Today is New Years Day 2009.  For we logistics and supply chain folks, we concluded a very tough year in 2008.  Lay offs, ships laid up, divisions closed, salaries and benefits cut,  all in the name of making the business fit the market. 

More transportation and logistics folks got laid off this year than in any time I can remember since the container shipping business melted down in the mid 1980's.  It used to be that kids with degrees from Ivy league schools wanted to join international transportation companies.   That hasn't happened in a very long time.  Lets just say my son will be applying to law school this spring and nobody I know of in his age group is even considering our industry. 

Normally I'm very optimistic at the new year.  New budgets, new RFQ's and customer bids, generally a new chance at business and at life.  I think this is a season and a time over the next couple of years, where the business veterans will leverage their experience to make things work.  Hard times will distinguish whats "real and whats Memorex".

There is an Opportunity Here. 

Shippers are looking to avoid the same pitfalls we are.   Moving goods "fast for cheap" has always been the goal, but more than ever, I see my clients looking for solutions.  These are the fruits of our experience. What modes best fit the customer's client need'

More than ever, I find myself thinking about my customers customer. What promise has been made in terms of service delivery'    Are there other ways to accomplish the same thing with perhaps a day or two later delivery at a lower cost' Are there alternative origins where rates may be more advantageous'

I also spend more and more time with my customers international trade compliance team. Today, Compliance folks route freight. Being compliant with ever strengthening regulations in the United States and abroad gives these folks both clout and legitimate business influence. Being conversant in customs regulations and trends is something that I've had to work on. However it's made me an asset to my customers, which ultimately means my company and our relationship has more value beyond a simple freight rate.

There is a proverb which is said to be of Chinese origin. "May you live in Interesting Times".  I used to think this was a blessing until a great friend of mine told me that this is actually a curse.  I truly believe we live in times that will be very interesting in the next 2-4 years.  

Having said that, and since I borrowed my wifes ipod while writing this, I share also one of my favorite REM songs (daysleeper) which I think fits the mood.

God Bless everyone in our industry.  This will be a hard year.  Having said that, I look forward to making opportunities out of challenges.  We all have no choice!

Eric

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KGM Channel 9 in Hawaii had an interesting report today on UPS's use of bicycles to deliver parcels at three military bases on the big island of Hawaii.  Said to be an experiment in "green" economics, the practice might expand to other sites.

In Europe, Latin America and in parts of Asia, seeing couriers on everything from gondolas to motorcycles to bikes is nothing new.   Its interesting to see this being used more now in the US.

Now the big question... are the drivers Teamsters'

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Over the last 30 years, Evergreen Marine has developed a reputation as a symbol of global growth in the container shipping industry.  As an EMC competitor for many years, it always seemed that despite whatever the economic situation was, Evergreen was growing.

However, today, EMC announced reductions in staff and office consolidation in its US sales organization.  This follows announcements by other carriers, including APL and Maersk in terms of major liner operators who are reconfiguring their operations to meet a souring market demand.  If there was ever a sign that the US economy is in recession, cutbacks by Evergreen are a serious indication.

The JOC published in a related article that EMC net income dropped approximately 46 million dollars through the first nine months of 2008.

EMC as well as other carriers in the Asian markets  have seen results suffer as rates have crashed on key trade lanes.

Eric

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On May 26th, Kalitta Air B7470200F  N209CK crashed on an aborted take off from Brussels Belgium enroute to Bahrain.  The aircraft was on charter to DHL Express.   There was no loss of life, but the aircraft was a complete loss, having broken its back in multiple places. 

European air safety authorities have now ruled that the crash was a result of ingestion of a bird into the number 3 engine.  The resulting loss of power created an overrun of the runway and loss of the aircraft.  

Belgian authorities reported the bird as a Kestrel, a common small bird of prey.   In this case, the little raptor destroyed one of the largest birds on earth.

Kalitta Airways has had a particularly rough year.  Two weeks following this crash, another Kalitta jet crashed in Colombia, while later in the year dragster driver Scott Kalitta, son of Kalitta Airways founder Connie Kalitta, was killed in a racing related accident.

Kalitta has also sufferred the same economic issues as other global freight carriers, recently grounding almost half of their 21 aircraft fleet due to weak market conditions.  The air carrier also laid off approximately 200 workers.

