Following an August announcement in which it announced multiple pending changes to its much maligned government-mandated CSA program, which stands for “Compliance, Safety, Accountability,” the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said this week that the changes went into effect this week.

Let’s compare notes: Here’s what my colleagues and I saw this year in logistics and transportation management and what we expect next year—along with some suggested actions on important issues.

The ATA said that seasonally-adjusted (SA) truck tonnage in October—at 113.7 (2000=100)—dipped 3.8 percent annually, and the not seasonally-adjusted (NSA) index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, hit 123.7 in October, which was 7.7 percent better than September and was 5.2 percent higher than the October 2011 NSA.

The business conditions outlook for shippers appears to continue to be moving sideways, according to the monthly Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) from freight transportation consultancy FTR Associates.

Taking steps to bolster its cross-border service into Mexico, Chattanooga, Tennessee-based truckload and full-service freight transportation provider U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. announced two Mexico-related deals this week.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman spoke with Transplace CEO Tom Sanderson at last month’s CSCMP Annual Conference about various industry-related topics.

A slow growing economy and the staving off of a potential east and gulf coast ports strike translated into mixed shipment and expenditure results in October, according to the October edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems.

American Trucking Associations (ATA) President and CEO Bill Graves is named NITL Executive of the Year for his leadership in shaping the nation’s ground freight transportation system and his affable, endearing management style.

The foremost truckload analysts re-convene to update shippers on current supply & demand, the looming driver crisis, increasing diesel prices, the seemingly endless shifting of government regulations, and what all these issues mean for rates heading into 2013.

I’m pleased to announce that the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) and Logistics Management (LM) magazine are presenting Bill Graves, former Governor of Kansas and current president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, with the 2012 McCullough/NITL Executive of the Year Award.