![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
FUEL COST TROUBLES * USA - SPECIAL REPORT
* Logging off: Final log truck for at least one year - possibly forever - unloads at Stimson mill
Bonner,MT,USA -The Missoulian (Missoula,MT,USA), by KIM BRIGGEMAN -23 Mar 2008: -- Davy Sheets drove his load of logs up to the scales at the Stimson Lumber Co. mill Friday afternoon, just as he'd brought so many loads before... This time was different... The 28 Ponderosa pine and fir logs aboard the Drummond trucker's trailer marked what could be the last delivered to the Bonner mill... The first arrived, by river, in the spring of 1886... At 2 p.m. Friday, Stimson cut off all deliveries in anticipation of a mid-May shutdown of its sawmill... Sheets, who owns DS Jr. Trucking in Drummond, said he tried to time it so his was the last load... The Sheets brothers grew up in Clinton, where their dad drove logging truck and regular delivering loads to Bonner... “I've been riding in trucks since I was a little kid, going into that mill,” Davy Sheets said... Driving out Friday, for what could be the last time, wasn't easy... “You kind of got a sick empty feeling”, he said. “Kind of like it's over.”... (Photo by SCOTT KUEHN/ Stimson Lumber Co.: The message on the logs on Davy Sheets' truck tells the story)* Rising cost of diesel fuel starts to squeeze truckers - Lightening the load isn't enough for some drivers
Ledgeview,WI,USA -The Green Bay Press Gazette (Green Bay,WI,USA), by Nathan Phelps -March 23, 2008: -- ... While many operators remain on the roads, increased fuel costs have some drivers parking their trucks and getting out of the business... Norita Taylor of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association in Grain Valley, Mo., said the organization has been getting reports of owners selling their trucks and signing on as company drivers or simply parking them... Taylor said the industry is seeing several issues converging at once: fuel surcharges that aren't always passed back to the driver from the broker; a dearth of freight and, of course, high fuel prices... In the past, diesel has been priced around — or lower — than regular gasoline. But in the last three years, diesel has been more expensive than gasoline for several factors ranging from high worldwide demand to a transition to lower-sulfur diesel in the United States. That has affected fuel production and distribution, according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Association... While there has been some talk of a work stoppage among drivers, those passing though the pumps at Kwik Trip, 2618 Monroe Road, last week said they don't think that's likely to happen... The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has also heard about that possibility... Pritzl, who has two payments left on his truck, said he could always park it and find something else to do. But he doesn't want — or plan — to... (Photo by S.C. Spangler/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Diesel fuel is on the edge of $4.25 a gallon, up more than 18 percent in the last month and a whopping 51 percent higher than one year ago. Given that some 70 percent of freight in this country moves via truck, the runup is having a substantial impact)* Truckers have had their fill of high diesel prices
Fort Worth,TX,USA -The Fort Worth Star Telegram, by JIM FUQUAY -Mar. 23, 2008: -- ... According to the Department of Energy, since September 2004 diesel has consistently cost more than gasoline. The agency cites rising demand from Asia and Europe, the move to mandatory low-sulfur diesel this year and an additional 6 cents a gallon in federal taxes... Prices like that have truck drivers slowing down to save fuel, favoring aerodynamic styling for new trucks and equipping their trucks with auxiliary power units so they don't have to idle their big engines all night while out on the road... The industry long ago adopted a fuel surcharge, based on a Energy Department index, to recover the cost of fuel. But competitive pressures make it a fight to recover all of that, said J.R. Tart, vice president of operations at Horizon Freight Systems' Fort Worth yard on Blue Mound Road... Ken Gangl, treasurer of PACCAR Inc., parent of Peterbilt, said the company is building an engine-assembly plant in Mississippi, to open in 2009, that will use technology acquired when it bought a European truckmaker in 1996. Additionally, he said, PACCAR will introduce in the third quarter a medium-duty truck powered by a diesel-electric hybrid... Drivers are also showing more interest in auxiliary power units, which can power a truck's cab overnight at a fraction of the cost of idling the engine. On a typical long-haul trip, he said, an APU can produce an 8 percent fuel savings... (Photo by S.C. Spangler/Tribune-Review - With trucks backing up behind him waiting in line for their turns at the pumps at Flying J's in Smithton, Steve Christenson, of Christenson Trucking in Green Bay, Wis., takes his dog for a short break at the rest area of the truck stop. Christenson says he is ready to call Peterbilt and ask the company "where they want me to park this [his truck]" because he can't afford to make the payments and run the rig anymore. Christenson said with the high cost of gas and brokers eating up profits, he is about out of business. Christenson's truck payment is more than $2,000 a month)* Diesel prices throttle truckers
Pittsburgh,PA,USA -The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, by Rick Stouffer -March 23, 2008: -- You could see the frustration in Dennis Yokum's eyes... Yokum's an independent owner-operator, a group that comprises 9 percent of the nation's roughly 3.4 million truck drivers. Still, his words could speak for the nation's entire trucking industry... Rising diesel prices could continue for at least two more months, one expert believes... Trucker Yokum, who stopped to fuel at the Flying J Truck Stop off the Smithton, Westmoreland County, exit of Interstate 70, said high prices have meant doing little things to try to save fuel. He purchased an electric blanket that plugs into his International Eagle truck's cigarette lighter, rather than burning a gallon an hour of diesel to idle the rig at night... But diesel costs hurt the independent truckers most... Steve Christenson of Green Bay, Wis., who leases his 2006 Peterbilt tractor and trailer, predicted that unless prices begin to drop, independents like himself and Yokum will be forced to postpone maintenance to help pay for fuel, a situation no one wants to confront... (Photo by S.C. Spangler/Tribune-Review: With trucks backing up behind him waiting in line for their turn at the pumps at Flying J's in Smithton, Dennis Yokum, of Bedford, fuels up at Flying J's in Smithton. Yokum says he and his father, who owns the trucking company, are suffering from the high diesel prices. Yokum said his family is considering selling the trucks)Labels: fuerl cost troubles
posted by Unknown @ 9:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home