QUESTION PERIOD: Kriska’s Mark Seymour lays it down

TORONTO — As the newly elected chairman of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA), it falls to Kriska Holdings Ltd.’s Mark Seymour of Prescott, Ont. to carry the torch on speed limiters, EOBRS, incentives for green truck technology, and other high-profile campaigns.

Today’s Trucking had a chance to discuss with Seymour his strategy on some of these issues, the OTA membership, his own “50 Best Managed” company, and more.

Today’s Trucking: One of your goals is to continue growing OTA membership. What more can you do to increase involvement?

Mark Seymour: It’s certainly not my phrase, but it has been said before that ‘everyone benefits from OTA, just not everyone belongs.’ The OTA accomplishes a hell of a lot of things that everyone benefits from. That can’t be argued. For what our members get from OTA, the dues are a bargain. I’d like to encourage as many people as possible to see it that way.

TT: You have the unenviable task, as others before you, of balancing the varying — and sometimes conflicting — interests of all carrier members, large and small. Do you consider yourself a good facilitator since you’re a grassroots sort of guy who’s grown along with the board?

Seymour Sales: Fleets that don’t manage revenue
will be swallowed up OTA’s chair says

MS: I hope so. I would like to think I’m kind of representative of many people who have gone on to lead their own businesses; People from second-generation family businesses who started when the business was small and have seen it through most of its maturity. I think I can relate to what most people are thinking about. At some point in my life I’ve probably experienced something similar, if not the same.

TT: While I’m sure there’s lots of commonality between member carriers, I’m sure there are people who don’t see eye-to-eye on some controversial issues.

MS: A lot of that is normal. It’s a diverse industry with a lot of strong personalities, a lot of personal agendas, and a lot of common agendas. I wouldn’t say that is the general feeling amongst the membership. I think we just need to continue listening to everybody [equally] what needs to be said.

TT: One issue that — to put it mildly — has created some buzz in the industry is speed limiters. As one of the architects of the speed-limiter proposal in Ontario, how encouraged are you to see the OTA idea moving up the legislative ladder at Queen’s Park, Quebec, and now even U.S. carriers are proposing it?

MS: It really was a matter of Ontario taking the bold position that this is the right thing to do for the industry. At the time, others, whether they felt the same way, were not prepared to be as bold about it. Now that the ice has been broken, others are certainly agreeing with the idea — and that’s a good thing.

TT: Speaking of controversial issues, we saw a proposed rule on electronic on-board recorders [EOBRs] published in the U.S. in mid-January. OTA was the first association to officially endorse a “black box” rule to increase HOS compliance, but there’s rough edges in the proposal that groups like OTA will have to help officials smooth out, no?

MS: Here’s another example of something we are supporting, but will have some adverse affects in areas within our industry. Certainly the positive effects of compliance and safety are why we support it, and there are perceived [negative] affects on drivers as well.

… And how we’ll have to deal with that is through compensation. If our asset utilization goes the wrong way then the market has to look after that, too. The market needs to be prepared.

TT: Canadian truckers in some sectors this year didn’t party like it was 2004. What about the next 10 months?

MS: 2006 has been a difficult year for many of us in terms of keeping our capacity as busy as we’d like it to be. The effect our dollar has had on the movement of goods going south has showed up in a profound way. The reality is there are just too many trucks on the road in some sectors and we’re all struggling to keep our trucks busy.

I think 2007 is a year where well-managed companies — who manage both costs and revenue — will be fine. It won’t be a year to remember as far as setting any records, but it’ll be okay. However, those that don’t manage costs and revenue will eventually get gobbled up or close.

— To read the whole interview be sure to check out this month’s print issue of Today’s Trucking magazine.