Tucker Holds 5th Annual Strategic Council

Tucker Company Worldwide and QualifiedCarriers.com provided logistics professionals with two days of energetic, informative and data driven sessions. This year’s event brought together leading experts in transportation, regulation, industry economics and best practices and trends in complying with shipper and broker contract compliance and expectations.   A select group of participations had the opportunity to hear from former FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandberg, noted transportation economist Noël Perry, Managing Director Equity Research for Wells Fargo Securities Anthony Gallo, and compliance and auditing professional Allan Goldberg. The meeting dove deep into the issues directly impacting the logistics realm and provided participants with the opportunity to discuss and strategize ways to remain competitive in a capacity stifled, heavily regulated industry that continues to experience very slow recovery since the economic downturn.

In addition to industry issues Tucker Company Worldwide and QualifiedCarriers.com provided company updates and showcase their latest State of the DOT^TM report.  The sentiment regarding this year’s Strategic Council was overwhelmingly positive with requests for additional time at each session due to the captivating discussions that followed each presentations.

If you are interested in presenting or attending at next years Strategic Council please contact Rebecca Bierbach.

 We hope to see you Spring of 2014!

Federal Reserve Banker, Top Transport Economist, Freight Security Experts, Former Top USDOT Official Addressed Tucker’s Strategic Council

Tucker’s 4th annual “Strategic Council” meeting was held in Haddonfield, NJ. The Strategic Council is a select assemblage of Tucker leadership, Tucker customers, industry experts and economists, who formally and informally discuss the most important industry issues of the moment. This year’s agenda was exciting and packed with relevant information. Preliminary feedback was very positive. Thank you.

Tucker Holds 2nd Annual Strategic Council Meeting

On October 1 and 2, Tucker Company Worldwide held its second annual Strategic Council Meeting attended by several key shippers, experts from various disciplines of logistics, and members of Tucker ownership and management. The meeting was informative, fast moving and received outstanding reviews from participants and presenters alike. Topics included: Key developments at Tucker; Tucker Consulting, Inc; the “U.S. & Transportation Market Economic Outlook” by noted economist, Noel Perry of Transport Fundamentals; “Cargo Security Update,” by Detective William Morales of the renowned cargo recovery task force, the Florida TOMCATS; “Shippers Thoughts on the Marketplace” and “Shipper vs. Carrier Relationship Perspectives Study” by John Gentle, DLP of John Gentle and Associates; “SmartWay and Green Thinking in Transportation.” The afternoon session included, “Issues in International Freight Transportation” by Richard Gluck, Esq. of Garvey Schubert Barer in Washington, DC; “Regulatory Update-Domestic,” by Former FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandberg; and “Shipper/Broker Liability Cases with Hired Carriers Overview” by Paul Brandes, Esq., plaintiff’s counsel in various trucking accident cases, including Puckrein vs. ATI 2005, the first case in recent legal history to hold that a shipper may be found liable for bodily injury or death caused by a motor carrier hired by that shipper. Our next newsletter will be a special edition supplement capturing features of the Strategic Council. Expect it shortly after Thanksgiving.

Tucker Holds First Annual Strategic Council

Tucker recently hosted its first Strategic Council in our Cherry Hill, NJ, headquarters. We assembled various leading shipper organizations and experts, representing some of the world’s most influential firms. Clients included leaders in the pharmaceutical and medical diagnostics, consumer products, industrial materials industries as well as US Government representation from the General Service Administration (GSA). The goal of the Strategic Council is to discuss critical transportation economic issues and their impact now and into the future, and to discuss effectively and successfully communicating these issues, changes and concerns to each of our organizations, vendors and customers. Guest presenters included: Jon Langenfeld, R.W. Baird’s Director, Senior Research Analyst, recognized by Forbes Magazine as among transportation’s “Top Analysts;” John Gentle, DLP, former Logistics Management’s Logistics Person of the Year and a DC Velocity Magazine “Rainmaker;” Annette Sandberg, past Administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Capacity and fuel dominated the day, followed by new legislation and elevated liability and risk selecting safe carriers.

Langenfeld’s economic transportation forecasts a significant shift from the abundant capacity that began in 2006, to a more severe and prolonged capacity starved environment, possibly as early as 2009, calling that period a “pricing renaissance” for carriers. Langenfeld provided an analyst’s perspective of fuel, illustrating how difficult it is for carriers to survive this fuel crisis, and how it has contributed to the loss of capacity.

Tucker’s CEO Jeff Tucker and General Counsel and Director of Risk Management Darin Day provided an overview of the new, expensive legal liabilities applied against shippers and brokers by plaintiff attorneys. Landmark cases like Schramm v. Foster and Puckrein v. ATI, and copycat suits have re-written safe carrier selection requirements that shippers and brokers should follow when hiring a motor carrier. These new procedures remove available capacity from the equation.

John Gentle presented the results of his recent survey of leading national and regional motor carriers entitled, “Looking in the Mirror and How Carriers Perceive Shippers.” The study provided rare, invaluable insight into how carriers decide which shippers will receive their service and available trucks. The carriers ranked the most important shipper characteristics in this order: operations, compensation, relationships, receivables, legal, claims, other. Summary discussion focused on how a shipper’s internal self-evaluation can yield positive results affecting service, cost and capacity from transport providers. As we begin our journey into a capacity-starved environment, the resulting discussions involved what each of us can do to handle the challenge.

Annette Sandberg provided insight into what is happening on the regulatory front, from both DHS and DOT agency perspectives. She covered expected DOT announcments this year on final rules for hours of service, electronic on board recorders (EOBRs), New Entrant Motor Carrier Safety Audits, and Intermodal Container Chassis. In addition, Ms. Sandberg discussed the DOT’s plan for merging the medical license and commercial driver’s license programs for drivers. She also provided commentary on the newly introduced TRUCC Act (See Owner Operators), and the unified opposition against it in Washington and the Clean Air Action Plan LA/Long Beach, where authorities there would drive owner operators out of business, in a “green” push. Finally, Ms. Sandberg outlined the debate in Washington on infrastructure investment, which will dominate the upcoming Highway Reauthorization Bill. Every presentation illustrated in different and clear ways, how and why capacity is leaving the marketplace. Capacity is leaving due to fuel costs, bankruptcies, highway congestion, new regulations, safety and risk reasons, broader economic conditions and because physical assets are being sold overseas due to the weak U.S. demand and weaker U.S. dollar. The singular challenge ahead for all shippers: survive the upcoming crisis, in tact. The smartest shippers will not only survive, but they will prosper.

To be involved in future Strategic Councils, please contact
Hugh McLaughlin at (800) 229-7780, ext. 128,
hugh.mclaughlin@tuckerco.com.
For more information on successful strategies, contact Hugh or your Tucker sales representative. We will continue providing feedback and insight in our newsletters, too. Tucker Company can help you plan for the crisis ahead, and successfully navigate through it, so that your company is positioned to win.