AGRICULTURAL TRANSPORTATION
EFFICIENCY COALITION
and forest products from farms and forests to processing facilities.
Letter of Endorsement
January 31, 2008
The delivered cost of wood is almost always the largest single cost of finished forest products. For that reason, manufacturers of forest products such as myself are continually working to reduce wood costs in order to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
What do these industries have in common - textiles, footwear, electronics, furniture, auto parts, power tools? At one time, these products were manufactured in the United States. Now, they've moved offshore. The same is beginning to happen now with forest products. Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, Sweden, and Finland have all emerged as strong competitors in U.S. markets.
These five countries - and many others - allow higher Gross Vehicle Weights on public highways than we do in the United States. In some cases, MUCH higher ones.
Driver shortages and high diesel fuel costs are negatively impacting the forest products industry due to the bulk raw material intensity of these businesses. Higher Gross Vehicle Weights will make it possible to safely transport the same amount of wood with fewer trucks while consuming less diesel fuel per ton of delivered wood payload.
Increasing the size of payloads by reforming federal Gross Vehicle Weights will help independent timber harvesting contractors return to profitability. The financial health of these contractors is crucial to helping U.S. forest products manufacturing concerns compete effectively on a global basis.
The Forest Resources Association strongly supports AgTEC's campaign to bring about critically important reform in federal Gross Vehicle Weights.
Jim Brody
Chairman
Forest Resouces Association
