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Tough life * USA - Costs catastrophic to truckers
Owner-operators now on the brinkFort Myers,FL,USA -The News-Press, by Laura Ruane -March 9, 2008: -- ... The cost of diesel fuel has doubled over the last four years; other costs shouldered by owners of big tractor-trailer rigs also have soared. Prevailing rates, either by the mile or by the ton, have declined or at least not kept pace with increased costs... Across the nation, trucking's owner-operators - the self-employed drivers who haul everything from Hummers to hay - are suffering. Many say they're running on the edge of bankruptcy, about to disappear unless they get help... One of them was former Southwest Floridian Paul Caserto, who now works in construction in Louisiana. "I gave my truck back to the bank. There was no way I could make the payments"... The wave of trucking failures now under way might still be invisible to some people. When the economy rebounds, however, some experts believe the presence of fewer truckers will drive up shipping rates, and increase consumer prices... For now, the housing downturn and decreased consumer spending have cut into loads; too many trucks competing for less work pushes down freight rates... Without the independents, trucking will turn into a group of "regional and national oligopolies" that would send shipping prices higher when the economy improves, said John Saldanha, who teaches logistics at Ohio State University... For now, it's truckers who are feeling it... (Photo by Stephen Hayford/news-press.com - Winona Palmiotti, 34, of New York, gets into her semi, with her Chihuahua Chille, at Pilot east of Fort Myers. Palmiotti says rising fuel prices have changed everything about how she works. "Sitting in 100 degree heat, you can't idle," Palmiotti said. "It burns too much fuel.")
Labels: trucking costs
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