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Trucking industry mergers and acquisitions are expected to surge this year because of factors such as tight capacity and eager private-equity buyers, several industry experts have said.

There is reasonable cause for people in trucking to be optimistic in 2012. It looks like the economy’s recovery from the long and deep recession is gaining strength, so trucking can look forward to increasing demand.

It is a distinct honor to be able to represent America’s motor carriers and the employees and independent contractors working on behalf of those companies.   I have appreciated the leadership that has been provided by Barbara Windsor, Tommy Hodges and all the fine chairmen who have preceded them.

When we gathered in Phoenix last year, I said I was hopeful that, like the mythical bird the city was named for, our industry was preparing to rise from the ashes of the deep recession we’d just fought through and that, when we came together in Grapevine, as with many things in Texas, things would be “bigger and better” for our industry.

This will be a busy week for the leaders of the nation’s trucking industry who will be meeting at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition.

It has been almost a year since we gathered in Phoenix, and while it seems that the time has just flown by, as we prepare to come together in Grapevine, Texas, the issues we face now are identical to the issues we faced then.

Transport Topics Online will be closed Monday, July 4, for the Independence Day holiday. Please check back on Tuesday, July 5, for the latest trucking and freight transportation news.

Rob Abbott, American Trucking Associations’ vice president of safety policy, has been named to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s motor carrier safety advisory committee, FMCSA said Friday.