Post by railman on Jul 22, 2011 15:15:26 GMT -5
Trucking Official Addresses Host of Industry Issues
By Bill Dries
The president of the Tennessee Trucking Association has been part of the discussions before at gatherings to discuss the logistics industry and the business of moving goods by multiple modes.
And Dave Huneryager has heard those in the discussions talk about intermodal transportation as a way to “get more trucks off the road.”
“Which trucks do you want me to take off the road first?” Huneryager asked at this month’s meeting of the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Regional Logistics Council. “If you got it in the state of Tennessee, chances are a truck brought it.”
Huneryager isn’t the only transportation and logistics player to come to Memphis this month to talk about infrastructure and what those in the industry call the “first mile” and the “last mile” – the trip by truck to and from a rail yard, airport or water port.
During this week’s Southern Legislative Conference, Peter Hurme, publisher and senior editor of Cargo Business News, praised the Memphis transportation and logistics industries.
But he also termed the nation’s “crumbling” infrastructure as a “national disgrace.”
“This country does not have a national freight policy,” said Hurme, who has reported on the cargo industry for 15 years from Seattle. “I’m not even sure how many states have a freight policy.”
With the Panama Canal expansion to handle much larger cargo ships with many more intermodal containers, Southeastern U.S. seaboard ports and that part of the country will become more important and provide an alternative to the 117-hour journey by rail for a container from Asia to Memphis via Prince Rupert port in British Columbia, Canada.
But Hurme said the Southeastern ports that would feed more cargo to Memphis can’t handle the larger vessels now, although they are upgrading.
“East Coast ports are going to start to feel what it’s like to be a West Coast port,” he said. “Once the cargo gets here, then it’s distributed and it’s not always a seamless transition. … It’s more a matter of is everybody else going to be as up to speed as Memphis. If everybody else isn’t as up to speed as Memphis, the distribution network here isn’t going to work very well either.”
Martin Lipinski, director of the University of Memphis Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute, said local and regional efforts are focused on the impact of more intermodal containers and how to move them.
“Rail is the key thing we are focusing on,” he said.
Huneryager said “tolled or sold” roads – roads where drivers pay a toll or roads with a toll that are operated by private companies – aren’t a solution to road infrastructure funding.
But the trucking association, which in the past has opposed fuel tax hikes, is now advocating them.
“We are advocating for a fuel tax increase,” Huneryager said, noting the industry’s opposition to that for the first 25 of the 35 years he’s been in the business. “We fought tooth and nail not to raise fuel taxes. I think we did that at our peril. I think we finally realize that. … We need to view those as an investment.”
The statement represents agreement between two elements of the transportation industry that have traditionally differed on the fuel tax issue – road builders and truckers.
But Huneryager acknowledged a political “disconnect” with Tennessee drivers who aren’t truckers and are paying more than $3.50 a gallon now.
The gas tax in Tennessee hasn’t been raised since 1989 and the diesel tax hasn’t been raised since 1993.
“The lack of political will and really the public sentiment does not appear to want to let that happen,” Huneryager said. “We don’t make the connection between gas pumps and good roads.”
Because Tennessee roads are neither tolled or sold, Huneryager said they are the envy of other states.
“If we tolled or we sold an interstate, the first thing trucking companies are going to do is they are going to get off those roads and they are going to get on secondary roads,” he told an audience of more than 100.
There was no discussion of toll or sold at the SLC session that focused on the need for infrastructure maintenance.
Some of the state legislators from 15 states at the SLC forum talked of ballot approval for sales tax hikes in some states with the provision that all of the revenue from the hike goes to a specific list of road projects.
By Bill Dries
The president of the Tennessee Trucking Association has been part of the discussions before at gatherings to discuss the logistics industry and the business of moving goods by multiple modes.
And Dave Huneryager has heard those in the discussions talk about intermodal transportation as a way to “get more trucks off the road.”
“Which trucks do you want me to take off the road first?” Huneryager asked at this month’s meeting of the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Regional Logistics Council. “If you got it in the state of Tennessee, chances are a truck brought it.”
Huneryager isn’t the only transportation and logistics player to come to Memphis this month to talk about infrastructure and what those in the industry call the “first mile” and the “last mile” – the trip by truck to and from a rail yard, airport or water port.
During this week’s Southern Legislative Conference, Peter Hurme, publisher and senior editor of Cargo Business News, praised the Memphis transportation and logistics industries.
But he also termed the nation’s “crumbling” infrastructure as a “national disgrace.”
“This country does not have a national freight policy,” said Hurme, who has reported on the cargo industry for 15 years from Seattle. “I’m not even sure how many states have a freight policy.”
With the Panama Canal expansion to handle much larger cargo ships with many more intermodal containers, Southeastern U.S. seaboard ports and that part of the country will become more important and provide an alternative to the 117-hour journey by rail for a container from Asia to Memphis via Prince Rupert port in British Columbia, Canada.
But Hurme said the Southeastern ports that would feed more cargo to Memphis can’t handle the larger vessels now, although they are upgrading.
“East Coast ports are going to start to feel what it’s like to be a West Coast port,” he said. “Once the cargo gets here, then it’s distributed and it’s not always a seamless transition. … It’s more a matter of is everybody else going to be as up to speed as Memphis. If everybody else isn’t as up to speed as Memphis, the distribution network here isn’t going to work very well either.”
Martin Lipinski, director of the University of Memphis Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute, said local and regional efforts are focused on the impact of more intermodal containers and how to move them.
“Rail is the key thing we are focusing on,” he said.
Huneryager said “tolled or sold” roads – roads where drivers pay a toll or roads with a toll that are operated by private companies – aren’t a solution to road infrastructure funding.
But the trucking association, which in the past has opposed fuel tax hikes, is now advocating them.
“We are advocating for a fuel tax increase,” Huneryager said, noting the industry’s opposition to that for the first 25 of the 35 years he’s been in the business. “We fought tooth and nail not to raise fuel taxes. I think we did that at our peril. I think we finally realize that. … We need to view those as an investment.”
The statement represents agreement between two elements of the transportation industry that have traditionally differed on the fuel tax issue – road builders and truckers.
But Huneryager acknowledged a political “disconnect” with Tennessee drivers who aren’t truckers and are paying more than $3.50 a gallon now.
The gas tax in Tennessee hasn’t been raised since 1989 and the diesel tax hasn’t been raised since 1993.
“The lack of political will and really the public sentiment does not appear to want to let that happen,” Huneryager said. “We don’t make the connection between gas pumps and good roads.”
Because Tennessee roads are neither tolled or sold, Huneryager said they are the envy of other states.
“If we tolled or we sold an interstate, the first thing trucking companies are going to do is they are going to get off those roads and they are going to get on secondary roads,” he told an audience of more than 100.
There was no discussion of toll or sold at the SLC session that focused on the need for infrastructure maintenance.
Some of the state legislators from 15 states at the SLC forum talked of ballot approval for sales tax hikes in some states with the provision that all of the revenue from the hike goes to a specific list of road projects.