Big Truck TV
In Part 2, Page Siplon - Executive Director, Georgia Logistics Innovation Centre, speaks to the critical role intermodal plays within the supply chain and logistics industry. For trucking it help deal with the capacity issue. Expects to see more expansion of infrastructure within the private sector as well as the government as there is money to be made here. However, trucking will continue to play a dominant role in freight flow. Technology will play a crucial role in the integration of data exchange. Expects to see an increase in freight flow in 2013.
With so many regulations coming online in 2013, and as Tom mentioned in part one of the special, just before the presidential election, there were 6,000 proposed regulations, in your opinion, is the government regulating the industry to death without providing the necessary infrastructure to support it?
I wouldn’t say the government is overregulating the industry to death as the trucking industry is doing well, it’s been a tough economy which leads me to believe that has had a bigger impact on the competitiveness of companies and the movement of their freight than regulation has thus far. In addition to that, a recent study released by ATRI stated that CSA hasn’t had as negative of an impact as many had expected. Based on that I can’t see it as having as detrimental impact as we had feared earlier on.
Intermodal has been touted as a solution to dealing with the driver shortage issue and a way of saving on fuel. Since rail and trucking started coming together to offer intermodal services, what needs to done to make intermodal a more integrated solution to transportation?
Technology is the answer as it facilitates the interchange and exchanging of info and data between trucking companies and railroads. There have been major accomplishments in technology that has made it possible for trucking companies and railroad companies to interface on a transactional level, however there is a long way to go if we are going to make these supply chains truly competitive to be able to move products efficiently and cost effectively. There is money to be made here. We need to see more investments in intermodal yards from both the government sector as well as the private one.
What do you think the trucking market will look like 5 years from now?
I predict we will see a lot more differences in the way we move freight. I think trucking will continue to play a critical role in the movement of freight, but overall railroads will play a bigger role. When it comes to intermodal, we can expect to see more partnerships with trucking. There will be more technology solutions within the logistics eco system, particularly among trucking and warehousing. We can expect to see more supply chain visibility.
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