ANTICIPATING the National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC) return to the American Trucking Associations (ATA) fold, the new ATA shepherd emphasized the importance of carrying forward the positive message of the trucking industry.
NTTC members are not required to join ATA, but they must be an ATA member if they want to serve on the ATA board. NTTC and Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) were among several conferences that withdrew from ATA in 2000 following a disagreement over a mandate that ATA membership was required for any company wanting to join an ATA-affiliated conference.
Bill Graves, ATA president, made the remarks May 20, preceding the NTTC board meeting later that afternoon in New Orleans where members unanimously approved reaffiliation. Virtually identical to the pact struck previously with TCA, the agreement lets NTTC pay a yearly fee to be a part of ATA.
In his discussion before the board meeting, Graves said the associations must do a better job of conveying to the public the record the industry maintains for safety and the contributions it makes in serving communities.
“Safety has got to be job number one in the motor carrier industry,” he said, pointing out that highway fatalities involving trucks were down 3.5 percent in 2002.
Addressing trucking services, he said 75 percent of the communities in the United States receive goods shipped by truck only, and 85 percent of goods in the United States are moved by truck. Ten million people are employed in the industry.
Graves, former governor of Kansas, believes that associations can lead the way in influencing public opinion, as well as in influencing political decisions, and that strength lies in numbers, another reason for cheering the decision by NTTC to reaffiliate with ATA.
“My job is to serve this industry and make a better future for your companies,” Graves said in his presentation.