Trucking will continue to dominate the transportation industry over the next 10 years, with growth of about 30 percent expected by 2020. In 2009, trucking held 68.3 percent of the tonnage pie,
while it's expected to have about 70.9 percent of the pie by 2020, according to Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations.

At Qualcomm Enterprise Services' customer user conference in Coronado, Calif., this week, Graves was able to take a step back and give attendees an outlook on the industry.

"Things are moving fast in this industry," he said.

One issue that's catching up to us is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, or CSA 2010. Graves said his concern with the new program is that the FMCSA still has to work out a lot of the details. It's a complex program, and the implementation of it is still in question.

"The devil's in the details," he said. "There are a lot of details, and unfortunately, that means many of you are going to have to become experts."

Graves believes the FMCSA may not be ready to pull the trigger on CSA 2010, but he also doesn't expect the program to get pushed back. With several issues still up in the air, Graves is also concerned the system may unfairly penalize carriers.

"Everybody wants to play by the same rules," he said.

In addition to CSA 2010, Graves outlined other major issues currently affecting the industry, including hours of service and electronic logging. A few weeks ago, the ATA filed a lawsuit asking the court to compel the Department of Transportation to issue supporting documents regulation on hours of service. "We want some clarity in this legislation," he said.

Commenting on the FMCSA's review of the hours-of-service rule, Graves said there should be a balance between the need to be productive and the need to be safe.

Another current issue affecting trucking is distracted driving, and, most recently, the texting ban. Graves' concern here is how the texting ban is going to be enforced.

Graves also touched on the reauthorization of the federal highway program, which has been put off until Feb. 28. According to Graves, there needs to be more investment in roads and bridges, but he doesn't expect reauthorization to get passed any time soon.

Other key issues to keep track of include:
* Independent contractor status
* Labor initiatives
* Congestion
* Fuel tax increase