Taking Aim at Transportation

It began in November with a White House order here, a Federal Register notice there, and gained speed as new committee and subcommittee leaders promised hearings on Capitol Hill. Five months later, the transportation industry is caught in a whirling vortex whipped up by a growing stack of bills coming out of the Democratic Congress and a geyser of rulemakings spouting from the Bush administration. The laws and regulations taking shape in the first months of 2007 promise watershed changes for the cargo business. Peter Gatti, executive vice president for the National Industrial Transportation League, said the impact of many safety and security- focused measures could compare with the effects of economic deregulation three decades ago. To many shippers, it must look like a twister bearing down on the family farm. Shippers, transportation companies and freight workers are working to influence legislation or scurrying to keep out of the bulls-eye.