Bradley, ATA talk about costs keeping pressure on rates

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Freight costs have no where to go but up as truckers have no choice but to pass rising fuel and equipment costs onto their customers. And with capacity as tight as it is, customers have no choice but to pay up, Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley said at an annual meeting of the Transportation Sales & Marketing Association in Phoenix.

“It’s up to carriers to hold firm, even though that isn’t always easy to do so,” added the Bradley, who joined American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves to discuss current challenges in the North American trucking industry.

“Carriers must always seize the opportunities provided by the marketplace, and while the Canadian economy is somewhat more fragmented these days with some sectors and regions doing well and others less so, there are still opportunities to be had,” Bradley continued.

Bradley reiterated the mottos of two CTA members, which should be heeded in these times: “One always reminds us that ‘volume is vanity and profit is virtue,'” said Bradley. “The other reminds us that ‘we need to make more profit, not run more miles.'”

The Canadian dollar and oil prices are the wild cards in the current economic climate Bradley said, but the driver shortage, the cost of introducing mandatory ultra-low sulphur diesel, the increased cost of buying, maintaining and fueling the 2007-2010 truck engines, the imminent implementation of new Canadian hours of service rules, enforcement of new cargo securement standards, and ever-tightening border security measures are combining to put upward pressure on rates.

Bradley said there is a growing view amongst carriers that competition should be about service and prices, “where price includes the true costs of compliance, and isn’t determined by who will or can be pressured into breaking or bending the rules to keep shippers happy.”

The provincial trucking associations under the CTA are lobbying their respective transport ministries to legislate speed limiters on all trucks in Canada at 105 km/h.

The ATA says it will recommend engine OEs set a speed limit standard on engines at 68 mph. ATA, however, is not officially pushing for mandatory adoption like carrier sin Canada.

“Carriers can no longer subsidize shippers in this way and put their businesses, their drivers and the motoring public at increased risk,” Bradley said, adding this is why CTA supports measures like introducing requirements for electronic on-board recorders and the mandatory activation of speed limiters.