ORLANDO – It's easy to get a bit bored sitting through another panel at a conference like the Truckload Carriers Association annual convention, especially when executives on stage deliver yet another talk about their best practices.

However, the realization dawns that in an industry plagued by a rising tide of bankruptcies – just in the past two weeks, FreightWaves has reported on Chapter 11 filings by trucking companies in Florida and Alabama – the individuals on stage are the survivors. At the outset of the current freight recession, their survival was far from guaranteed. Yet, they persevered.

Think that's easy? Just ask the owners and approximately 1,000 employees who lost their jobs at Montgomery Transport. Or consider the many other now-defunct trucking companies.

The continued existence of the panelists' operations, a significant achievement, was the underlying reality of the forum's title at the TCA conference on Monday: Surviving & Thriving in Today's Trucking Market.