Stronger together: Tank truckers mark NTTC’s 80th birthday

TAMPA, Florida—The 80th-anniversary edition of National Tank Truck Carriers’ Annual Conference attracted more than 500 people to the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street hotel, despite the uncertainty swirling around trucking and the overall economy, proving the association not only boasts a solid-oak foundation, but a bright future buoyed by devoted industry leaders.

“Yes, the road has been rough, but the wheels are still turning, the freight is still moving, and this association—your association—is not only surviving, it’s thriving,” Ryan Streblow, NTTC president and CEO, said during the board of directors meeting on April 24. “Together, we’ll build a stronger, smarter, and more successful future for our industry, and every one of you has a role to play in that endeavor. Engage, advocate, educate—those are the pillars of this association.

“Let’s keep moving forward, because that’s what we do best.”

Emily Clayton, American Trucking Associations senior economic analyst, exposed the challenges for-hire carriers and private fleets were grappling with going into the conference, including less-than-ideal load volumes and rates; and the challenges they’ll continue to face the rest of this year, including uncertain tariff impacts, and the ever-present threat of recession. But Clayton and Kim Beck, Cottingham & Butler vice president of benefits consulting—who presented results from the Tank/Bulk edition of the firm’s annual Trucking Benchmark Compensation and Benefits report—also highlighted the segment’s strengths, pointing out tank truckers continue to fare better than the overall trucking industry in several categories.

Additionally, Streblow spotlighted the association’s recent legislative and regulatory successes, strong financial standing, and swelling membership. Notably, NTTC and its allies are making significant progress on streamlining duplicative security screening at the state and national levels, the association has enjoyed five consecutive years of profitability since the pandemic, and 48 new members joined in 2024, including AJ Transport, A.M. Express, Energy Transport Solutions, Hasa, Liquid Trucking, Northern Resource Trucking, Offen Petroleum, Pencco, RB Stewart, Ullman Oil Company, Univar Solutions, and Waccamaw Transport.

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“This past year has certainly tested you in more ways than one,” he said. “From economic turbulence, rising operational costs, and an unpredictable election cycle, to unobtainable regulations and, most recently, uncertainty, we’ve all felt the pressure. But what I see when I look around this room—what I know—is that we’re not defined by the obstacles. NTTC members and the tank truck industry are defined by how we respond to those obstacles. And let me tell you, we’re not just weathering the storm, we’re going to drive through and come out better.”

The 2025 Annual Conference also featured the Driver of the Year and North American Safety Awards presentations, appearances by NFL Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson and Dan Meyer, a senior transportation specialist with the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration who unveiled the agency’s new Crash Causal Factors Program (CCFP) Heavy-Duty Truck Study, two Political Action Committee (PAC) events, a dozen committee meetings, including the first convening of the new Tank Truck Institute (TTI), and a jam-packed exhibit hall.

The next NTTC Annual Conference is April 19-22, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Price takes on chairmanship

Association leaders elected David Price, United Petroleum Transports executive vice chairman, as the 78th chair. David has been going to NTTC meetings since he was a young child; he joined the family business founded in 1966 by his grandfather, Keith Price, 14 years ago; and now he’s following in the footsteps of his father, Greg Price, who served as NTTC chair in 2006-07.

“We’re very proud of him,” Greg said. “David’s worked tirelessly since he’s been with the company on a full-time basis to be an advocate for the industry, for our company, for safety, and for drivers.

“He’s really taken this to heart.”

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UPT has always backed the organizations that support the tank truck industry, including state associations where the company has a physical presence, Greg said. Now it’s David’s turn to further that legacy.

“We’re facing challenges on multiple fronts, from workforce shortages and regulatory hurdles to broader uncertainty in the economic and political landscape,” he said. “But I’m confident that by working together we’ll continue to rise above those challenges. In my years with UPT, and as part of this association, I’ve seen firsthand how NTTC brings people together, creating a platform for progress, partnership, and a strong collective voice for the tank truck industry.

