Members of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) have adjusted smoothly enough to the disruptions at the Port of Baltimore that a conference call among its members scheduled for Thursday — the latest in a series — was canceled because a great deal of initial concern among TCA members has disappeared.
“A lot of the shock we had was in the first two calls,” David Heller, the TCA’s senior vice president of government affairs, told FreightWaves when asked about the scheduled meeting. “We want to keep those lines of communication open, and we’ll continue to forward information to our membership as we go along.”
But for now, particularly with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent waiver of some hours-of-service rules, Heller said he’s hearing from TCA members that they’ve adjusted to the diversions as a result of the port’s closure following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26.
With the port potentially reopening by the end of May, Heller said TCA’s members see “light at the end of the tunnel.” There’s a sense in the trucking community that has been servicing the port of Baltimore that “the worst of the worst is over.”