The Safer Hauling and Infrastructure Protection (SHIP) Coalition–an alliance of manufacturers and trade associations advocating an overhaul of truck regulations–has named Sean Joyce as their executive director.
Joyce is a long time acquaintance with Capitol Hill, having previously served as chief of staff to Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry and as legislative director, communications director and campaign director for Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster. The coalition he now heads joins together more than 80 organizations with diverse backgrounds.
“Whether shipping food and beverages, paper and pulp, or other raw goods, our nation’s trucking system is faced with outdated and onerous 35-year-old rules governing Gross Vehicle Weight limits,” Joyce said. “This failure by Congress to modernize these rules ultimately hurts main street American businesses and middle-class consumers alike.”
The current system, he and his coalition have alleged, is outdated. They have asked for a pilot program that would allow states to voluntarily collect safety data related to truck weight modernization, as well as a configuration based on six-axle, 91,000-pound trucks. Supporting them is a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Transportation itself, which found that switching to such a configuration would allow faster braking, a 2.4 billion pound reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and a $358 million reduction in annual congestion costs.