Eric

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For years I have told my customers that as a carrier,  we were more of a part of each others business than either truly appreciated.   In fact, I used to say, "If you can't sell it, I can't ship it".

Nowhere is that saying more apparent than in today's retail market. Even in this holiday peak season, parcel volumes are well down.  DHL is quickly leaving the US domestic (only) market, yet FedEx and UPS are not full because major online shippers are not hitting the sales volumes of years past.

DHL has been well publicized (and criticized) for it's restructuring efforts in the US parcel trades, but this week FedEx announced salary reductions and changes in bonus and benefits structures that will hurt their exempt employees all the way up to Fred Smith, CEO of FedEx.   These are tough times that hurt everybody.

There are parcel aircraft that were flying last year that are sitting in the desert this season because of lack of volume.

However, the US and global economic downturn extends to all facets of business.    The US government is struggling to figure out how to bale out the US automakers, whilst other industries including high tech and manufacturing firms are turning away from parcel and air freight and more toward slower, extended modes of transport like ocean.  I know that every time I talk about LCL or any deferred freight product, my customers perk up considerably.  While shippers struggle to figure out how to deal with this economy, carriers are doing what would seem crazy 12 months ago. 

These include:

• Maersk Line laying up ships to reduce available capacity.   These are capital assets which are of greater value not earning any money than incurring any costs. 
• APL announced lay offs of up to 1000 employees and a probable change of headquarters addresses away from expensive but historically significant, Oakland, California.
• DHL announced and is in progress of withdrawing from the US parcel business, whilst keeping traditional US international services.  The cost to serve is just too expensive.  This was accompanied by lay offs of a major portion of the US company in resizing the business.  
• FedEx announcing salary reductions for exempt employees as well as senior executives.  A hiring freeze.  Reductions in 401K benefits for a period up to a year as well as other bonus and compensation reductions.  I will say that this decision probably saves FedEx from firing people at least near term.
• Numerous commercial passenger and air freight airlines have either restructured or shut down capacity on key lanes.  This drives up cost to shippers and limits options on multiple lanes within major markets.

This is just part of a longer list, but these are major, global transportation companies whose employees are feeling (directly) the pinch of "If you can't sell it, I can't ship it".  That's not to blame anybody, its to highlight the fact that all of us work in a tightly woven, interconnected global market place.  

I don't have a recipe for a cure here, but I will say that smart managers are reacting to tough times both authoritatively and probably too severely, but only hindsight will tell that.    In the meantime, families of employees of many transportation companies this year will have a leaner Christmas than in years past.  They will share that experience with the families of their customers.   

Perhaps that will create a bond for discussion in the new year. The US government will have new leadership in late January that appears motivated to do "something" toward economic stimulus.   Transportation infrastructure will be a key part of that package if the new team is wise enough to realize it.

In the meantime, we all better buckle our seatbelts for a long ride. I ask that you pray for peace and your fellow man harder than ever this year.  Many, many families will need it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Eric

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Ocean carriers have been sharing capacity for years. Ocean carriers pool ships, terminals, containers and capacities in order to save on the huge cost of operating merchant container fleets. It is not as common to see whole fleet alliances, consisting of multiple carriers merge services to serve a particular trade. Such is the case below.

The Grand Alliance, consisting of Hapag-Lloyd Container Line, MISC, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), and New World Alliance members (TNWA) APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL, are pooling their assets to serve the Asia to West Med trade.

The carriers have had an agreement to combine services to serve specific markets since 2006. Such flexibility allows the carriers to match capacity to available cargo demand. In hard economic times such as today, that flexibility takes cost out of the service while stabilizing equitable freight rates.

The carrier alliances have cooperated before to serve markets such as the Black Sea trade from Asia. That service started in June, 2008.

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'I don't think that this is a case of hypocrisy. It is though, a case of two standards, probably for good reason. It is the difference between professional standards and personal standards while on a public road and operating a vehicle.' 'Piers Heriz-Smith

The above quote comes from a comment I received about the decision not to criminally prosecute Candy Lynn Baldwin, 19, for her role in causing a major highway crash on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge last year on Aug. 10 that killed truck driver John Robert Short, 57.

