4 Oregon Trucking Association, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch FROM THE PRESIDENT Jana Jarvis OTA President/CEO FOURTH QUARTER. MOST of 2023 is in the rear-view mirror and we have begun planning for 2024. It seems the busier we are, the faster the year goes and it’s hard to believe that you are likely focused on family and holidays as you read this. We quickly acknowledge the successes of one year before moving on to the challenges of the next. In the trucking industry…the wheels just keep turning! But it’s important to recognize our successes as we build for the future. In 2023, we were finally back to business with our events and—from your comments—they were worth attending. From our Spring Safety Conference (which was actually in the spring this year), to our Maintenance Fair, and our Annual Leadership Convention, participation was nearly back to pre-pandemic levels and feedback from attendees emphasized the value of both the training and the opportunity to network with peers. We started the year with our Southern Oregon Mixer, and it was so encouraging to see so many of you there—by the time you read this, registration will be open for the January 2024 event, and I hope to see even more of the industry there to help start the year in a big way. Our Truck Driving Championship in June was back in Portland at the Old Dominion terminal and even the chaos of the city couldn’t dampen the spirits of those competing and those cheering them on! As I write this, I have just returned from the American Trucking Association’s annual Management Conference and Exhibition where over 2,500 industry professionals were in attendance and the enthusiasm for our industry was contagious. There was a lot of talk about the economy, and it was clear to everyone that there is too much capacity in the industry and there will likely be “corrections” before we can enjoy the strong demand we saw in 2021 and 2022. But this has always been a resilient industry and we provide an essential service to the American people that they saw first-hand when they were shuttered at home. Forecasts indicate there might be a mild recession in early 2024, but most economists expect it to be short-lived. We have already felt this decline as consumers shifted their spending priorities to experiences rather than goods this past year, but uncertainty in the world may stifle some of that spending as the economy settles back into moderate growth. We may need to tighten our belts for bit…but as inventories continue to decline, the demand for trucking will bounce back. We also spent a great deal of time this year on the public policy challenges that the trucking industry is facing. California is once again leading the discussion on environmental policy for our industry by changing the NOx standards and demanding that manufacturers sell increasing percentages of zero-emission vehicles beginning in 2025. Federally, the EPA seems satisfied to let California lead the charge, creating differing standards from state to state. For those states, like Oregon, who have agreed to follow California’s lead, their standards will prevail and truck dealers in Oregon will soon be mandated to sell higher and higher percentages of battery-electric trucks. Quantities of new internal combustion engines for sale will be restricted based on demand for battery-electric vehicles, further confusing the effort to move to newer, cleaner equipment. And for companies doing business in California, new reporting demands will complicate your ability to operate there. In addition, California just finalized their Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) rule, demanding that companies with 50 trucks or more purchase an escalating percentage of zeroemission equipment in the coming years. While Oregon is part of the compact with California, they have yet to adopt a timeline for this rule and we continue to work with them in the hope of providing reason to this debate. And all of this confusion and controversy is for an industry committed to a cleaner, healthier environment. I call this the “field of dreams” approach to public policy—mandate something and then the new technology will appear! Unfortunately for the trucking industry, that is precisely what is happening, and it will take litigation to change the course of the California Air “Nothing Without Trucking.” You know that, and I know that. 2023 in Trucking: A Year Filled with Highs and Lows
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