Arkansas Road Team Welcomes Five New Captains
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- Created: 07.22.2021
The Arkansas Trucking Association is pleased to announce it has selected five new members to join the Arkansas Road Team, a group of professional drivers chosen for their commitment to highway safety, communication skills and interest in improving the image of the trucking industry. This complimentary outreach program of the ATA serves as a public education service to address highway safety and to educate the motoring public on safe driving, especially near large commercial vehicles.
The following professional drivers were selected for the Arkansas Road Team:
Wesley Cox of Fayetteville, Ark. – J.B. Hunt Transport
Ronnie Mahan of Sherwood, Ark. – FedEx Freight
Donnie Pace of Little Rock, Ark. – ABF Freight
Lazaro Ruiz of Bono, Ark. – Old Dominion Freight Line
Austin Simmons of Siloam Springs, Ark. – FedEx Freight
Up Front- G.O.A.T.
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- Created: 07.22.2021
Shannon Newton
President, ATA
We tend to categorize, label and rank everything around us. Being human is to analyze and keep records of the best, the worst, the most, and the least, to assign order to all the things.
Superlatives sell. That’s why you see billboards for the biggest steak, the highest rollercoaster and the fastest car. Later this summer, millions will tune in as the Olympic Games deliver some of the most impressive superlatives in the world. Athletes will earn titles like fastest runner, strongest weightlifter, highest jumper, best gymnast.
In trucking, I’ve seen another superlative making the headlines, declaring the driver shortage is the worst it’s ever been. In July 2019, months before the global pandemic, American Trucking Associations released its latest numbers on the shortage, urging the industry to hire 1.1 million new drivers over the next decade, or an average of 110,000 drivers each year.
The Last Word
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- Created: 07.22.2021
From Essential to Tax Target
By Johnathan Kennemer
For months, truckers were applauded for our nonstop efforts to keep the country moving despite the coronavirus pandemic. We were essential workers who kept critical supplies on the shelves and allowed other Americans to stay home and stay safe. It wasn’t easy to send drivers into the unknown, but at least the necessity of our industry was in the spotlight, understood and appreciated.
While the country continues to recover from the loss of lives and livelihoods, we’re trying to get our own house in order as we suffer the greatest driver shortage I’ve ever seen. Truckers were heroes carrying the first doses of life-saving vaccines not six months ago. Now, we are targets.
U.S. DOT Secretary Buttigieg Says I-40 Bridge “Critical” to National and Global Supply Chain
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- Created: 06.08.2021
Secretary visits Memphis to view damage, meet with industry leaders
On June 3, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited Memphis to survey the damage of the I-40 bridge and meet with local and industry leaders, shining a light on the importance of this major commerce corridor.
“The protracted closure has been frustrating, it has been difficult, it has been challenging and it has been costly,” Sec. Buttigieg said. “We often have a single piece of infrastructure in a single place that really influences the life of the entire country when it’s not available or when its availability is diminished. I want to emphasize our awareness as a department and an administration that the greater Memphis metro area is critical to the national supply chain and the global supply chain.”
Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with the Secretary where she highlighted the significant impact the bridge closure is having on trucking.
