The Logistics Institute at Georgia Tech, and Schneider National Inc., hosted The Freight Transportation Capacity Summit at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta
earlier this month. The program focused on the capacity crisis facing the transportation industry, according to a press release issued Friday..
Nearly 250 transportation and logistics professionals attended. Participants included representatives from shippers, truckload carriers, LTL carriers, railroads as well as government officials, academics and financial analysts. Christopher Lofgren, president and CEO of Schneider National Inc., delivered the keynote address on the state of the freight transportation industry. Shippers presented their transportation needs and their perceptions of service and capacity challenges. Carriers discussed human resource infrastructure, financial and regulatory issues.
“Transportation companies are heavy users of both labor and capital. The health of our industry is dependent on these two factors,” said Lofgren. “Capital spending across truckload, less-than-truckload and rail has fallen more than 30 percent since 1998 while growth in the U.S. labor pool has not kept up with driver demand.”
Investment in capital and drivers was a recurring theme at the Summit. Representatives from Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads discussed the need for infrastructure improvements while over-the-road carriers called for driver compensation increases and lifestyle improvements to attract and retain truck drivers.
A video of the summit, presentation materials, and a capacity white paper are available online at www.tli.gatech.edu/tcs/archive.