In my opinion piece on this case, I stated ' and still believe ' that this case highlights a major double standard when it comes to operating motor vehicles. On the one hand, truck drivers face ever tighter rules concerning their health, skills, vehicle condition, hours of operation, and personal conduct (i.e. use of drugs and alcohol) while behind the wheel. On the other, though, everyday motorists ' i.e. 'four wheelers' ' face a far laxer series of rules governing their vehicles and conduct while on the road.

This situation, in my humble opinion, is a major problem. Reader Piers Heriz-Smith, however, doesn't think so ' here's why:

'Candy was not legally impaired. That appears to be the standard for culpability for a private citizen operating a vehicle on the road. I’m fine with that. I feel I can say this easily as I am also fine with there being a set of standards for those of us in uniform that does not apply to the rest of the country. It goes with the territory. I can legally have a beer and then hunt or target shoot with a firearm. However, a police officer or soldier may not have a beer and shot with lunch while carrying a firearm. Truck drivers, servicemen, law enforcement, politicians, teachers ' there's an almost endless list of occupations that if occupied in, you may be sanctioned for behavior acceptable in the population at large.'

Heriz-Smith makes some very good points here. Yet there's one EXTREMELY critical thing left out of the discussion above ' in the case of motor vehicle operation, we all use the same roads and the same time.

To put Heriz-Smith's hunting analogy in the proper context, it would be like allowing hunters to drink beer and shoot at game WHILE IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWNS AND CITIES as opposed to the great (and far less populated) outdoors.

This is the problem when it comes to improving highway safety: you can make all the safety rules you want for trucks drivers, inspect their rigs twice a week, beef up medical standards, monitor hours of service electronically, whatever: if you don't apply the same rigorous standards to the larger motoring public, you won't improve highway safety. In my opinion, total annual highway fatalities stay stuck up around 40,000 ' and shall remain in that range for the foreseeable future ' until this dichotomy is significantly addressed and I said as much in my original commentary on Baldwin’s case.

Again, I believe more rigorous standards for truck drivers are a good and necessary thing. But we must apply that mindset to ALL motorists out there (myself included) on the road, because we are all on the SAME roads and the SAME time. A speeding car cutting off a big rig causes an accident just as severe as when a speeding big rig hits a car ' they create the same destruction. That's why I believe we've got to be tough but fair on ALL the drivers on our roads today.

'You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.' 'Master Oogway, from the DreamWorks movie 'Kung Fu Panda'

What a year, eh' On the one hand in 2008, we witness some of the greatest global financial and economic turmoil in decades: the collapse Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers; a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street; oil costing a record $147 then plummeting to $35 a barrel; Jevic Transportation and Alvan Motor Freight going out of business with nearly 2,000 other trucking companies.

Yet on the other: the first African American ever elected President of the United States; Michael Phelps surpassing Mark Spitz as the winner of most individual gold medals at Olympic Summer Games; the U.S. bagging the 1,000th gold medal since it started participating in the Olympics, courtesy of the Women's soccer team. The list goes on.

All in all, 2008 proved one hell of a year from a trucking journalist's perspective, too. We witnessed the unveiling of 2010 engine platforms designed not only to clean the air but improve fuel economy as well. A spate of new truck models made an appearance despite the hard times, including Mack's Titan tractor, Navistar's one-of-a-kind LoneStar tractor, among others. Work on new technology didn't stop either: for example, ArvinMeritor introduced OnGuard, a system designed to automatically deploy a truck's brakes if sensors detect stopped traffic ahead. Pretty neat, if you ask me.

[Just for fun, I compiled a short 'musical review' of some of the sights I saw in 2008 below.]

Yet so much of the good news ' lower highway fatalities due to truck-car collisions being a big noteworthy item ' got drowned out by the bad. The closing of Sterling Truck Corp. by its German parent, Daimler AG, proved a sad mark for it came on the heels of new product introductions aimed at returning some luster to the Sterling brand. But the ongoing slump in U.S. truck sales proved too much of a challenge to overcome for Daimler.

Now, however, all of that is behind us. Ahead lies 2009, cloaked in mystery. What shall the New Year bring' Better days, one hopes. Knowing the can-do spirit that drives America, I am certain we'll attain them.

