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By Neil Abt, News Editor

This story appears in the May 7 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

INDIANAPOLIS — The chief executive officer of the National Private Truck Council reiterated his stance here that the government must approve the use of longer combination vehicles.

Gary Petty, in an interview with Transport Topics during NPTC’s annual convention April 29-May 1, also called the 2009 highway reauthorization a “watershed event” for the future of freight transportation, and he praised private fleets for taking additional steps to become more environmentally responsible.

“The need [for larger trucks] uniformly across the country gets more obvious every day,” Petty said. “We have many members who have authority in certain states to run larger vehicles. . . . They get to compare and contrast the efficiencies of larger equipment in terms of productivity and safety.

“We have companies that have analyzed the potential impact if they were allowed to upgrade through every state, and it’s a dramatic savings, not just in dollars gained, but also in productivity,” Petty said.

He added that even if the government builds roads at a faster pace than in the past two decades, it still would not keep pace with growing freight and passenger demand.

“We have to, at the very least, optimize the capacity that is already there and add to it through longer combination vehicles,” he said.

Petty and Tom Moore, NPTC’s vice president of public affairs, indicated the shortage of truck drivers, projected to grow in the coming years, was another reason larger vehicles were needed.

They said, even though private fleets have lower driver turnover than other trucking sectors because of higher pay and more home time, NPTC members are struggling to find enough drivers.

“There is simply an ever-eroding market of interest of candidates to operate equipment, even though that equipment has never been easier to operate,” Petty said.

Looking ahead, Petty said the 2009 federal highway bill would be “a watershed event, whether we solve — or at least make a down payment on a solution to — the highway infrastructure problem for the next 20 years or defer it to another generation and put off the crisis facing us, getting products to market to the point the supply chain goes backwards and not forwards.”

Petty said members are willing to pay their share to help create a solution but want to be sure the money will go toward reducing congestion.

He also expressed displeasure with states’ push toward leasing or selling highway assets.

“It certainly seems like there is a political trend to shift highway infrastructure to the private sector and sidestep the hard work of generating tax revenue to pay for it,” Petty said, noting that the NPTC conference this year was in Indiana, which completed a long-term lease of its toll road in 2006 to a private consortium.

Meanwhile, the NPTC officials said members were seeking ways to improve efficiency through environmentally responsible measures.

“Many of our private fleet trucking companies are subsidiaries of large corporations that have major ‘green’ programs,” Petty said. “Many of these companies have undertaken a strategic initiative to embrace a green agenda. So, they are taking the lead in getting the most efficient equipment and engaging in the best possible fuel economy practices.”

Petty cited several examples, including new driver and operational management programs, the use of onboard computing technology and rising interest in fuel additives.

Many vendors in the exhibit hall and the educational workshops focused on these issues.

Representatives of Giant Eagle and Merchant’s Distributors described how implementing labor standards throughout the supply chain provided productivity gains.

In addition, four fleets who use different onboard computing suppliers documented their quick return on investment, despite the upfront investment and initial driver reluctance.

In another session, officials with AAFES Logistics and Sara Lee Food and Beverage urged fleets that work together for backhauls also to collaborate — along with customers — to place larger orders of such necessities as cardboard boxes and tape. They said it yields both cost savings and environmental benefits.