FUEL COST CRISIS * USA - Oil Closes Week Near $126 a Barrel

New York,NY,USA -The Associated Press/Transport Topics -9 May 2008: -- Oil futures jumped for a fifth straight day Friday, shooting past $126 a barrel for the first time and closing the week near that level on the New York Mercantile Exchange... Demand for diesel fuel is growing worldwide, but supplies of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, fell last week, the Department of Energy said Wednesday... That is in turn pushing U.S. diesel prices to record highs and inflating heating oil prices in the futures market...


* Diesel Fuel Prices Forcing Truckers to Slow Down

Truckers Slow Down To Save Money

Omaha,NE,USA -Action3News -9 May 2008: -- Rising gas prices have some truck drivers are slowing down on the roads. Some drivers, like Dave Smith passing through Omaha, are going five to ten miles an hour slower than the speed limit... "Yes, instead of going 70, I'm going 65," says Smith. Rising fuel costs also have some trucking companies buying new trucks with battery packs... The batteries will be used to provide power, heating and air for the trucks... Truckers are doing everything they can to save money, but if the price of gas keeps going up, some drivers will be flat out of business... "If I can find a $500- or $600-a-week job, I might crawl out of it," says Smith... The American Trucking Association predicts by the end of 2008, truckers will have spent more than $140 billion on fuel...(See Video)


* Solutions: American Ingenuity Cuts the Drag

Atlanta,GA,USA -11 Alive, by Marc Pickard -9 May 2008: -- These days diesel fuel costs over $4 a gallon. That means, to fill up one semi truck could run more than $1,200... It is not unusual for a trucker to fill his truck twice in a day... And now ... It's time to call on American ingenuity... For the past six years, the Georgia Tech Research Institute has been doing research on the simplest, cheapest way to save fuel, aerodynamics... "The aerodynamic drag produces loss in fuel efficiency because the drag has to be overcome by the engine which requires additional fuel," explained Georgia Tech Research Institute engineer Bob Englar... The trailer of a big rig is designed to carry as much freight as possible, which produces a lot of drag... Engineer Bob Englar and his team have designed a relatively simple way to retrofit trucks and improve fuel efficiency by twelve percent... "If all the trucks in the United States trucking fleet used the same scheme and reduced fuel economy by one percent, each one percent represents 200 million gallons of gasoline," Englar said... The technology to make trucks and SUVs more fuel efficient is available right now... Georgia Tech Research Institute's Bob Englar says the next step is up to the trucking industry... Kenny Lee and his fellow truckers are counting on American ingenuity because their fuel costs are a real drag... (See Video)


* Record-high diesel prices have cut into truckers' profits. Members of the House Transportation Committee are searching for solutions

New York,NY,USA -CNNMoney, by David Goldman -May 6, 2008: -- Rising diesel prices have slammed the trucking industry and hurt independent truck drivers, and Congress is looking for solutions... Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Tuesday took up the rising diesel prices issue that has hampered the trucking industry... Rising diesel costs have dug into the profits of the trucking industry, whose trucks run on the fuel... In a protest of record high fuel costs, hundreds of truckers circled the U.S. Capitol on April 28... Over the past 12 months, the dollar has plummeted more than 10% against global currencies, and oil has climbed about 80%. As the dollar continues to depreciate in value, investors have bought oil futures as a hedge against inflation... Also, oil is priced in dollars worldwide, so a falling dollar provides less incentive for oil-exporting countries to increase output, or for foreign consumers to cut, said Deutsche Bank oil analyst Ryan Todd. And as oil prices hit a record $122 a barrel Tuesday, there were no immediate signs of diesel prices retreating... Many energy industry analysts blame oil speculators for cashing in on the fuel cost crisis and, in the process, boosting the price of oil... After a Goldman Sachs analyst predicted oil could rise to $200 a barrel in 2008... Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at public interest group Public Citizen, said the prediction itself sends speculators to the market, because "the high bar has been set for traders." ... "There are many practices by hedge funds that fall below the radar screens of federal regulators," Slocum testified at the hearing... Also contributing to rising diesel prices is that global demand for the fuel has outpaced that of gasoline over the past 12 months. Industrial expansion in China and a rising number of cleaner-burning diesel cars in Europe have boosted demand. Additionally, the new ultra-low sulfur formula for diesel that was introduced in 2006 costs more to produce and has affected production levels... But the solutions may be as complex as the problem... DeFazio suggested government regulation on speculative trading would help keep oil prices down, but he was met with stiff opposition by American Petroleum Institute chief economist John Felmey. In testimony, Felmey said that market fundamentals of supply and demand are driving prices - not speculative trading... But when pressed by DeFazio about regulation, he conceded, "It wouldn't cause undue harm."... Oil companies are another popular target for consumers' critique. With historic profits for corporations such as ExxonMobil, and Chevron, coupled with rising gas prices, big oil has become public enemy No. 1 for the public and Congress... But Felmey rejected it, saying a more viable solution to rising fuel prices lies in expanding more of nation's petroleum reserves and investing in non-finite alternate fuels... "We need alternative fuels ... but we don't need to be price-gouged on our way there," DeFazio retorted... (See Videos: 1 · Truckers face gas pain - 2 · Goldman: $200 oil possible)


* USA - GAYLORD TRUCKERS HURTING TOO !! - 25 Big Rigs from Gaylord now off the road

USA -Don Campbell Models -9 May 2008: -- The last few weeks on our nightly walks I have noticed a lot of tractor-trailer rigs parked at the area Feed and Grain . They had about 15 nice , new tractor trailer rigs and they were always coming and going from the parking lot about a half a mile from our house. They had a great business for 40 years or more... Yesterday I was talking to my neighbor about five houses down from me and he has 7 tractor trailer rigs. Six of his we re sitting in his parking lot at his house. He told me he parked six of the seven of his trucks because it was no longer profitable to run them. I asked him about the Feed and Grain Trucks and he said all those trucks are for sale and they were no longer in the trucking business after 40 years... I’m sure this is happening all over the country with the high Fuel prices... (Photo: GAYLORD TRUCKERS HURTING TOO !!)