'We know this forecast will be a blow to many industry participants.' 'Eric Starks, president, FTR Associates, Nashville, IN

The funny thing is, the quote above from Eric Starks came from his FIRST revised outlook for the trucking market back in October, when things only looked bad. NOW, of course, things are decidedly worse ' with four full quarters of economic shrinkage branding this downturn as a full-blown recession, highlighted by a 4% annualized fall in U.S. GDP [gross domestic product] during the fourth quarter of (thankfully soon to be over) 2008, according to FTR's analysis.

All in all, Starks believes the numbers indicate we're in the midst of a 1982-style recession ' definitely a bad place to be. From FTR's view, here's what a 1982-like recession would mean to the truck market: Tonnage would fall by 10% year-over-year, followed by a decline trucking margins and in truck equipment utilization rates ' probably to below 80%. That would translate into a major slide in equipment purchases next year, perhaps below 75,000 units for U.S. retail Class 8 sales for 2009.

OK, bad karma ' we get it. Question is, will all of this necessarily come true' Are there any counter-balancing forces at work' You could argue that if the incoming Obama administration passes its two-year $1 trillion infrastructure upgrade and expansion plan, we'd see a big spike in freight demand from many sectors, especially the construction industry.

Also, despite the big pre-buy in 2006 to get ahead of truck price increases due to the 2007 emission reduction standards, many fleets are still running older trucks. Many experts feel that aging equipment is going to catch up to many fleets in 2009, forcing them to buy replacement vehicles and thus bumping up sales for both the new and used trucks.

Obviously, a lot is going on ' good as well as bad ' that impacts trucking, making any attempt at prognostication pretty suspect. But I'm going to throw my hat in the ring here all the same ' heck, I predicted Obama would be president the last time I did this back in Dec. 2007 and seriously surprised myself with the result on that one.

Yet let me also say this ' many predictions I fervently do NOT want to come true, especially a major terrorist attack in Europe or North America. Do I think one is likely' Yes. Do I want it to happen' Absolutely NOT! My hope is that interdiction efforts continue to be successful, preventing horrors such as the Madrid train bombings in Spain back in 2004 and, of course, our own day of darkness ' September 11, 2001.

That being said, let's gaze into the foggy crystal ball before us and see what can be seen '

HOS under fire: Public Citizen has already launched its next round of court challenges to the revised hours of service (HOS) rules put in place back in 2004. This time, though, with the Democrats in control of both the White House and Congress, expect their effort to succeed. I think we'll see another big revision of HOS rules take place within the next four years, with allowable drive time being cut from 11 hours back to 10, if I was to hazard a guess.

Green light for heavier trucks: We'll see a 17,000 pound increase in federal highway and bridge truck weight limits, raising the current limit from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds when the Highway bill gets reauthorized by mid-2009. As a result, commercial trailers get a third axle to reduce the impact of that weight on the roadways. I also think heavier truck weights win as part of a bargaining effort with HOS reform; rolling back drive time hours in return for more freight capacity.

Infrastructure plan passes: The Obama administration passes its two-year $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan ' expect a lot of highway congestion, though, as repair and expansion efforts shift up into high gear.

Taxes for fuel: Government spending needs money. Getting people to use alternative fuels while reducing energy consumption ' especially where oil is concerned ' requires incentives. The best way to kill those two birds with one stone are higher taxes on gasoline and diesel fuels ' pushing them back up to $4 a gallon each.

Freight recovers slowly: By the third quarter 2009, freight volumes are going to start increasing again ' largely as a result of construction demand from the Obama infrastructure program. By the end of 2009, freight volumes should grow 4% compared to 2008.

Union organizing expands: Organized labor ' the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters ' were behind Obama from almost day one. In return for that support, they'll get a far freer hand in organizing efforts in many industries ' especially trucking. So expect to see broader unionization efforts underway by mid-2009.

There you have it ' the dice are rolled. Let's see what comes true and what doesn't as 2009 gets rolling here in a few days.

'Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.' 'Clarence Odbody, Angel Second Class, from the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life'

Oh, how I LOVE this movie ' a classic in every sense of the word, grounded in what I consider quintessential American values. I really don't think you can watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' and not relate to the film's hero, George Bailey, as he struggles not only to provide for his family, but also for his town ' Bedford Falls, NY ' while standing up in his own small yet larger-than-life way for truth, justice, and above all, fairness.

