which is published in both our carrier and shipper publications, is a step towards that goal. It allows buyers and providers of transportation services across the country to gain a more well-rounded understanding of the issues at hand.

This roundtable would not have been possible without the support, once again, of Shaw Tracking and I wish to thank this highly respected industry player for its support. I would also like to thank all the roundtable participants who took time out of their hectic schedules to make this roundtable a possibility. As with past participants, these individuals were specifically chosen because of the high-esteem with which they are held within the transportation industry and their insightful and honest contributions certainly showed why.

I think one of the most impressive developments in transportation management I’ve witnessed over the almost two decades that I’ve been reporting on the industry is the willingness of forward-thinking shippers and carriers to truly appreciate their interdependence and work together to resolve issues in a manner beneficial to both. I hope the strain placed on the shipper-carrier relationship by the slowing down of the economy does not make for a setback in that evolution, particularly because it is the carriers and shippers who work well together that are most likely to get a jump start on the eventual resurgence of the North American economy.

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Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


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