Arkansas Trucking Association

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and financial crisis, American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council announced the cancellation of its 2020 national technician championships, SuperTech and FutureTech, which were scheduled to be held this fall.

The annual competitions for trailer and truck technicians as well as technician students are normally held in conjunction with TMC’s fall meeting. The meeting for shop supervisors, maintenance executives, and engineering professionals will now be completely virtual this year on the originally scheduled dates, Sept. 14-17.

On May 18, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her husband, Bryan Sanders, launched a month-long nonprofit program to help struggling state businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Arkansas 30 Day Fund was started to provide forgivable loans for Arkansas-based small businesses so they can meet payroll, preserve healthcare coverage for employees, and save jobs without a lot of red tape, while waiting on federal and state funding.

Qualifying businesses are owned and operated by an Arkansas resident, based in the state and have been operating at lease one year, and employ three to 30 people.

A dearth of professional truck drivers to haul America’s freight has been a perennial concern for over a decade. However, the coronavirus has reduced demand for drivers so much that the driver shortage is no longer the top concern right now.

National industry publication Transport Topics, recently reported, “The often discussed driver shortage is over — at least for the time being — as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deepening U.S. recession and a falloff in the amount of freight being hauled by many sectors of trucking.”