At its heart, this movie ' directed by Frank Capra and released in 1946 ' is all about how the little things we do in our lives, things that we don't really give much thought about, end up having huge repercussions down the road ' and I'm talking about GOOD repercussions here. That's brought home to George Bailey ' played by one of the greatest actors of all time, Jimmy Stewart ' by Angel Clarence Odbody (winningly portrayed by Henry Travers), who shows George what the world would be like if George never existed.

It's powerful stuff. We watch Bailey stumble through his town, now reborn as some low-rent Las Vegas dubbed 'Pottersville' (named after the richest man in town and George's nemesis, Henry F. Potter – played by Lionel Barrymore), becoming ever more horrified by what he sees ' friends, neighbors, even his mother, subtly twisted into darker, more cynical versions of themselves due to his absence from the world.

Clarence doesn't stop there, further detailing how far a single person's actions can reach. For example, George's brother Harry ' saved in childhood by big brother George after falling though the ice when they were kids ' grew up to be a war hero; a fighter pilot ace that shoots down a Japanese kamikaze before it hits a packed troop ship. Those thousands of soldiers, though, are dead in George's new reality ' since he was never there to pluck Harry from the icy pond water, Harry could never be there to stop the suicide pilot.

It's the business ethics, though, that really give the film its moral heft ' shown as George and Potter battle against one another time and time again; the former focused on building better lives for his neighbors, the other solely out to make money.

[The classic confrontation in the movie between George and Potter starts about minute three or four into this clip ' and it's sobering to realize how much of their debate is more than applicable to our housing crisis of today.]

'You're right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I’ll never know,' George tells Potter. 'But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter, and what's wrong with that' Why ' here, you're all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens' Doesn't it make them better customers''

George takes on the same mantle when dealing with a breakdown in the financial system, interrupting his honeymoon to save the institution his father created ' and probably the town as well ' in the clip below.

Interestingly enough, 'It's a Wonderful Life' ' loosely based on the story 'The Greatest Gift' by Phillip Van Doren Stern ' pretty much flopped when it debuted in 1946. Costing about $3 million to make, the film didn't even come close to reaching its break-even point (roughly double the production costs, around $6.3 million) during its initial release ' putting a huge dent in Capra's reputation, much less his career. Yet it's gone on to become a cable television staple during the holidays, recouping its costs (and then some!) in the over 50 years since first being shown on the big screen.

It's also interesting that this is the first film Jimmy Stewart made after his military service in World War II ' which included flying as a command pilot in B-24 Liberator on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe; missions that went uncounted on Stewart's orders. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, along with the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

Yet here he was, playing very much a non-action hero on the big screen; a guy whose brother gets all the glory, while he remains at home classified as a dreaded '4-F' due to hearing loss. If you ask me, Stewart ' who made it a sharp point with Hollywood that he would NOT be exploiting his war record in the movies ' intrinsically understood what the George Bailey character stood for; what Bailey represented in terms of the American values Stewart risked his own life countless times over the flak-riddled skies of Europe to protect.

[The movie trailer for 'It's a Wonderful Life' didn't do the film justice, making it seem more light hearted and romantic than it really was.]

It's strange, too, how little respect this film gets now. In 2007, some wag wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post dismissing 'It's a Wonderful Life' as corny garbage ' pointing out in all-too-snarky fashion that glitzy 'Pottersville' sure looked like a more 'interesting' place to live than 'boring' Bedford Falls.

(Yeah right. YOU go live in a neighborhood packed with bars, flophouses, and strip clubs and see how YOU like it. Sounds fun on paper until you live there 24/7 with your kids.)

It should be noted, though, that this movie is now recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made ' ranked number one on their list of the most inspirational American films of all time. It's nice to know, too, that Frank Capra himself (who suffered from vicious migraine headaches for most of his adult life) lived long enough to see his one-time flop reach such a high pinnacle of enduring success.

'It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen,' Capra told the Wall Street Journal in 1984. 'The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president. I'm proud ' but it's the kid who did the work. I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea.'

