The cost of trucks taking to the highway will be hitting Americans down the road as record diesel fuel prices are slamming the transportation industry.
The average price of a gallon of diesel fuel was $5.321 on Monday, setting a record for the second day in a row, according to AAA.
The price was a 72 percent increase from the average price of a year ago, which was $3.086 a gallon, according to AAA.
“Things at the grocery store will be more expensive because of diesel. Take a cruise is going to be more expensive. Getting on a plane is going to be more expensive. Filling up is going to be more expensive,” said Patrick DeHaan, the head petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, according to WNCN-TV.
Oh no https://t.co/xhrTcZgI5m
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) May 2, 2022
“I really don’t see the situation improving drastically anytime soon,” DeHaan said. “It certainly will take time and additional refining capacity to boost up the supply of diesel and jet fuel back to adequate levels.”
Truckers are pinched by the increase because they pay out more without their revenue increasing.
“The prices are skyrocketing, and we still don’t get good prices for the loads,” said Michal Agboire, who works for Maitland Trucking.
“If it goes any higher than this and the price of the load not coming up, then maybe we just call it quits,” Agboire said.
In an Op-Ed for the Fresno Bee. Ron Faulkner, the president of Faulkner Trucking and 2022 president of the California Trucking Association, said the current situation leads to “[i]ncreased prices for consumers and economic pain for truckers.”
“Independent truckers and small trucking companies are particularly hurt by this crisis. These companies operate in markets which do not always compensate for the increased cost of fuel,” he wrote.
“The impact to small fleets is especially concerning because more than 95 percent of the trucking companies in the country operate 20 or fewer trucks. These companies are the backbone of the industry and are struggling to keep up with out-of-control costs,” he wrote.
Faulkner noted that not only are international events to blame, but also “policies right here at home.”
He then delivered his bottom line: “If truckers cannot afford to drive, then goods do not move.”
Diesel prices in NY are SOARING. One small biz owner in #NY22 told me this week that his shipping costs alone have TRIPLED b/c of sky-high diesel prices. Failed Biden policies are hurting the American people & further deteriorating our supply chains.
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) May 1, 2022
Jimmy Quarels, who has driven trucks full of logs through Arkansas for 20 years, told The Trucker that “Someone’s gotta do something. This can’t last the way it is.”
“For the little man like me, it’s bad,” Quarels said. “It’s like everything else right now, there seems to be no send in sight.”
“And what people don’t realize is that this trickles down. Your lumber prices affect your toilet paper, paper plates, pulp — so many things are going to go up because of this,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.