1st QTR  Heather McPherson, Portsmouth, VA

2nd QTR  Joe Pessen, Prairie Village, KS

3rd QTR  Mike Cathcart, Memphis, TN

4th QTR  Jan Haley, Kossuth, MS

 

 

 

 

And the winner is...

Mike Cathcart - Memphis, TN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keynote speaker Ron Widdows, President /CEO of NOL Group, commented on the global economic slowdown at the 2009 Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference.  "Unfortunately it's probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better", said Widdows.  "Exports are plunging and demand is weak.  Weakening consumer confidence and demand has retailers and importers scaling back inventory."  Widdows expects a "restructuring" in the shipping industry due to the oversupply of ships and from too much capacity coming on line due to the delivery of new vessels ordered during the boom years.  Widdows also predicts that the west coast ports (particularly Los Angeles and Long Beach) will have to adopt a competitive mindset to keep traditional cargo volumes.  This is mainly due to the widening of the Panama Canal, which will allow larger vessels to bypass both Los Angeles and Long Beach, and expand all-water east coast services.   

 

Analysts feel that falling freight rates and volumes will likely produce a new wave of bankruptcies in the 1st quarter that could set the stage for rapid industry consolidation.  Truck tonnage fell 10.8% in January, according to the ATA, and several sources estimated that rates have fallen 5%-15% from this time last year.  The number of trucking bankruptcies fell to 375 in the 4th quarter of 2008 after 2,690 fleets failed in the first three quarters when diesel soared, according to Avondale Partners.  There will be an increase in 1st-quarter bankruptcies because of difficulty getting access to credit and some fleets will fail because they won't be able to afford license and registration fees that are due at the time of the year.  Mergers, acquisitions and consolidations are expected to dramatically increase.

 

The crash in the current real estate market is actually a plus to some in the trucking industry.  For those who had a hard time finding space for terminals, it's the perfect time to take advantage of declining property values in commercial real estate.  Many quality properties have come up for sale and carriers with strong balance sheets and plenty of cash are reveling in the best real estate market in years for expanding and upgrading their terminal networks.