NITL's Jacoby offers take on various U.S. transportation challenges

By John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor -- Logistics Management, 3/27/2007

WASHINGTON—Jake Jacoby recently joined the National Industrial Transportation League as a policy analyst. Jacoby joined NITL from Americans for Safe and Efficient Transportation (ASET), an organization focused on improving productivity in transportation. ASET’s primary mission is to promote improved truck productivity through additional weight on current truck configurations and allowing more use of longer combination vehicles. Jacoby’s primary focus at NITL will be on issues facing highway transportation including funding, public partnerships and productivity. This Q&A was conducted by LM contributing editor John D. Schulz.

Q. Do you feel there is a new push to allow truckers to use longer and heavier trucks?
A. I absolutely do. To me it’s one thing for policy experts to talk about this issue. It’s quite another thing when members of Congress and DOT talk about congestion, capacity restraints, emissions and environmental aspects of freight movements. Growth is the main thing. From 2000 to 2020, there is a forecast for 80 percent increase in freight volumes. We’re pretty congested now. Something is going to have to be done.

Q. What needs to be done to get Congress to change laws regarding truck size and weights?
A. John Ficker (NIT League president) is looking at the big picture. Truck size and weights is productivity issue. It’s part of the solution. NIT League always saw this as one aspect, but an important one. As we move forward, so many people talking about it, and that’s a good thing. They may not agree. But the fact that so many are talking about solutions to find a way to move freight, that is positive. There is a building momentum toward doing something.

Q. Any indication the rails are softening their stance on this issue?
A. I certainly haven’t gotten the sense the AAR (Association of American Railroads) is coming on board. But some individual shippers report a different scenario. They are talking directly to the railroads. At least one, maybe two, individual railroads are willing to talk about it. I’m not naïve. I don’t think railroads will wake up one day and say truck size and weights is a great idea.

Q. Intermodal is the fastest growing segment of the rail business. Does that affect the rails stance on this?
A. We see this as a way to grow this business even more. At least sitting down to disagree is a step forward from not even being willing to look you in the face at all on this issue. It behooves all of us at the NIT League to find a way to help the rails. We’re not anti-rail at all. We would like to find way to support railroad industry as a way for all of us to find ways to increase productivity, whether it’s air, rail, truck, whatever.

Q. What is the most important facet of your job?
A.Coming from ASET we were focused on truck weights mostly. At the NIT League, I’ll be more policy-oriented on all issues affecting shippers.We have an aviation, rail, highway committees, and I will be working on highway and hazmat issues. When it comes to highways, I’ll be working on a lot more issues than before. There is more to world than truck size and weights.

Q. What other issues are on the NIT League’s radar screen?
A. Freight movement in general. We have a major problem with infrastructure in this country, whether it’s capacity or old roads and bridges. Capacity is growing by 2 or 3 percent in 10 years and freight is growing by 100 percent over that same time period. Technology is another major facet to this. ATA is pushing for Congress to adopt a goal to move freight more efficiently. That can mean more roads, better technology, more lanes, whatever. It might mean more size and weight for trucks. It might be more productivity for rails as well. Truck size and weight is one segment. But it’s all about how to we get freight moved from Point A to B when everybody wants their freight delivered Just-in-Time. They want it yesterday. The old silos are gone. You have to be more creative. You have to look outside the box to find ways to get their goods moved in the best possible way.

Q. What should Congress be doing in terms of better freight movement?
A. We’d like to see Congress take a more active role in how freight moves, and how it affects the economy. They are not looking how everything is interconnected. That’s a big mistake. That’s how you become for things and against other things. They’re not seeing how transport efficiency is tied into the global economy. This is all interconnected. CEO’s are now talking about transportation, and that wasn’t happening 25 years ago. Logistics is now a top five topic for CEO’s. As the economy expands, truck driver hours of service, corporate average fleet efficiency, truck size and weights all relate to how we do things in the safest, cleanest, most productive way. You have to think long term rather than short term.

Q. What is the NIT League’s position on privatization of highways in this country?
A. That concerns out members. Privatization looks good in the short term. Local governments get a big windfall off the bat. But companies are looking at long-term aspects of tolling. Our concern is the long-term effect of these deals on the public good and moving freight. We don’t think they are. It’s a real concern. Maybe it looks good up front. When you sign a 99-year lease, a lot of things can happen. The bottom line is making money. A big concern is when a road’s objective is to make money, that will drive policy, instead of the public good driving policy.That’s a hot-button issue.

Thank you.