“I’m committed to building on that foundation, supporting our members, and advancing our strategic priorities.”

David also presented outgoing chairman Ward Best, Atlantic Bulk Carrier vice president, with the crystal tank truck and portrait commemorating his tenue, and helped Ward don his chairman’s jacket.

“Ward certainly knows his way around the political environment,” Streblow said. “He supported the association with our operational direction in many different scenarios, and he did an outstanding job conveying NTTC’s value and being the voice of our industry in front of regulators and potential members.

“It’s been an absolute honor to get to know him even better.”

PAC makes progress

NTTC’s PAC surpassed the $100,000 donation mark during the Advocacy committee meeting. They left Tampa with $127,000 raised year-to-date—and great expectations for the work ahead. PAC members earlier this year approved a record-setting $204,000 in financial contributions, of which they’d disbursed $105,000 as of April 24. NTTC donated only $130,00 of $175,000 in approved funding last year, part of a disciplined approach that allowed NTTC to build up its “war chest,” Streblow said. But his goal is to hit the approved mark this year.

“That money does you no good sitting in the bank account,” he said. “It does good when we’re handing out checks. The problem with that is we’re handing out the most we’ve ever handed out in the history of NTTC’s PAC. Therefore, we must replenish that war chest. Moving into next year, many of these issues aren’t going to be resolved immediately, so we have to get out in front of them.”

NTTC’s most pressing priorities include advocating for a 10% dry bulk axle variance, electronic hazmat shipping papers for hazardous materials, pulsating trailer brake lamps, and Federal Excise Tax (FET) repeal; and opposing side underride guards and unreasonable zero-emission vehicle timelines. Other concerns include Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) changes, speed limiters, the Department of Labor’s minimum annual salary ruling; and relevant legislation, including the LICENSE Act (S. 191/H.R. 623), Strengthening Supply Chains Through Truck Driver Incentives Act (H.R. 2450), and DRIVE-Safe Act (S. 659/H.R. 1745).

Workforce workhorses

The Workforce committee again hosted one of the busiest and most well-attended meetings. Dr. Gina Anderson, Luma Brighter Learning CEO and co-founder, presented “Breaking Barriers: Harnessing Neuroscience and Coaching for Lasting Change Across Generations,” and the committee unveiled a new branding video and member spotlight blog series, and updated attendees on its progress with the TTI foundation, which is focused on securing short-term funding for the further development of the association’s apprenticeship program.

“More to come on that,” said Bailey Glendenning-Stark, Glendenning Brothers CEO and Workforce committee chair. “We’ll keep you guys updated as progress is made, but the ball is rolling, finally, so that’s exciting.”

With so many issues to address, the committee recently formed five subcommittees focused on educational, regulatory, branding, recruiting, and communication and social media initiatives. Goals include expanding Tank Truck University offerings, connecting with veterans’ organizations, and advancing the revised marketing campaign. “The original videos we got were very workforce-centered, and focused more on recruitment, as opposed to education about our industry,” Stark said. “So we asked Markstein to bring us something that was less competitive, and very general to our industry, that helps us educate the public about what we do, how much of their lives we’re involved in, and why we’re important.

“We wanted this video to give people in our industry goose bumps and make people outside of our industry go, ‘Wow. I had no idea they did all that.’ That was the mission—and it looks good.”

Tank truck market update

The current down cycle plaguing trucking has lasted twice as long as the two previous down cycles associated with the dot.com boom (1999-2000) and Great Recession (2008-2009), Clayton said. However, while tank truck load counts remain volatile, tank truck rates have held up better than in past down cycles—and compared to the larger truckload contract freight market.

“It’s not that it hasn’t been challenging for tank truckers,” she said. “You can see, particularly in the last 10 months or so, late 2024 going into 2025, we felt a lot of volatility in the sector, and that has impacted people. However, tank truck is outperforming the industry overall.”

