The following are some comments on rates, made recently during Decisions 2008, our annual Shipper-Carrier Roundtable. Video of the entire discussion can be viewed on our Web site, trucknews.com. Just enter the multimedia section of the site and select the video of your choice.

“Contracts in a lot of cases don’t seem to be worth the paper they are written on. No sooner do you sign it than you find there is rate action taking place and you are back revisiting the customer. Probably in 85% of the RFPs that we’ve responded to the incumbent carrier that had the business re-secures the business but what the shipper has been able to do is rationalize the rates to a market level. From a carrier’s standpoint, also, I don’t know why anyone would sign an agreement based on the volatility of currency and crude.”

– Scott Johnston, former president and COO, Yanke Group Shipper-Carrier Roundtable Series, Transportation Media

“You don’t do yourself any favours if your suppliers are losing money. The smart shippers understand it isn’t just about price. It’s about price and service.”

– Robert Ballantyne, president, Canadian Industrial Transportation Association Shipper-Carrier Roundtable Series, Transportation Media

“I think trucking by nature always has had fairly low barriers to entry and there have been commodity providers that don’t know the implications of their pricing and that creates a ‘buyer beware’ situation. I think the purchasing model sometimes is difficult because it often is not an enterprise function that considers the whole business. You have someone in a corner office that is judged by how low they can get the rates and often at risk to the business.”

– Scott Smith, president, J. D. Smith & Sons Shipper-Carrier Roundtable Series, Transportation Media

“I think it would be nice if carriers and shippers could work cooperatively to deal with improving efficiencies rather than to drive down rates to below cost, which is what happens typically in such situations. When times get tough it seems it’s every man for himself and shippers look to wherever they can get rate relief because they are under cost pressure themselves within their own organization.”

– Doug Munro, president, M-O Freightworks Shipper-Carrier Roundtable Series, Transportation Media