He also said he intended his movie to recognize 'the individual's belief in himself,' making it to combat what he called 'a modern trend toward atheism.' Heavy stuff for a Christmas film, but appropriate nonetheless.

And on that note, my friends, a very 'Merry Christmas' to all of you ' and to all of you, a good night.

'The look on the children's faces is priceless.' 'Gary Rappeport, CEO, Donlen Corporation

OK, let's get this out of the way up front ' I'm a total sap for Christmastime. Ever since I've been a little kid, I've loved every inch of the Christmas season ' decorating the tree, the house, watching the days ticking by with growing anticipation until school lets out, the holiday parties with friends and families; basically, the whole smash.

One of the local radio stations in my area ' 97.1 WASH FM ' actually goes to an all-Christmas music format 24/7 right around Thanksgiving and doesn't stop until Dec. 26th. Usually, I avoid that particular stop on my (still terrestrial) radio dial because its nominal soft-rock playlist makes we want to rip my ears off ' but the minute they go all-Christmas, the car and home radios are tuned to it round the clock. (Scary, I know.)

I even love the admittedly hokey Rankin/Bass holiday-themed stop motion animation films (with the wildly over-the-top plots and musical numbers.) I eagerly awaited them to be shown on broadcast television, scanning the TV Guide endlessly as a kid ' now I own most of them on DVD and spin them up every chance I get.

[Here's the trailer from the ultimate classic of the Rankin/Bass series ' 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.”]

I even go out and play 'Christmas tourist' in my neighborhood in the evening (when it's not deathly cold, of course) checking out all the decorations and lights fancifully strung up along the homes and businesses where I live. Sure, in the great scheme of the things it's a great waste of energy ' but it does so much to lift the spirits, especially during the tough economic times we’re going through today, with the media (myself included) writing more than our fair share of doom and gloom stories.

[A favorite example of the Christmas spirit is my local Shell filling station. Yes a GAS station, wrapped in high-tech holiday decorations. Just take a look for yourself below ']

Yet this season isn't all about consumerism ' though oft-times the media tries to make it look that way.

The spirit of the season is really about giving ' about trying to help your fellow man and make the world a better place. Lots of folks in trucking take that to heart in myriads of ways, and this space isn't even remotely long enough to do them justice. So I'll highlight just one example.

That's courtesy of Northbrook, IL-based Donlen Corp., a fleet management firm that made a company-wide effort to help the holiday wishes come true for a local Chicago elementary school. On Dec. 17, the company literally brought Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and their helpers to deliver gifts to children at Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts.

'The look on the children's faces is priceless,' noted Gary Rappeport, Donlen's CEO. 'We all realize how difficult it is for some people right now, [so our] employees stepped up to make this happen. This season really is about the children and we are proud to be part of this exciting day.'

Since 2006, Rappeport added, Donlen has supported a 'Letters to Santa' program, in which its employees respond to letters that Jenner students write to Santa. The nearly 400 students, most of who come from families that are living at or near the poverty level, were obviously delighted by the appearance of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, who distributed the gifts to each and every child. The company also treated the children to Boston Market for lunch.

Donlen's support of Jenner Academy extends beyond Christmastime, too. For the past three years, the company helped with basic needs for the children's education and quality of living ' assisting with an annual school supply drive, hosting a career day, and helping raise money for summer sports camps, said Rappeport

It's efforts like these that exemplify what the 'Christmas spirit' is really all about ' not the shopping, not the tacky decorations or even the music (beautiful though it all is). It's about doing something in our small corner of life to make the world a better place.

'You don't realize how much a shop relies on its senior technicians until you become one. You feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders at times.' 'Michael Willoughby, 14-year veteran technician at Rush Enterprises' Oklahoma City location

In my estimation, Michael Willoughby is one of those guys you want in the foxhole with you, guarding your back when the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan.

A 14-year veteran technician with Rush Truck Centers ' a division of San Antonio, TX-based Rush Enterprises ' Willoughby is not only exceedingly modest and quick to pass on credit for his skills to the senior technicians that trained him over his career, he always seems calm, cool, and collected during the company's annual technician skills rodeo ' even when he claims he isn't.

