FUEL COST CRISIS * Canada - High prices down the road

Participants at truck driving contest say high fuel costs are going to hit us all

Owen Sound,Ontario,Canada -The Owen Sound Sun Times, by Bill Henry -8 June 2008: -- Gas prices got you fuming? Hang on to your wallets folks, it will only get worse, truckers warned... Soon the price of pretty much everything you need or want — to eat, wear or whatever — will go up and up and up, just like the price of gas... If you’re still stinging from what you paid for your last fill-up, consider what Mark St. Pierre spends to keep his Volvo 670 tractor on the road with diesel hitting $1.42 per litre heading into the weekend, about 50 cents more per litre than he paid in October... St. Pierre, an owner-operator based in Owen Sound, has one truck. He paid $121,000 for it in 2005. Now that the Canadian and U.S. dollar are around par, the same truck now sells for $15,000 less. He owes more on his truck than it’s worth... St. Pierre drives a triangle between Ontario, Canada’s west coast and California, a trip of two weeks or more, transporting refrigerated produce and fresh meat. He takes two days off between runs then heads out again... He said he used to be home more, but with higher fuel costs, now he can’t afford it... Even though St. Pierre’s Volvo is likely the most fuel-efficient unit available — he gets 7.6 miles to the U.S. gallon with a full, 44,000-pound load — fuel costs are killing any profits. That’s made worse for small operators when carrier companies truckers like St. Pierre work for won’t pass on the full fuel surcharge they charge customers... So next month St. Pierre will begin hauling for an American firm, which will pay him more, including 100 per cent of all fuel surcharges. Otherwise there just isn’t enough money to cover truck payments, a wage, repairs, border costs, bridge and highway tolls and all the other related expenses... (Photo by Bill Henry - Trucker Mark St. Pierre has seen rising fuel costs eat into his bottom line since he bought his own rig three years ago)