“THE CUSTOMER ASKS, ‘WHEN ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO GROW AGAIN?’ AND I SAY, ‘WELL, WHEN THE TRUCKS WE HAVE ARE DEPLOYED IN A WAY THAT
THEY GET A FAIR RETURN TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS. OUR SHAREHOLDERS CAN’T BE A SHOCK ABSORBER IN THE ECONOMY TO THE EXTENT YOU WANT US TO
ESSENTIALLY CREATE CAPACITY.’” —CRAIG HARPER,
EVP & COO, J.B. HUNT TRANSPORT Harper
down in a host of advisory groups and studies. In both cases, the technologies were
there, the ability of the industry to com- ply was there. All that was needed was a push – a big push to make bureaucrats do what they are paid to do, and make the ideas actually happen.
AN ALLIANCE IS FORMED These five executives, each of whom
were well-known within the industry, comprised the first board of directors of The Trucking Alliance. Steve Williams, chairman and
CEO of Maverick Transportation of North Little Rock, Ark., and former chairman of the American Trucking Associations (ATA), was named chair-
man. Craig Harper, executive vice president and chief operating officer of J.B. Hunt Transport in Lowell, Ark., was elected president. The directors were Chris Lofgren, president and CEO of Schneider National, Green Bay, Wis.; Kevin Knight, CEO and execu- tive committee chairman of Knight Transportation, Phoenix, and the late Patrick Quinn, president and co-chair- man of U.S. Xpress of Chattanooga, Tenn., another former ATA chairman. They had two major objectives –
to see the national drug and alcohol clearinghouse become a reality and to require electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) or electronic logging devices (ELDs) in all commercial trucks. But their strategy was different.
Rather than push the bureaucrats to actually do something, they decided to go to Congress and convince it to mandate the two ideas and force the agency to act. That was a tall proposi- tion considering 98 percent of all bills introduced in Congress never see the light of day. But the Alliance board is not a
lazy group. Rather than hire full time employees, the Alliance contracted with the Arkansas Trucking Association to manage its advocacy efforts, an affilia- tion that continues today. “Our strategy was simple,” said
Lane Kidd, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association who also serves as senior manager for the Alliance.
Lofgren, Knight and Williams
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ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 6 2013
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