Willoughby is also chock-full of interesting insights into the heavy-duty truck technician's profession ' describing what I know to be an extremely complex job into layman's terms. 'You're really a full time student,' he told me when we spoke at the 3rd annual Rush technician rodeo. 'You never stop learning something new. You've got to be willing to do the research, because that's what it takes to solve vehicle problems today.'

[Willoughby explains his philosophy in this clip shot at Rush's rodeo last week ' he's the second speaker after Sylvester Chandler, another top-botch technician from Dallas, TX]

A member of what I dubbed the 'Oklahoma Crew' at last year's competition, Willoughby also exemplifies true grit, working his way through adversity that would lay a lot of people low. In terms of his career, he never worked on trucks until he started his job at Rush ' starting out in, of all things, a lawn mower repair shop, followed by a five-year stint in the U.S. Army keeping RUSSIAN and Vietnam-era U.S. Sheridan tanks up and running for the 'Red Teams' (the soldiers playing the role of 'bad guys') in war maneuvers.

He had to leave the Army, however, to help his wife battle cancer ' a battle she fought four separate times, finally losing her life to the disease in May 2008. It took a toll on Willoughby ' he lost 17 pounds and practically didn't sleep for two months straight as he fed her food and medicine until the end. Yet he never wanted to be anywhere else but by her side. You can't help but admire that in this day and age, when the institution of marriage gets treated like some sort of decorative window dressing you can install or get rid of as the mood takes you.

Willoughby also told me about the support he got from his fellow Oklahoma City technicians ' about how they kept trying to transfer their vacation time and sick days to him so he could be home with his wife. That also gives you an idea of what kind of place that shop in Oklahoma City is like ' before you start talking about their knowledge and skills.

'There are guys on our shop floor that have forgotten more about engines and trucks than I and several other guys know put together,' Willoughby told me. One of the hardest working techs you'll find, Willoughby is quick to point to 'old timers' as some of the industry's best ' guys that didn't grow up with the electronics and computers today's younger techs have, yet are the ones that instinctively know engines and transmissions backwards and forwards.”

[The Oklahoma City Crew for 2008 — Pat Driscoll is in the white cowboy hat in the back, with Ken Carter on the far right standing, with Mike Willoughby kneeling in the front row wearing the black cowboy cover. The other techs are (in no particular order) Mark Dalke, Clyde Henderson, Chuck Selby, and Tom Snyder.]

And they are the guys that trained him ' taking the time to make sure he understood every nuance. 'I would not be here today if it wasn't for them.' Willoughby told me.

It's also interesting to note that Rush's Oklahoma City shop sent six technicians to the competition this year ' double their numbers from 2007, which is no mean feat considering that some 500 out of Rush's total of 700-plus technicians nationwide were vying for the 54 slots available at the rodeo, up from 300 in 2007.

Pat Driscoll provides a good example of just how seriously these guys take their work. He's competed in all three Rush rodeos, yet never made the finals. But there he was, observing the 12 finalists bright and early at eight in the morning, even though he had the opportunity to sleep in late and take a tour of the world-famous Jack Daniel's distillery.

'I want to see what these guys are up against so I can get some insight for next year's event,' he told me. That attitude speaks volumes about his work ethic and that of his compatriots, I think.

[You'll see Pat Driscoll in several of these clips quietly observing the finalists in action, hopefully gaining some insights so he, too, can one day join the winner's circle ']

Ken Carter, their service manager, told me one of the hardest parts about the rodeo is the competition between technicians, as they are far more used to working together to solve problems. 'They are a close-knit group ' they are used to helping each other out,' he explained to me. 'That are not used to competing against one another ' it goes against the grain of their daily work life.'

Carter (seen here on the right) has been there, done that, too ' literally growing up in the business, starting around age seven helping out in his dad's trucking business, followed by vocational school, work for Caterpillar, running his own shop, then joining Rush about nine years ago. He knows how hard the work is and how important it is to get good people in the shop.

'Technicians need to realize how major a cog they are in trucking,' he told me. 'It's hard sometimes, especially in this economy, where customers are hanging on by their fingernails. With the economy so tough, nobody is happy ' but we've still got a job to do.'

[Carter talked about how complex the technician's job is today in the clip below. He follows Mike Besson, Rush's VP of service operations ']