While rates in the sector have “somewhat” recovered, they haven’t increased rapidly enough to offset rising equipment costs, Clayton acknowledged. And the macro economy is a “messy picture” filled with policy-related risks to ATA’s previously more optimistic forecast, including impacts both potentially positive (regulatory rollbacks and tax cuts) and negative (labor, ocean vessel fees, and tariffs). “Depending on which way tariffs go, we could either head into a recession in the second half of this year or just be well below our historical growth average,” she said. “Either way, these outcomes are both much lower than in our previous forecast.”

The overall market still is “oversaturated” with supply, Clayton added. But she blamed the “three Ws”—Wednesday holidays, wildfires, and winter weather—for the sharp downturn in tank truck loads in late 2024/early 2025 and said several factory outputs bode well for tank fleets going forward. ATA expects chemical and food production to grow this year and next year; clay, lime, and gypsum production to remain near historic levels; and plastics to rebound in 2026.

Tank truck tonnage, tractor count, and revenue all dipped slightly from 2023 to 2024, according to ATA. Tonnage fell from 2.18 to 2.16 billion tons, tractors went from 173,464 to 172,768 units, and revenue slid from $43 to $41 billion.

The full Tank Truck Industry Market Analysis 2025 is available now at tanktruck.org. It features over 50 pages of data and graphs highlighting the size and scope of the tank truck segment, including tonnage, revenue, and tractors for the total industry, for-hire, and private fleets across 12 commodity groups, with 2023 and 2024 data, and forecasts for 2029 and 2034.

Driver compensation report

Tank truck drivers still make about 10% more than drivers in all other trucking segments, but compensation for drivers paid on an hourly basis stayed flat from 2024 to 2025, per-mile pay increased only 3%, and percentage of revenue or load and salaried or per-day pay decreased by 2% and 5%, respectively, according to Cottingham & Butler’s latest Tank/Bulk benchmark report.

“For the first time in five to 10 years, we didn’t see driver pay go up much at all,” Beck confirmed. “Two or three years ago, we were reporting 8% to 20% increases in driver pay, and that has come to a screeching halt.”

For the 70-plus liquid and dry bulk carriers in 24 states who participated in this year’s survey, median annual driver compensation was $81,400 for per-hour pay (up only $400), $82,300 for per-mile (up $2,300), $80,000 for percentage (down $1,800), and $70,000 for salaried (down $3,600). Divided by type of haul, food and beverage drivers had the highest median per-hour compensation ($89,200), fuel haulers did the best among percentage-pay drivers ($82,800), and food and beverage drivers again topped the list in the per-mile category ($93,500).

Additionally, tank fleets continue to lead the trucking industry in driver retention, with average voluntary turnover dropping from 39% in 2024 to 32% this year. Sixteen percent of Tank/Bulk respondents reported turnover less than 10%.

The full report is available to NTTC members and participating fleets. Contact Beck at [email protected] or visit truckingsurvey.com for more information or to learn how to participate in 2026.

New Truck Crash study coming

FMCSA finally is updating its 2003 Large Truck Crash Causation Study, this time with a focus on Class 7 and 8 trucks across 30 sample states. The goal is to evaluate 2,000 fatal crashes in two years with help from state agencies and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The updated study will include new factors, like electronic-logging device and camera usage, load type, and hours-of-service impacts; and feature enhanced post-crash interviews conducted in accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act, Meyer said.

Study work began in 2023. The agency now is in the second phase of the project.

“We are in the process of training investigators across the country on what data to collect and how to collect it from commercial vehicles, and we’re creating our database to store all of this information,” Meyer shared. “In December, we’ll bring the data analysts in and teach them how to operate our IT solutions with the goal of beginning data collection in January 2026 with a pilot project, which will allow us to study the system and make sure it’s flowing. Then, once we get approval from OMB [Office of Management and Budget] for full data collection, we’ll ramp up—hopefully by April 2026.”

Meyer expects the study to conclude in April 2028, and the final report to go out by the end of 2029.

Visit fmcsa.dot.gov/CCFP for more information.