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American Trucking Association CEO Bill Graves gives his outlook for the economy and discusses how Sandy has impacted the trucking industry.
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For the discussions -- So who better to get immediate reaction from that report that former Kansas governor bill graves the CEO of the American trucking association he joins -- -- in.
Bill what do you think I mean you're listening to all that do you think -- there are signs of a recession ahead or even that's already begun.
Well you know we we don't think so we think we're gonna slog through some really slow.
You know sort of ineffective economic times and and of course the storm in the northeast is gonna be a drain this quarter.
But you know a lot of rebuilding gonna take place and so that alone will perhaps at a little uptick into the next quarter so it's you know it's anyone's guess what work were expecting sort of flat economic activity for the next two or three quarters.
So what do you see that gives you that indication because I know that type of trucks that you see out there -- the -- -- specific things that are going on in the economy giving some nitty gritty details.
Well I mean again the unfortunate aspect of other of a storm like we've had in the northeast is is -- -- gonna have a whole lot of activity in the flatbed segment of our industry because a lot of people we're gonna be moving a lot of construction type materials.
We have to restock every grocery store shelf with anything -- was perishable.
So a lot of refrigerated units are gonna have to move food back into the into the grocery stores let me give you a specific example automobiles we understand that there may be as many as 151000.
Automobiles at the port of new work that are basically.
You know they're salvage I mean there they were new cars that were caught in the in the flooding.
Those cars are gonna have to be moved out disposed.
And we're gonna have to manufacture -- into the US to the -- And then move probably by auto transporter cars to dealerships all over the northeast that's not to mention all the cars that were damaged in the flooding itself -- are gonna have to be simply replaced by.
Consumers who no longer have a viable automobile wow.
What in terms of fuel 'cause obviously that's been a huge -- in the northeast and it's something that you depend on.
Well I mean you know fuel prices of course are high everywhere but -- what -- when we scalability.
Well we -- giving fuel to every place that we can physically be allowed to to move fuel obviously there's the first need is to make sure utility vehicles have fuel emergency responders have fuel.
And I think for the most part those needs are being met in the meanwhile it's gonna take a little time before we bring everybody's local filling station back on line because some of them are simply.
Not accessible or you know if they are they don't have power to it -- to pump fuel yeah before the storm hit did you feel like things were picking up.
I don't know that I felt things were picking up again we you know we thought that bit bit freight -- -- -- -- levels were pretty well flat for our industry and -- so that's abroad you know the description of cars and consumer goods and and food and and fuel and that chemicals but you all and all what we expected to slog through probably until about the third quarter of next year before we saw any chance of some uptick and what are customers saying -- you going forward.
Well that's the first concern we have is as we still have a problem in our industry with drivers and if we do see some recovery in the economy we may have a hard time.
Putting people behind the seats of commercial trucks it's a tough job and it's it's it's hard to fill secondly fuel really.
Even give an -- the unemployment rate we see in this country and people who are.
You know at the point where they've been unemployed for a long time and they're looking for new career you're still have a hard time finding drivers.
Yet and you've you've you don't RAZR great point it's just -- one it's a really hard job there's a lot of training and -- go into it there's a lot of scrutiny now on safety in the performance of drivers.
And therefore just kind of -- combines to be a job that doesn't look all that dead desirable to a lot of people so yet even with this the these unemployment numbers it's still problem for our industry.
Wow bill -- a -- information.
