We will just have to see if this is sustained or if it spreads, but
independent truckers have slowed down their rigs and snarled traffic in Chicago, New Jersey and Florida to protest diesel prices.
The slowdown, which has been brewing for months on sites like
truckertotrucker.com, came at just about the same time five oil executives were testifying before Congress. Some freight operators refused to load trucks Tuesday, fearing the deliveries might not get made. If this continues for even a short time, in this just-in-time delivery world we live in, you will begin to see problems pretty quickly.
Diesel prices are up 117 percent compared to a year ago, according to new Energy Department figures.
Strikes in the past have done nothing to lower prices.
The New York Times points out:
Historically, diesel fuel has been cheaper than gasoline, but that
changed after requirements for ultra-low-sulfur diesel took effect
several years ago. The average price of diesel fuel reached a record
high of $4.037 a gallon last week, according to the AAA motor club.
That is about $1.25, or 45 percent, more than a year ago.
Every
5-cent increase in fuel prices increases a trucker’s annual expenses by
about $1,000, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers
Association, which on Friday asked Congress to help drivers collect
more fuel surcharges.
"It's not a good time to own your own rig," said Chip White, a transportation and logistics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "It's a tough life even when the economy is reasonably good."
