Do You Believe in Miracles?

By Jeff Tucker

On Aug. 10, two days after the Tokyo Olympics closed, some of us might have been reminded of those immortal 1980 Winter Olympic words, “do you believe in miracles?”

Why, you ask? Because in our deeply divided U.S. Congress, where progress is rare, and political theater has reached lows most Americans never dreamt possible, the Senate, divided along 50-50 party lines, passed a (gasp!) bipartisan surface transportation bill on a 69-30 vote.

It’s a Washington adage that highways and bridges are neither Democratic nor Republican issues. Infrastructure bills, like defense, are generally common ground. For breakbulk members and stakeholders who stress the limits of what infrastructure can handle, we can breathe a sigh of relief. But there’s substantially more work to do. At the time of this printing, the House hasn’t moved its infrastructure bill. So, we wait.

The U.S. House passing this bill is important to breakbulk stakeholders and the country. The U.S. has several natural resources that have enabled our economic growth, such as abundant food, energy, fertile land, rich seas on both sides, minerals and other natural resources. The American people and their spirit of ingenuity, creativity, drive and the freedoms enjoyed have collectively enabled world-class, world-leading innovation in so many areas of art, science, technology and commerce.

As a transportation professional for more than 30 years, I bear witness every day to the economic might we’ve derived from the U.S. Interstate Highway System and our ports, bridges, and intermodal terminals. Supply chains have been revolutionized in the past 10 years, and while money and technology spurred much of it, none of it would be possible without the U.S. infrastructure. Removing bottlenecks helps cars and trucks, and swiftly, inexpensively ushers our products to market.

The Senate bill was US$1 trillion in total, and contains US$550 billion for long overdue, highly stressed infrastructure that Breakbulk readers desperately need, like investments in roads, bridges, public transit, rail, and other traditional infrastructure. There are bridges in the U.S. Northeast where engineers have calculated how many rivets can be missing, and still be deemed safe! That’s scary – for the record, I vote “none” should be missing. But it’s probably not surprising to breakbulk professionals, given the level of detail, red tape, engineering, surveying, and specialized and unique equipment they know is needed to traverse roads and bridges. Those assets need to be in top form and built for today and tomorrow, not 60 years ago.

The U.S. freight industry provides nearly US$1 trillion annually. That’s US$1 of every US$22 of the U.S. economy. Yet, for my entire career, we’ve largely neglected infrastructure.

One thing each of us can do today is to email, call and write U.S. House members and ask them to pass the infrastructure bill. Encourage your members of Congress to act on this bill now, and bring it home. 


Jeffrey G. Tucker CTB is the third-generation CEO of Tucker Company Worldwide. He is past chairman of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, and continues to chair the committee for TIA’s “Carrier Selection Framework,” which provides guidance on selection of safe motor carriers. He has testified before Congress on truck safety matters and served as a U.S. Department of Transportation Administrator to advise the DoT on highway safety. He is also on the National Industrial Transportation League’s board and chairs its Highway Transportation Committee.

Tucker will participate in the Breakbulk Americas panel, “Infrastructure in 2021 and Beyond,” which will be held at 12:20 to 1:05 p.m. Sept. 29.

Image credit: Sports Illustrated